Near downtown’s village, Main Beach has volleyball and basketball courts, a playground and restrooms. It's the first beach you see as you come down Laguna Canyon Blvd from the 405 Fwy, and it’s Laguna’s best beach for swimming.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
24.17 MILES
What started as a simple berry farm is now a sprawling 160-acre operation with rides, live shows and lovable Peanuts characters roaming the grounds. Knott…
7.6 MILES
Famous for its swallows that fly back to town every year on March 19 (though sometimes they’re just a bit early), San Juan Capistrano is home to the …
15.97 MILES
From its stately, Spanish Colonial–style shell, the Bowers Museum explodes onto the scene every year or so with remarkable exhibits that remind LA-centric…
28.16 MILES
Long Beach’s most mesmerizing experience, the Aquarium of the Pacific is a vast, high-tech indoor ocean where sharks dart, jellyfish dance and sea lions…
16.72 MILES
Follow the giant 10-story cube – balanced on one of its points – to the county's best educational kiddie attraction. About 100 hands-on displays await,…
7.68 MILES
This engaging museum highlights California art and cutting-edge contemporary artists, with exhibitions rotating through two large spaces. Recent…
27.81 MILES
This gem of a museum is the only one in the US to present art created since 1945 in Latin America and in Latino communities in the US through important…
19.92 MILES
After checking in at the Grizzly Peak Airfield, fasten your seat belt and take off (as if hang gliding) before a giant, 80ft projection screen that really…
Nearby attractions
0.19 MILES
This breezy museum has changing exhibitions featuring contemporary California artists, and a permanent collection heavy on California landscapes, vintage…
0.33 MILES
The grassy, bluff-top Heisler Park offers vistas of craggy coves and deep-blue sea. Bring your camera – with its palm trees and bougainvillea-dotted…
0.46 MILES
Just north of Main Beach, Picnic Beach is too rocky to surf but has excellent tide pooling.
4. Pacific Marine Mammal Center
2.56 MILES
A nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating injured or ill marine mammals, this center northeast of town has a small staff and many…
2.88 MILES
South of downtown Laguna Beach, the locals’ favorite Aliso Beach County Park is popular with surfers, boogie boarders and skimboarders. With picnic tables…
3.31 MILES
South of central Laguna, this beach has long been a hangout for Laguna's (and the OC's) LGBT community (with an emphasis on the G). The eye candy can be…
3.91 MILES
Jealously guarded by locals, Thousand Steps Beach is about 1 mile south of Aliso Beach, hidden off Hwy 1 just south of Mission Hospital. At the south end…
4.1 MILES
A few miles of open beach and 2400 acres of undeveloped woodland at this state park let you forget you're in a crowded metropolitan area, at least once…