Must-see attractions in Southern California

  • People entering Knott's Scary Farm at Knott's Berry Farm, celebrating a Southern California Halloween tradition, on October 14, 2013.

    Knott’s Berry Farm

    Orange County

    What started as a simple berry farm is now a sprawling 160-acre operation with rides, live shows and lovable Peanuts characters roaming the grounds. Knott…

  • VENICE BEACH, USA - SEPTEMBER 29, 2016: The crowded Venice Beach Boardwalk. Lots of people are strolling down the boardwalk. On the sides there are several shops and palm trees.

    Venice Boardwalk

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    Prepare for a sensory overload on Venice's Boardwalk, a one-of-a-kind experience. Buff bodybuilders brush elbows with street performers and sellers of…

  • Star of India at the Maritime Museum on the Embarcadero.

    Maritime Museum of San Diego

    San Diego

    Next to the new Waterfront Park, this collection of 11 historic sailing ships, steam boats and submarines is easy to spot: just look for the 100ft-high…

  • Sunnylands center and garden in Rancho Mirage, Desert environment park, home to a variety of plants and wildlife, California, USA. September 26th, 2020; Shutterstock ID 1824982439; your: Meghan O'Dea; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI

    Sunnylands

    Greater Palm Springs

    Palm Springs has long been famous a celebrity playground, but few destinations in the valley better exemplify that pedigree than Sunnylands, the retreat…

  • USA, California, Inyo County, Death Valley National Park, Zabriskie Point trail at sunset

    Zabriskie Point

    Death Valley National Park

    Not many national park features can say they were celebrated in a 1969 film of the same name, but Zabriskie Point claims that honor thanks to director…

  • Timelapse of of the sun setting over Death Valley, as seen from Dante's View.

    Dante's View

    Death Valley National Park

    Dante's View is an overlook that sits perched at 5475ft atop the Black Mountains, affording stunning panoramic views of the entire southern Death Valley…

  • California Surf Museum

    San Diego

    It's easy to spend an hour in this heartfelt museum of surf artifacts, from a timeline of surfing history to surf-themed art and a radical collection of…

  • California, Joshua Tree National Park, Keys View in Little San Bernadino Mountains, Mount San Jacinto across Coachella Valley

    Keys View

    Joshua Tree National Park

    High atop the Little San Bernardino Mountains, Keys View offers panoramic views of the whole Coachella Valley spread out like a picnic blanket. On clear…

  • Palm Springs Art Museum,California,USA

    Palm Springs Art Museum

    Greater Palm Springs

    Art fans should not miss this museum and its changing exhibitions drawn from a stellar collection of international modern and contemporary painting,…

  • USA, California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Mission

    Old Mission Santa Barbara

    Santa Barbara

    California's ‘Queen of the Missions’ reigns above the city on a hilltop perch more than a mile north of downtown. Its imposing Ionic facade, an…

  • LOS ANGELES, USA - DECEMBER 23 2015: The Getty Villa  is one of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum which is dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria.; Shutterstock ID 355379339; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    Getty Villa

    Malibu & Pacific Palisades

    Stunningly perched on an ocean-view hillside, this museum in a replica 1st-century Roman villa is an exquisite, 64-acre showcase for Greek, Roman and…

  • The Bowers Museum

    Bowers Museum

    Orange County

    From its stately, Spanish Colonial–style shell, the Bowers Museum explodes onto the scene every year or so with remarkable exhibits that remind LA-centric…

  • Watts Towers

    Watts Towers

    Los Angeles

    The three 'Gothic' spires of the fabulous Watts Towers rank among the world’s greatest monuments of folk art. In 1921 Italian immigrant Simon Rodia set…

  • Estudillo Museum, Old Town State Historic Park.

    Old Town San Diego State Historic Park

    San Diego

    On the site of San Diego's first European settlement, Old Town consists of a cluster of restored or rebuilt historic 19th-century buildings filled with…

  • Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

    Greater Palm Springs

    This rotating cable car climbs nearly 6000ft vertically and covers five different vegetation zones, from the Sonoran desert floor to pine-scented Mt San…

  • Discovery Cube Orange County, a science museum in Santa Ana, California, with more than 100 hands-on exhibits.

    Discovery Cube

    Orange County

    Follow the giant 10-story cube – balanced on one of its points – to the county's best educational kiddie attraction. About 100 hands-on displays await,…

  • Abbot Kinney Boulevard

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    Abbot Kinney, who founded Venice in the early 1900s, would probably be delighted to find that one of Venice’s best-loved streets bears his name. Sort of a…

  • New Children’s Museum

    San Diego

    This interactive children’s museum offers interactive art meant for kids. Installations are designed by artists, so tykes can learn principles of movement…

  • MOXI

    Santa Barbara

    This next-gen science museum is an interactive treasure trove of exhibits and experiences related to sound, technology, speed, light and color that are…

  • San Diego Main Library

    San Diego

    A couple blocks east of Petco Park, the city's recent landmark is a beauty. Crowned by a steel-and-mesh dome, the futuristic, nine-story library features…

  • Santa Barbara County Courthouse

    Santa Barbara

    Built in Spanish-Moorish Revival style in 1929, the courthouse features hand-painted ceilings, wrought-iron chandeliers and tiles from Tunisia and Spain…

  • Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) Captive male on rocks, Living Desert Zoo, Palm Desert, California, USA

    Living Desert Zoo & Gardens

    Greater Palm Springs

    This amazing animal park showcases desert plants and animals alongside exhibits on regional geology and Native American culture. Highlights include a walk…

  • Noah Purifoy's Outdoor Desert Art Museum of Assemblage Sculpture created in the high desert of Joshua Tree, California.

