It is located off Highway 1 on State Park Drive, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Santa Cruz.

In 1838, King Kamehameha III requested that Mexican vaqueros from California travel to Hawaiʻi to teach Hawaiians how to manage herds of wild cattle.

In the 1920s, after Claus Spreckels' death, sections of the beach were developed into the Seacliff Park and the Rio Del Mar Country Club.

The beach's most notable feature is the World War I concrete ship SS Palo Alto formerly lying at the end of a wooden pier.

[2] Seacliff includes RV facilities, picnic tables, and fire pits.