Experience the best of Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach lies along a coast of cliffs and sandy coves in Orange County, backed by the canyons of the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. It has been an artists' colony since the early 1900s, and galleries line the town's streets. Main Beach, with its lifeguard tower and volleyball courts, sits at the centre, and the clifftop Heisler Park looks over rocky coves and kelp beds.

Each summer the Festival of Arts and the Pageant of the Masters, in which living people pose to recreate famous paintings, fill the evenings. The Laguna Art Museum shows California artists, and tide pools line the shore at Crescent Bay and Thousand Steps Beach. Crystal Cove State Park, to the north, has a beach with historic wooden cottages and trails along the bluffs.

Fish tacos and long café breakfasts on the main street are the local habit, with Mediterranean restaurants on terraces above the sea. Sea breezes keep the air fresh, and fog is common in early summer.