Fun surprise while day trippin in Oceanside. Lots of cool surfboards to check out and tons of fun facts in surfboard making, materials and local surfing lore. They also have the board with shark bite from the “Soul Surfer” attack where surfer Bethany Hamilton lost an arm. Pretty crazy seeing that up close. Pretty cool place, recommend a visit.

Was able to stop here during the week with Grandpa. It was more amazing than I thought. Very informative, fun, and interesting. The man at the counter is super nice and personable. Very nice experience

Cool little museum within minutes of the beach. Great staff. Very interesting and awesome surfboards and stories. Worth the hour or two you could spend in the museum.

A very inventive museum. This little place made me ecstatic.

This museum is really neat!! We went in on a whim and was surprised that it was only $5 per person. It was fascinating learning about surfing and seeing all the historical boards. Would definitely recommend this place to my family and friends when they visit Oceanside.

Just a neat place, if you are at all interested in the ocean or surfing. I highly recommend. Bethany Hamiltons board is there. Among some other gems. Full history and employees will guide you around. Coooool

Entry fee is very reasonable and kids 12 & under get in free. Lots of cool stuff to look at and educational. Great place for everyone to check out.

A fantastic place to get a quick tour and gain a better understanding of surfing and how its played a part in history.

After stopping by the California Welcome Center, I headed to the California Surf Museum to check out popular displays like pro-surfer Bethany Hamilton’s shark-bitten surfboard that took her arm when she was 13. There’s cool stuff to check out like the wave wall where I took one of my pictures. I really liked the retail shopping area to get surf themed gear. A cool spot!

Definitely a great time line of early surfboards all the way to present day in the collection. Very knowledgeable staff. I learn alot.

Great volunteers who are fun, knowledgeable, and super friendly. The collection seems to change a lot, so its worth visiting often. Has some great pieces to see and you can learn a lot more than I realized. Clean, great gift shop, all-in-all I totally recommend it.

Stumbled across this unique museum accompanied by an out of town visitor who was a 1968-1971 Vietnam War Veteran. Could not believe the China Beach surf activities exhibit. He had been there. A recent stroke had left only part of his memory intact. The exhibit brought back many memories as he described fun with his friends taking a well deserved break at the beach. Kudos to museum for this exhibit and thank you for presenting him with the 50th anniversary of Vietnam pin.

This was a great experience. We live in Oceanside and are San Diego natives. Ive been using Trip Advisor to find fun things to do with my son during his 3 week winter break from school and our visit to the surf museum was awesome! Theres so much to look at and learn about. My son (6 years old) was really excited to be able to see Bethany Hamiltons actual board the shark bit since he had just seen it in a book at school. It is very inexpensive admission (under 12 is free adults are $5) and well well worth it. The surf board evolution display was my favorite part. The volunteer who gave us a brief tour was awesome and I wish he would have accepted my tip but he does this for his love of surfing. The gift shop had affordable items and I was able to walk out spending $10. My son got 5 post cards, a sea shell souvenir and a surfboard keychain. Its a quick trip with kids but theres so much to read and see that you can also spend a half day too. If I was there by myself I would have take more time. Awesome displays and authentic pieces to see. Highly recommend stopping by. Even locals.

We came here on the 1st Tues of the month which happened to be $1 day. Kids were free. This is a small but well done museum. We learned the science of the wave, the history of surfing in Vietnam during the war and the evolution of board size and shape. There was a even display with Bethany Hamiltons board and several other famous surfers. What really made our visit was the older gentleman who took us around to each display and explained to my 8 year old all that he was seeing. Excellent one on one tour!

Wonderful place they have there to learn and appreciate the history of surfing. The day we went, they had a large exhibit on surfing in Vietnam during the war. Very interesting. This is a traveling exhibit though, so better get in there before it leaves! Also that day, there was an exhibit on Bethany Hamilton, her shark attack, and her amazing recovery and re-entry into surfing competition. They even had her board there with the huge bite mark the shark had bitten into it.The museum is very nice, and they have people there with a lot of knowledge if you have questions. Admission is only $5, but Tuesdays it is only $1!

