Over 600 Acres of History, Nature and Wildlife

The Batiquitos Lagoon Nature Center is located at 7380 Gabbiano Lane, near the head of the trail. There is a small parking lot and street parking is available. The Nature Center is open seven days a week from 9am-3pm depending on volunteer host availability. Inside is a collection of taxidermy animals, displays, resources and a kids area. There is also a public restroom and water available. We have a small retail area that sells shirts, hats, books and other items. Stop by and support us.

The lagoon can be seen and experienced from a nature trail on the north side. The public walking and hiking trail is about 1.6 miles long. It starts just east of Interstate 5 at the end of Gabbiano Lane and goes most of the way to El Camino Real on the east end of the lagoon. There are five public parking lots providing access to the trail, one by the Nature Center and four on Batiquitos Drive.

Dogs on a leash are allowed. Horses and bicycles are not allowed.

The lagoon itself consists of 610 acres with a drainage basin of about 55,000 acres. The watershed basin includes the cities of Carlsbad, San Marcos, and Encinitas, with its primary freshwater tributaries being San Marcos Creek from the east and Encinitas Creek which flows north along Green Valley, entering the lagoon under El Camino Real and La Costa Avenue, respectively. Accumulated silt has been filling up Batiquitos Lagoon, and the lagoon was expected to fill up within 50 years. Instead, a large dredging and enhancement project began in 1994 to open the lagoon to the ocean’s tidal changes and flows, thus slowing down the filling of the lagoon with silt. This project, completed in 1997, was funded by the Port of Los Angeles.