Avila Beach is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place in San Luis Obispo County, California, located on the sheltered waters of San Luis Obispo Bay about 160 miles northwest of Los Angeles and roughly 200 miles south of San Francisco. As of the 2020 census, the community had a population of about 1,600, making it one of the smaller coastal settlements on the Central Coast, defined far more by its setting than by its size. The area's history is long and layered. The Spanish and Portuguese used the natural harbor centuries ago, and in 1842 Miguel Avila received a Mexican land grant for more than 22,000 acres that became Rancho San Miguelito, encompassing the land of today's Avila Beach. A whaling and shipping era followed, with the first wharf built in 1855 at Cave Landing, now known as Pirates Cove. That maritime heritage continues today at Port San Luis Harbor, a working port and popular fishing and boating destination that remains the community's anchor. Avila Beach is best known as a recreation destination. Its beach faces south into the bay, catching sunshine and shelter that make it one of the warmer spots on a cool coastline, and the adjacent Avila Hot Springs, discovered in 1907, offers mineral soaking pools and a heated swimming complex. The Avila Beach Golf Resort adds a waterfront course, and the Avila Beach Pier extends into the bay for fishing and sightseeing. The community combines a compact beachfront village with hillside residential neighborhoods, and it sits a short drive from Pismo Beach and the city of San Luis Obispo. For residents, Avila Beach offers a small, coastal, outdoors-oriented way of life with access to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a regional airport, and the broader Central Coast economy just up the road.