20 Best Things To Do In Orange County, California

Orange County is two trips that share a freeway. Inland, around Anaheim and Santa Ana, you get theme parks and museums. The coast from Huntington Beach to Dana Point is tide pools, surf breaks and state beaches, so families with small kids can stay inland, while hikers and whale watchers should sleep near the water.

1. Disneyland Resort

Disneyland Park in Anaheim has Fantasyland and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, built as the planet Batuu. The resort's second park is Disney California Adventure.

Outside the gates, the Downtown Disney District is the resort's shopping and dining street. Gordon Ramsay at The Carnaby opened there on July 13, 2026.

Two seasons change the look of both parks. Halloween Time begins in late August. The holiday season runs from mid-November into early January.

2. Knott's Berry Farm

Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park is split into four themed areas: Ghost Town for the Old West, Fiesta Village, the Boardwalk and a Snoopy-themed area.

Fall nights belong to Knott's Scary Farm, and Merry Farm takes over for the holidays.

3. Knott's Soak City

Knott's Soak City is the water park next door, sold on its own ticket. Summer only: it opens on select days from mid-May to early September. Inside are 23 slides, a one-third-mile river and a 750,000-gallon wave pool.

4. Adventure City

Adventure City is a small family theme park on South Beach Boulevard in Anaheim, with rides like the Freeway Coaster and the Adventure City Express train. General admission starts at $32.95, with free parking.

Not every day is an open day. The hours calendar shows which ones are.

5. Bowers Museum

Santa Ana's Bowers Museum covers Ancient Arts of China, Art of the Pacific Islands, and California Legacies: Missions and Ranchos. That last gallery makes a good primer before the drive down to the mission in San Juan Capistrano.

6. Discovery Cube Orange County

Kids can lie on a bed of nails, race cars on The Raceway and walk through Dino Quest at Discovery Cube Orange County, the science center farther up North Main Street from the Bowers. Dino Quest comes with general admission.

7. Old Orange County Courthouse

The granite and sandstone Old Orange County Courthouse in downtown Santa Ana now holds a free museum of local and county history. It was dedicated in 1901. Weekdays only: the building opens Monday through Friday, and OC Parks runs free guided tours by appointment.

8. OC Zoo

The OC Zoo in Irvine Regional Park keeps only animals native to the American Southwest, such as black bear, mountain lion and bald eagle, plus a barnyard of goats and sheep.

Entry is cheap. The zoo charges $2 per person aged 3 and up on top of the regional park's vehicle fee.

9. Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

In Yorba Linda, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum stands where Nixon was born. You can walk through the 1910s farmhouse birthplace, still with its original furnishings, then the galleries with replicas of the Oval Office and the White House East Room.

General admission is $29.

10. Orange County Great Park

The draw at Irvine's Orange County Great Park is a tethered balloon that rises 400 feet for a view of up to 40 miles on a clear day. Rides cost $10 for adults, and kids fly free.

Go late in the week. The balloon and the free carousel are closed Monday through Wednesday.

11. Pretend City Children's Museum

Kids run the grocery store, farm, marina and dentist's office at Pretend City, a child-size town in Irvine. Everyone pays the same $22 admission, kids and adults.

12. South Coast Plaza

On a gray day, Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza fills an afternoon. It has more than 230 boutiques, from luxury houses to bookstores and kids' shops.

13. Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve

Birds are the reason to walk the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, where about 5 miles of trails are free to use from sunrise to sunset.

Stay on the marked trails. The Bolsa Chica Conservancy warns of rattlesnakes and poison oak off them, and its small interpretive center is on Warner Avenue.

14. Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach markets itself as Surf City USA. The Huntington Beach Pier runs 1,850 feet out from where Main Street meets Pacific Coast Highway, and walking it is free.

Dog owners can use Huntington Dog Beach, between Seapoint Avenue and Goldenwest Street, where the sand is leash-optional. The beaches also have bonfire pits.

15. Crystal Cove State Park

Crystal Cove State Park has tide pools at low tide, trails up Moro Canyon, 3.2 miles of beach and a Historic District of 46 cottages from the 1930s and 1940s. The Historic District stays open until 10 p.m., later than the rest of the park.

16. Laguna Beach

Laguna was founded as an art colony. All seven miles of its coastline sit inside California's Marine Protected Areas, which shelter its coves and tide pools.

Summer is festival season. The Sawdust Art Festival opens in June. The Pageant of the Masters begins the first week of July. An open-air trolley runs between the beaches and the village shops.

17. Mission San Juan Capistrano

Father Junípero Serra founded Mission San Juan Capistrano, the seventh of California's 21 missions, on November 1, 1776. Adult tickets cost $19 and include three audio tours. It's closed on Mondays.

18. Whale watching in Dana Point

Whale-watching boats leave Dana Point Harbor all year, and the season decides what you'll see. According to Visit Dana Point's whale guide, gray whales head south from late November to mid-February and back north into May, blue whales feed offshore from May through October, and dolphins are there year-round.

The nonprofit Ocean Institute at the harbor sails Whale & Marine Life Tours on a 65-foot research vessel. Its exhibits are open to the public on weekends from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

19. Doheny State Beach

Doheny, at the mouth of Dana Point Harbor, was established in 1931 as California's first state beach. It's a surf beach with a campground, and its visitor center has a tide pool and five ocean tanks.

20. Salt Creek Beach

At Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point, a small offshore reef produces the left-breaking waves surfers come for, and there are tide pools to explore at low tide. Parking costs $1 an hour.