I really wish I went the day before I did. The exhibit area was being transformed to the next so the area was closed. The store was open and I enjoyed what I could, staff was friendly and happy to discuss the healthy benefits of surfing and the ocean. Cant wait to go back to see the next exhibit

Cool history of surf culture and exhibit of inclusivity

Got to talk with Cramer Jackson while we were there. He had such an extensive repertoire of different surfers styles and knew all the types boards they used, having been an avid surfer himself. Very entertaining. Even gave us a signed photo at the end. Although he talked more about others than himself, was there still in spirit with every piece of surfing history.. We enjoyed his company throughout the tour of the museum very much. Thank you.

Great place. I learned alot about the surf culture. Worth a visit.

Such a worthwhile museum to visit. We visited during the China Beach exhibit. My grandpa was a Vietnam veteran and passed on his love of the ocean to me. Going here was like being reintroduced to one of my greatest heros all over again. Thank you for putting together such a thoughtful unique experience.This is why we surf.

Ive been their 2X and I see new stuff every time keep it up!

I had fun but cost if you want to look moree

I thought this museum did not give the actual surfing history but rather just focused on the Vietnam war and today’s surfers. Being Hawaiian myself and knowing that surf was created in Hawaiian/Polynesian islands I was very disappointed that credit wasn’t given to our culture. Without our culture creating surfing, none of the things at the museum would be here today. I wish they would have paid tribute to the cultures that created it.

We saw an exhibit of surfing during the Vietnam war. Very interesting. The exhibit goes til end of Feb 2019. Worth a visit.

You want to know and see some cool things about surfing? Head over to this location. It really was awesome. Check out the secret place, it was too cool!

Its a good place to visit to learn some about the surf history in California, you have to pay to get in but theres a souvenir store in the front to get some postcards, shirts and some random stuff

Very interesting! Traces the history of surfing. Who knew the roots of surfing go back to Oceania, around 1000 AD??

Great people really cool place

Great place to visit! A lot of history and they do change their exhibits every so often. Its not too big, but you can spend a good hour in there.

The place offers a great artistic variety of the history of the place like surfing, is in a visible and accessible place, the place is clean and contains great information

Interesting displays. Tuesday is $1 entry day. I didnt know how much surf boards weighed back in the day.

Great place to see the history of Surfing. Many historic Surfboards on display.The staff that work there are surfing veterans and are very informative and will show you around and explain about the surfboards they have on display. This place is well organized neat and clean. The also have a guest log to sign in.

Kinda cool to see, but not worth going out of your way for. $5 general admission, $3 for military, spent about 20 minutes there. They have the surf board from the real life Soul Surfer on display, which was kind of awestriking as it has a massive bit out of it.

Super nice place to go. Really interesting stories and expositions. Nice gift shop too! Thursday is an awesome day to go since theres a very diverse street market going on.

Always changing exhibitions about surfer boards, surfer legends and compelling stories about humanity and surf

Highly recommend stopping in here! Really affordable and super interesting!! You dont have to be a surfer to enjoy this little museum, its just a fun time! We spent 2.5 hours here!

Very cool! Only cost $5 and gives you a great history of Oceanside & Surfing as a sport and its legends!

We enjoyed this place. Nice atmosphere.

A fantastic collection of historical surf memorabilia and exhibits.

Cute small museum. Worth the $5 to check it out!

A nice place to visit. Small and probably extremely awesome if youre a surfer.

Small but cute and well presented. Interesting to see Bethanys board.

I went inside but I did not enter I didnt have enough time they were closing but it looks really nice to go into very informative

Cool place, a lot of information, and the displays are very well done.

The museum is larger than it looks from the postcode. Im not a surfer but was still ableto enjoy the displays and see some of the early surfing culture.

The museum has some great pieces of surf history and a good expo about the surf during Vietnam war. Nice place. Nice staff. Not a big museum.

