Los Angeles, San Diego & Southern California Travel Guide

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In all of your California daydreaming, palm trees, golden sands and Pacific sunsets beckon, right? The good news: SoCal is where those cinematic fantasies really can come true.

Surf, sand and sex will always sell SoCal. Even though you wont find many real-life stars in Hollywood these days, you might spot celebs shopping at LAs boutiques or walking along the beach in Malibu. Or just take a sneak peek behind the scenes on a movie studio tour ( ). Then round up the whole family to see where Hollywoods high-tech magic really happens at SoCals theme parks. Universal Studios Hollywood and Orange Countys Disneyland and Disneys California Adventure, with their cartoon characters and adventure rides, are all classic choices. Or take a walk on the wild side at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, where giraffes and zebras roam. Loosen up, and live a little.

SoCal may be best known for its artificial beauty (whoa, botox and silicone!), but its beaches ( ) are really an ace in the hole. Whether youre a punk surfer, aspiring pro volleyball nut or new-agey bohemian, SoCals beach towns, each with its own idiosyncratic personality, give you a perfect excuse to take a vacation. Then hop a boat out to the Channel Islands, a jewel-like archipelago encompassing civilized Catalina and a truly wild national park. If you can tear yourself away from the ocean, more adventures await on land. Escape to the cooler alpine climes of Big Bear Lake or turn up the heat in SoCals deserts with a getaway to retro-modern Palm Springs. Then gear up to dig deeper into the desert: Death Valley, Joshua Tree or Anza-Borrego, where dusty 4WD roads and hiking trails lead to hidden canyons and native fan-palm oases.

Or maybe your SoCal sojourn will be an epicurean quest ( ). Finding the most killer fish tacos in San Diego alone could take days. Meanwhile, LA is an all-around foodie winner, where denizens passionately argue about where the best sushi bar, gourmet food truck or underground supper club is. LA is also a melting pot of ethnic cooking, from Little Tokyo and Thai Town to the tamale shops of East LA. Jam up the Pacific Coast Hwy to Malibu, stopping at seafood shacks, then follow back roads through the fog-kissed vineyards of Santa Barbaras wine country.

Downtown Los Angeles

Often overlooked by star-struck sightseers in Hollywood, Downtown LA () is one place you wont want to miss. From architect Frank Gehrys Walt Disney Concert Hall on Grand Aves Cultural Corridor to the ethnic flavors of El Pueblo de Los Angeles, Little Tokyo and Chinatown, Downtown encapsulates everything LA has to offer: cutting-edge creative arts, a melting pot of world cultures and aspiring civic spaces to rival New York or Chicago. Tip: take a ride into history on the reopened Angels Flight funicular, the worlds shortest railway.

Walt Disney Concert Hall
RICHARD CUMMINS

Disneyland

Where orange groves and walnut trees once grew, there Walt Disney built his dream, throwing open the doors of his Magic Kingdom in 1955. Today, Disneyland () is SoCals most-visited tourist attraction. Inside Anaheims most popular theme park, beloved cartoon characters waltz arm-in-arm down Main Street USA and fireworks explode over Sleeping Beautys castle on summer nights. If youre a kid, or just hopelessly young at heart, who are we to say that Disneyland cant really be the happiest place on earth?

Disney images are copyrighted and may not be repurposed for any use.
DISNEY

Pacific Coast Highway

This legendary highway () snakes past dizzying sea cliffs and dozens of beach towns, each with its own idiosyncratic personality, from offbeat bohemian to glamorously rich. PCH also connects the dots between SoCals coastal cities, from surfin San Diego to rockin LA. Make your escape from tangled, traffic-jammed freeways and cruise in the slow lane. Youll uncover hidden beaches and locals fave surf breaks, rustic seafood shacks dishing up the days freshest catch and old-fashioned piers where you can walk out and catch the sun setting over boundless Pacific horizons.

EUROSTYLE GRAPHICS / ALAMY

Santa Monica

With more than 250 miles of Pacific coastline, SoCal has an overwhelming number of beaches to choose from. If you only have time for one, Santa Monica () can grant instant happiness. Learn to surf, ride a solar-powered Ferris wheel, dance under the stars on an old-fashioned pier, let the kiddos explore the aquariums tidal touch pools, pump iron at Muscle Beach, or just dip your toes in the water and let your troubles float away. Did we mention jaw-dropping sunsets?

DAVID PEEVERS

San Diego Zoo & Balboa Park

An enormous urban green space an increasingly rare sight in SoCal Balboa Park () is where San Diegans come to play (when theyre not at the beach). Take the family and spend the day immersed in more than a dozen art, cultural and science museums, or just marveling at the Spanish Revival architecture while sunning yourself along El Prado promenade. Meet the local wildlife at the world-famous zoo or see a show at the Old Globe theater, a faithful reconstruction of the Shakespearean original.

Giant Panda
KEVIN LEVESQUE

Getty Center

Who says LA has no culture? (Other than pop culture of the American Idol variety, that is.) You can prove those SoCal critics and LA naysayers wrong by getting to the Getty (). An island in the sky in the City of Angels, this architecturally postmodern museums hilltop campus can only be reached by tram, elevating you above the citys smog and grime. Then wander billion-dollar art galleries, botanical gardens, fountain courtyards and outdoor cafes. Incredibly, its all free (except for parking this is still LA, you know).