For many British tourists, booking a vacation to California means flying to LA, seeing Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywood and Venice Beach then driving up to see San Francisco. A whistle-stop tour of that city, then back on the plane, thinking that they’ve ‘done’ California.
If you’re planning a trip to the Golden State anytime soon, can I suggest that you skip the whole LA thing? Stay at one of the local beaches, not Venice, but maybe come down to Newport, or there’s Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, just pick one and settle in for a week. You can drive to LA for one day, see the sights, head off to Disneyland but come back home to the beach every evening.
There’s nothing quite like life in a Californian beach city. Hire bikes for the week and live like a local.
We celebrated a good friend, Laurie’s, birthday on Saturday with a true Newport Beach day. This involved a cycle ride along the boardwalk (stopping off to watch a quick game of dodge ball being played on the beach) then a tour of Newport Harbor in a Duffy. We were having such a great time; we rang and extended our stay on the boat.
Then a cycle ride home and off to the A Restaurant which is on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) in Newport. The restaurant used to be called The Arches and is a Newport Beach landmark. It now has new owners and is very chic and modern with beautiful décor and wonderful food. I started the evening with a blackberry mojito and things just got even better from there!
We cycled home from the restaurant, passing by all the graduation parties, as the students prepare to move off the Peninsula for the summer and the vacationers move in. There are bike paths everywhere, making it easy to skip taking the car. You may just have to avoid the odd cyclist who’s having trouble cycling in a straight line late at night.
On Sunday we cycled to Sunset Beach and watched the kite surfers. We’ve had perfect conditions for kite surfing this weekend so they were out all along the coast. We sat on an almost empty beach and watched the surfers zipping back and forth. We made a quick stop in Huntington Beach for a burger, and then headed home for rollerblading in Balboa. We finished the weekend by sitting on our patio watching the world go by and being entertained by our neighbour, Skip, who would keep coming out during the breaks in the Lakers game for a chat.
I know there are great tourist excursions to be made in Los Angeles, but don’t stay there! It’s busy, the traffic is awful and it’s full of smog. Staying at the beach is something you’ll never forget. You won’t want to leave.
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Sigh…..[sitting in Victoria, London in the rain in June] I did the drive from LA to San Francisco on the coast road. I’ll never forget as I got to the traffic lights leaving Sunset Boulevard and turning onto Highway 1, my Seabring convertible’s radio started playing the Blues Brothers and I was off!
I got lost for an hour in the hills above Santa Barbara mind you – the road signs over there are tiny!!!
Great suggestions! You are right, skip LA altogether. I love “A” Restaurant too. Good call!
Wow! You have sold me! I have a brother in San Deigo that keeps telling me to come and visit… Once Seattle turns off its sunshine, I’m booking my trip!
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