Great displays depicting evolution of surfing history in Oceanside.

This place is amazing, a definite must see!

We has

Not really a museum, just a small collection someone put together, charging a fee to see it...kinda lame

This is an amazing place staffed by passionate surfers who are all very friendly and knowledgeable. We really enjoyed the trip through surfings history.

It is a great place for surfing enthusiasts. It is a unique blend combing modernity with history..

Cool little museum that traces the history of surfing. There are many styles of boards there. Presently the museum has a display of items and stories about surfing in Vietnam during that ill fated war. Price $3-5 depending on age

Kind of a small museum for the price, but has a good southern California vibe and is legitimately entertaining and fun.

Worst town in southern CA! The city finances itself by extremely aggressively enforcing trivial ordinance technicalities. If you pull into a parking space with 100s of vacant spaces 1 min before the sign says you can park there, the parking Nazis will sneak up behind you and hit you for$50 or more! Sociopaths run the place...go somewhere else!

The folks there were awesome. Very informative. My wife kids and I loved it.

Nice little museum. Surf Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente had more boards on display and more extensive surf history but this museum had a much more polished display and a big gift shop with lots of selection. They had a large exhibit on surfing in/during Vietnam, a weather buoy on display and interactive computer screen to read surf reports from, the rescue board for Eddie Aiku, and, of course, Bethanys board!

To see the past come alive and meet Jennings, World class Surfer Champion.. An be good friends with him. Cool HuH!!! Come on over and check it out yourself.

Awesome welcoming place. Love it.

Approximately 12-months ago, my family and I dropped in when we were checking things out downtown Oceanside. I was amazed at all the history preserved inside their cozy building. Pictures from the late 50s to the present. The one thing which caught our attention was the beautifully hand-crafted wooden surfboards. If you like surfing and want to learn a little more about itss history, then the California Surf Museum the place to be.

Whether you a re a local or just visiting town, check it out. Great exhibits, vintage boards, friendly staff. Take your time as you go through.

An unexpected delight & their exhibit on the surfing at China Beach during the Vietnam War was interesting. Its a small place but interesting.

I liked it. My gf not so much. Lots of interesting history here however it is quite small.

Awesome place to experience a little history and evolution of the sport.

The surf museum is a good afternoon stop after a day at the beach. All the old boards are amazing and they are always playing a historic surf film. Makes me wish I saved my old stuff.

Expecting a bigger and better collection. It was ok to spend 1 hour there

Fantastic!!!

One of the highlights of Oceanside California for sure. Great place, reasonable entry fees and lots of cool stuff to look at. A must see in the area.

Very interesting to learn about surf culture since it is integral to San Diego culture.

Visit the Surf Museum to learn about surfers youll be glad you stopped in.Grady Ferguson

Very interesting small gem in Oceanside

An great place to learn the history of surf boards and general surf culture.

Awesome place with a great history on surfing. Very friendly staff, definitely would come again.

Little museum with lot of history and visually appealing to all ages. Its worth a walk from the coast to spend a little time in Oceanside history.

Very good exhibits and lots of stuff about surfing history

Wonderful host.

Worth a trip for any surfer that likes history

Great meseum, I had a good time visiting it!

This museum had so much hI story to learn about. Lots of things to see and a cute gift shop. :)

Unexpected stop to see a great surf collection & history! Friends day staff too. Tuesday was free.

Great place to go to for yourself or with the family, tons of surf history informative staff who love there job.

Very cool museum

Combo history of surf boards & Viet Nam war.Had a docent (Lowell) that guided us thru & gave first hand knowledge. Learned a lot.

Interesting information available

Very cool surf history

Amazing staff, The setup is gorgeous, and very informative

Pretty place to visit

Awesome local stop

Fun

Great historical perspectives of an awesome sport.

Great little museum about surfing

A must see in O.S.

Really amazing collections!

Really enjoyed it

Very educational and great history!

Fun!

Dig this place and like how they change it out frequently with new stuff

Loved it.

Very interesting

Not only for surfers!