Laguna Beach Arts Colony, Mission San Juan Capistrano & Long Beach Museum

The oldest cultural institution in Orange County, founded in 1918 by the artists who made Laguna Beach a destination. The permanent collection focuses on California Impressionism and Plein Air painting — the Laguna School artists who gathered here from 1903 onward, including William Wendt, Edgar Payne, and Joseph Kleitsch. The museum's Plein Air exhibition runs in October; the year-round collection documents why this coastal light attracted painters in the first place.

The walkable downtown arts district covers eight blocks of Forest Avenue and the surrounding cross streets — 60+ galleries in a former agricultural town that transformed into an arts colony after the first painter arrived in 1903. The Wyland Galleries, Peter Blake Gallery, and Gallery 500 represent different ends of the commercial art spectrum; the Sawdust Art Festival and Festival of Arts in summer occupy the hillside above downtown.

The tide pools at Treasure Island and Crescent Bay are among the richest in Southern California, exposed at low tide to reveal colonies of purple sea urchins, bat stars, aggregating anemones, and on fortunate mornings, octopuses in the deeper pools. The Laguna Beach Marine Protection Area covers 10 of the town's beaches; the ecosystem density reflects 20 years of protection.

A 0.75-mile cliffside walk above the Laguna Beach coves, with benches facing directly west to the horizon. The park was established in 1930 and the eucalyptus and Torrey pine plantings have matured to create a tree-canopied coastal promenade unlike anything else on the Orange County coast. The tide pool access stairs descend to three separate coves.

A restaurant at the Montage Laguna Beach resort serving California tasting menu cuisine from a kitchen led by a Robuchon-trained chef — the 6-course format changes monthly based on what's available from the resort's network of Southern California farms. The terrace faces south down the coast toward Dana Point; reserve well in advance.

Founded in 1776, the 'Jewel of the Missions' is the best-preserved mission complex in California — the Great Stone Church (1806) was destroyed by an 1812 earthquake, and the ruins are the most dramatic surviving 18th-century structure in California. The adjacent Sacred Garden, the Serra Chapel (the oldest building in California still in use), and the museum documenting the Acjachemen people who built the mission make this the most historically layered site in Orange County.

A Belgian restaurant in a 1920s building on Camino Capistrano, directly across from the mission, serving moules frites, waterzooi, and Belgian waffles in the most unlikely cultural pairing in South Orange County. Operating since 1976; the moules marinières are made from Carlsbad Aquafarm mussels.

The Ocean Institute occupies the harbor adjacent to the replica tall ship Pilgrim — the brig Richard Henry Dana sailed in 1835 and documented in 'Two Years Before the Mast,' the book that put California on the East Coast's cultural map. The institute offers marine research programs and weekend tours of the Pilgrim and the research vessel Sea Explorer.

The tide pools at Doheny's north end, where the creek delta meets the ocean, host sea hares, nudibranches, and the occasional blue-ringed octopus. The park's interpretive center documents the Juaneño (Acjachemen) use of the estuary ecosystem for 2,000 years before Spanish contact.

Perched on a clifftop bluff in Long Beach with sweeping views of the harbor and Catalina Island, LBMA focuses on California art from the early 20th century through contemporary works, with particular strengths in American modern and folk art. The 1912 carriage house and bluff-top sculpture garden are alone worth the visit.

The RMS Queen Mary, docked permanently in Long Beach since 1967, is open for self-guided tours of the 1936 Art Deco ocean liner — the Grand Salon, the engine room, and the first-class staterooms are preserved intact. The ship's Sun Deck provides the harbor's best panoramic view of the Los Angeles skyline.

One of the largest aquariums in the US, with 50 exhibits covering Pacific Ocean habitats from local kelp forests and Baja California to the open Pacific and the Arctic. The shark lagoon (wadeable), the Honda Blue Cavern exhibit, and the outdoor lorikeet forest make this a full half-day for adults as well as families.