Experience the best of Malibu

Malibu stretches for roughly 34 kilometres along the Pacific Coast Highway, with the steep Santa Monica Mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. Surfrider Beach, beside the Malibu Pier, was the first place in the world to be named a World Surfing Reserve, and the Adamson House, a Spanish Colonial home decorated with local tiles, stands by Malibu Lagoon, where shorebirds gather.

Point Dume, a headland with coastal bluffs, is a good place to watch the gray whales that pass between December and April, and Zuma Beach is a long, wide stretch of sand. El Matador and Leo Carrillo state beaches have sea stacks, caves and tide pools. In the mountains, Malibu Creek State Park, where the television series M*A*S*H was filmed, has a lake and rocky trails, and the Getty Villa lies just to the east.

Beach shacks and clifftop restaurants serve fresh fish, tacos and juice, and vineyards in the hills make small amounts of wine. A morning haze often clings to the coast in May and June, autumn can be the hottest time of year, and winter rain turns the hills green.