Pasadena & the San Gabriel Valley
This mansion in northwest central Pasadena has been called one of the 10 most architecturally significant homes in America. The 1908 masterpiece of…
Must-see attractions in Southern California
Hollywood
For a taste of Old Hollywood, do not miss this musty temple to the stars, its four floors crammed with movie and TV costumes and props. The museum is…
Long Beach & San Pedro
This WWII to Cold War–era battleship is now permanently moored in San Pedro Bay and open to visitors as a museum. It's massive – 887ft long (that's 5ft…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
MOCA's superlative art collection focuses mainly on works created from the 1940s to the present. There's no shortage of luminaries, among them Mark Rothko…
Autry Museum of the American West
Los Feliz & Griffith Park
Established by singing cowboy Gene Autry, this expansive, underrated museum offers contemporary perspectives on the history and people of the American…
Frederick R Weisman Art Foundation
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood
The late entrepreneur and philanthropist Frederick R Weisman had an insatiable passion for art, a fact confirmed when touring his former Holmby Hills home…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
Long before the city was flooded with farmers markets, there was the farmers market. Fresh produce, roasted nuts, doughnuts, cheeses, blini – you’ll find…
Santa Barbara Wine Country
On what was once a working cattle ranch, Foxen crafts full-fruited Pinot Noir, warm Syrah, steel-cut Chardonnay and rich Rhône-style wines, all sourced…
Santa Barbara Wine Country
Come for the wine, stay for the architecture, the views and the (occasional) live music. The sweeping panorama across this relative newcomer's vineyard to…
Santa Barbara Wine Country
Hillside, family-owned vineyards overflowing with different grape varietals – Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cabernet…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
The LA outpost of internationally acclaimed gallery Hauser & Wirth has art fiends in a flurry with its museum-standard exhibits of modern and contemporary…
Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
Even many Angelenos have no idea that just a couple of blocks from the Boardwalk madness is an idyllic neighborhood that preserves 3 miles of Abbot Kinney…
Joshua Tree National Park
This striking rock labyrinth extends roughly from Indian Cove in the north to Park Blvd in the south and is predictably a popular rock climbers' haunt…
Malibu & Pacific Palisades
Arguably Malibu’s most stunning beach, where you park on the bluffs and stroll down a trail to sandstone rock towers that rise from emerald coves. Topless…
Death Valley National Park
The most accessible dunes in Death Valley are an undulating sea of sand rising up to 100ft high next to the highway near Stovepipe Wells Village. They're…
South Bay Beaches
The most stunning non-natural attraction on Palos Verdes was built by Lloyd Wright (son of Frank) in 1951, and no matter where you stand among the great…
Disneyland Resort
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…
Disneyland Resort
Formerly known as Space Mountain, Tomorrowland’s signature attraction (and one of the USA’s best roller coasters), has been given a Star Wars–themed…
Disneyland Resort
Paradise Pier's state-of-the-art roller coaster resembles an old wooden coaster, but it’s got a smooth-as-silk steel track: it feels like you’re being…
Disneyland Resort
This race-car ride bumps and jumps around a track painstakingly decked out like the Great American West. FastPass accepted.
Los Feliz & Griffith Park
If you go to Los Angeles and don’t catch a glimpse of those nine letters looming large on a Hollywood hillside, did you really even visit Tinseltown? Just…
Santa Barbara
California's ‘Queen of the Missions’ reigns above the city on a hilltop perch more than a mile north of downtown. Its imposing Ionic facade, an…
Long Beach & San Pedro
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…
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
San Diego
On the site of San Diego's first European settlement, Old Town consists of a cluster of restored or rebuilt historic 19th-century buildings filled with…
San Diego
A couple blocks east of Petco Park, the city's recent landmark is a beauty. Crowned by a steel-and-mesh dome, the futuristic, nine-story library features…
Newport Beach
This engaging museum highlights California art and cutting-edge contemporary artists, with exhibitions rotating through two large spaces. Recent…
La Jolla
Waves have carved a series of caves into the sandstone cliffs east of La Jolla Cove. The one below the Cave Store, a shop selling vintage curios, is 200…
Long Beach & San Pedro
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…
Santa Barbara Wine Country
Be enchanted by this romantic tasting room built of stone and handmade adobe bricks, embraced by estate vineyards on historic Rancho La Rinconada. Watch…
Los Angeles
Top billing at the Science Center goes to the Space Shuttle Endeavour, one of only four space shuttles nationwide, but there's plenty else to see at this…
San Diego
This justifiably famous zoo is one of SoCal’s biggest attractions, showing more than 3000 animals representing more than 650 species in a beautifully…
Long Beach & San Pedro
Long Beach’s ‘flagship’ attraction is this grand – and supposedly haunted! – British luxury liner. Larger and more luxurious than even the Titanic…
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve
Huntington Beach
You'd be forgiven for overlooking Bolsa Chica, at least on first glance. Against a backdrop of nodding oil derricks, this flat expanse of wetlands doesn't…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
Mammoths, saber-toothed cats and dire wolves roamed LA's savanna in prehistoric times. We know this because of an archaeological trove of skulls and bones…
Will Rogers State Historic Park
Malibu & Pacific Palisades
This park sprawls across ranch land once owned by Will Rogers (1875–1935), an Oklahoma-born cowboy turned humorist, radio-show host and movie star (in the…
San Diego
The hulking aircraft carrier USS Midway was one of the navy’s flagships from 1945 to 1991, last playing a combat role in the First Gulf War. On the flight…
San Diego
High on Palomar Mountain, at an elevation of 5500ft to avoid light pollution, the Palomar Observatory is simply spectacular – as large as Rome’s Pantheon, with…
Huntington Beach
One of SoCal’s best beaches, the sand surrounding the pier at the foot of Main St gets packed on summer weekends with surfers, volleyball players,…
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
La Jolla
This reserve preserves the last mainland stands of the Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana), a species adapted to sparse rainfall and sandy, stony soils. Steep…
Los Feliz & Griffith Park
A gift to the city in 1896 by mining mogul Griffith J Griffith, and five times the size of New York’s Central Park, Griffith Park is one of the country’s…
