Things to do nearLaguna Beaches

Laguna Beach has carried the identity of an artists' colony since the early twentieth century, when painters arrived to capture the coastal light on canvas and founded the Laguna Beach Art Association, one of the oldest such organizations in California. That creative spirit remains embedded in the town today, visible in the dozen or more galleries concentrated along Coast Highway and Forest Avenue, and celebrated each summer during the Festival of Arts, a long-running juried exhibition held in an outdoor venue that also stages the theatrical Pageant of the Masters.

Beyond the arts, the town sits within a stretch of coastline that includes more than thirty named beaches and coves, from the broad sandy expanse of Main Beach to the quieter pocket beaches tucked beneath the cliffs to the north and south. Divers and snorkelers are drawn to the area's underwater preserves, where kelp forests and rocky reefs shelter garibaldi, sheephead, and leopard sharks.

The downtown dining scene reflects the town's character, leaning toward fresh seafood, farm-to-table California cuisine, and relaxed outdoor patios where you can watch the last light leave the hills. The surrounding Laguna Coast Wilderness Park offers miles of trails through coastal sage scrub with views stretching from the inland valleys to the open ocean. Laguna Beach earns its reputation not through spectacle but through an accumulation of genuine pleasures, making it one of the Southern California coast's most rewarding destinations.