# Owen Beach

The beach inside Point Defiance Park, rebuilt with a promenade, a whale play area and easier water access. Open half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Canonical URL: https://tacomairl.com/places/owen-beach/
Section: places
Area: Point Defiance
Published: 2026-10-25
Last fact check: 2026-10-25
Status: Not marked closed; check official information
Location: Point Defiance Park, North End
Address: 5605 N Owen Beach Rd, Tacoma, WA, 98407, US
Price: Free. The concession stand is a separate purchase.
Official information: https://www.parkstacoma.gov/place/owen-beach/
Park: Open half an hour before sunrise, close half an hour after sunset.
Concession stand: Under new management as of the last check. Confirm it is open before relying on it for lunch.

Owen Beach is the sand-and-driftwood end of [Point Defiance Park](https://tacomairl.com/places/point-defiance/): a paved promenade, a gravel beach, picnic tables and a view across the water, with the forest directly behind.

The beach was rebuilt and reopened with a new pavilion, a whale sculpture play area, more parking and easier water access, which fixed the worst of the old access problems.

## What the visit actually is

You walk. You look at the water. Someone finds a stick. It is not a destination with exhibits and a timetable; the appeal is that it needs no booking, no queue and no money.

The concession stand has been changing hands, so treat food as uncertain and bring what you need. Everything else — promenade, beach, playground — is free.

## Timing

The park runs **half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset**, which in December means an early finish. Check sunset before planning a late afternoon visit.

In winter the sunset comes early and the wind off the water is the real weather. Check the sunset time before planning a late-afternoon visit, and dress for standing still.

## Getting there and nearby

Owen Beach Road runs off the Five Mile Drive side of the park; parking is in the beach lot. It is inside the paid-activity-free part of the park, so a zoo trip at [Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium](https://tacomairl.com/places/point-defiance-zoo/) can pair with a beach walk on the same visit.

Further along the water, [Titlow Park](https://tacomairl.com/places/titlow-park/) has its own beach and playground, and [Dune Peninsula](https://tacomairl.com/places/dune-peninsula/) is the newer promenade around the headland. Our [rainy Sunday guide](https://tacomairl.com/guides/rainy-sunday/) uses Owen Beach as the outdoor half of an indoor day, and the [sunny November guide](https://tacomairl.com/guides/sunny-november/) covers the Point Defiance loop it sits on.

Image: https://tacomairl.com/images/owen-beach.webp
Alt: A paved promenade runs beside a driftwood-strewn beach at Owen Beach, with picnic tables in the foreground, forest behind and a low shoreline across the water.
Image credit: Photo: Samilizzy
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Owen_Beach_001.jpg
Image rights: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
Photo details: https://tacomairl.com/photo-details/owen-beach/

## Sources

- [Parks Tacoma: Owen Beach address, park hours and reopened amenities](https://www.parkstacoma.gov/place/owen-beach/)