    Noah Purifoy Desert Art Museum

    Joshua Tree National Park

    The 'Junk Dada' sculptures and installations of African American artist Noah Purifoy (1917–2004) are collected by the world's finest museums, but some of…

  • Venice Canals

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    Even many Angelenos have no idea that just a couple of blocks from the Boardwalk madness is an idyllic neighborhood that preserves 3 miles of Abbot Kinney…

  • Wonderland of Rocks

    Joshua Tree National Park

    This striking rock labyrinth extends roughly from Indian Cove in the north to Park Blvd in the south and is predictably a popular rock climbers' haunt…

  • El Matador State Beach

    Malibu & Pacific Palisades

    Arguably Malibu’s most stunning beach, where you park on the bluffs and stroll down a trail to sandstone rock towers that rise from emerald coves. Topless…

  • Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

    Death Valley National Park

    The most accessible dunes in Death Valley are an undulating sea of sand rising up to 100ft high next to the highway near Stovepipe Wells Village. They're…

  • Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum

    Santa Barbara

    Stuffed with a hodgepodge of historical written artifacts, this detour is for history nerds and book and literature lovers. One of a dozen Karpeles…

  • Overhead of 'Hypar' kinetic sculpture in California Science Center, Exposition Park.

    California Science Center

    Los Angeles

    Top billing at the Science Center goes to the Space Shuttle Endeavour, one of only four space shuttles nationwide, but there's plenty else to see at this…

  • A gorilla named Jessica holds its two week old unnamed baby in its enclosure at the San Diego Zoo, California on January 13, 2015.  A naming competition is currently underway for Jessica's sixth baby gorilla. Gorillas' live in tropical or subtropical forests in Africa.            AFP PHOTO/MARK RALSTON        (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

    San Diego Zoo

    San Diego

    This justifiably famous zoo is one of SoCal’s biggest attractions, showing more than 3000 animals representing more than 650 species in a beautifully…

  • CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 23: Visitors check out a miniature Petco Park made of LEGO brick at the Grand Opening of MINILAND San Diego at LEGOLAND California on March 23, 2023 in Carlsbad, California. (Photo by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images)
1475630417
theme park

    Legoland California Resort

    San Diego

    A fantasy environment built largely of those little colored plastic blocks from Denmark. Many rides and attractions are targeted to elementary schoolers:…

  • Penguins at Sea World

    SeaWorld San Diego

    San Diego

    Opened in San Diego in 1964, SeaWorld became one of California’s most popular theme parks. Visitors shuttle between aquatic-themed rides, animal…

  • Hotel del Coronado

    Hotel del Coronado

    San Diego

    One of the world's most iconic hotels, ‘The Del’ is an all-timber whitewashed architectural fantasy complete with conical towers, cupolas, turrets,…

  • Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

    Los Angeles

    Dinos to diamonds, bears to beetles, hissing roaches to African elephants – this museum will take you around the world and back, through millions of years…

  • Tree lined Inspiration Point hiking trail in Will Rogers State Historic Park.

    Will Rogers State Historic Park

    Malibu & Pacific Palisades

    This park sprawls across ranch land once owned by Will Rogers (1875–1935), an Oklahoma-born cowboy turned humorist, radio-show host and movie star (in the…

  • Hamel's surf and skate store on Mission Beach.

    Mission & Pacific Beaches Boardwalk

    San Diego

    Central San Diego's best beach scene is concentrated in a narrow strip of land between the ocean and Mission Bay. There's great people-watching along the…

  • White stone monument near blue ocean and sky

    Cabrillo National Monument

    San Diego

    Atop a steep hill at the tip of the peninsula, this is San Diego’s finest locale for history, views and nature walks. It’s also the best place in town to…

  • DEATH VALLEY JUNCTION, CA/USA - OCTOBER 25 2015: the facade of the Amargosa Opera House. The Amargosa Opera House and Hotel is a historic building and cultural center located in Death Valley.; Shutterstock ID 332234195; Your name (First / Last): Emma Sparks; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Best_in_the_US_POIs

    Amargosa Opera House

    Death Valley National Park

    An opera house in the middle of nowhere? Yes, thanks to the vision of New York dancer Marta Beckett who fell in love with the 1920s colonnaded adobe…

  • EGX26Y View of the Junipero Serra Museum building in the morning. Presidio Park,  San Diego, California, United States.

Presidio Hill

    Presidio Hill

    San Diego

    In 1769 Padre Junípero Serra and Gaspar de Portolá established the first Spanish settlement in California overlooking the valley of the San Diego River…

  • Two women chatting whilst stand up paddleboarding in Mission Bay.

    Mission Bay

    San Diego

    Just east of Mission and Pacific Beaches is this 7-sq-mile playground, with 27 miles of shoreline and 90 acres of parks on islands, coves and peninsulas…

    • placement: fullWidth
    • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
    • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [300, 250], [320, 50], [1, 1],
    • targeting:
      {
        "position": "superzone"
      }