Things to Do in Southern California
San Diego, the Orange County coast, wine country, the desert and the Santa Barbara shore.
See things to do »The Best Places to Visit in Southern California
Most lists of things to do in Southern California start and end in Los Angeles, but the region keeps going for a long way in every direction. South of the city lie the Orange County beach towns and San Diego, a two-hour drive that passes surf breaks, harbor villages and a string of Spanish missions. East, past the San Jacinto Mountains, the Coachella Valley holds Palm Springs and its desert resort towns, with Joshua Tree National Park on the plateau above. North, the coast bends west toward Santa Barbara, where the mountains drop almost straight into the Pacific. This guide covers all of that, and leaves Los Angeles County itself to our sister site, Best of Los Angeles County.
San Diego is the anchor of the south. Balboa Park gathers more than a dozen museums and the San Diego Zoo around Spanish Revival buildings put up for a 1915 exposition, the aircraft carrier USS Midway is moored on the downtown waterfront, and La Jolla, Coronado and Mission Bay each have a different kind of beach. Orange County, between San Diego and LA, mixes Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm with the beach towns of Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Dana Point. A little inland from the north San Diego County coast, Carlsbad has LEGOLAND and a hillside of spring flowers, and the Temecula Valley grows wine grapes on rolling granite hills.
Palm Springs feels like another state. Mid-century houses sit under palm trees and bare mountains, the Aerial Tramway climbs from the desert floor into pine forest, and the palm oases of the Indian Canyons are a short drive from downtown. Santa Barbara, on the other side of the region, is quieter still: a Spanish Colonial downtown of white walls and red tile, a mission on the hill, a long wooden wharf and wine tasting rooms in a former warehouse district, with the Danish-style village of Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley over the pass.
The distances are what shape a trip here. San Diego to Santa Barbara is roughly 220 miles, much of it through the Los Angeles freeway system, and the desert is a separate journey inland. That makes a Southern California road trip the most natural way to see several areas: up the coast on Interstate 5 and Highway 101, or out to the desert on Interstate 10 and back. Families can build a trip around theme parks and beaches, while couples often pair a beach town with wine country or the desert. Whichever way you go, the best places to visit in Southern California reward a slower pace: two nights in each beat a new hotel every day.
To help you sort the things to do in Southern California by place, each area in this guide has its own page of highlights and top-rated tours and tickets, and there is a dining guide and a page of annual festivals, from film festivals in Palm Springs and Santa Barbara to Comic-Con in San Diego. When you are ready to plan, ask for free trip quotes and a travel specialist will put together hotels and activities for your dates.
Explore Southern California by Area
Top-Rated Things to Do in Southern California
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ViatorTours, tickets, prices and reviews from Viator (a Tripadvisor company) and Tiqets — prices are per person, from, and were checked October 31, 2026. Best in SoCal may earn a commission when you book, at no extra cost to you.
Where to Eat in Southern California
Southern California outside LA has its own food traditions: fish tacos and California burritos in San Diego, harbor seafood in Newport Beach and Dana Point, date shakes and retro supper clubs around Palm Springs, and Santa Barbara's mix of beachside seafood, taquerias and Santa Ynez Valley wine. Our dining guide is grouped by area so you can eat near what you are seeing.
Southern California dining guide »
Festivals and Events in Southern California
Southern California's calendar starts with film festivals in Palm Springs and Santa Barbara and Modernism Week in the desert. Spring brings tennis at Indian Wells, Coachella and Stagecoach, the Swallows Day Parade and the Flower Fields bloom; summer has Comic-Con, the San Diego County Fair, racing at Del Mar and the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach; August brings Fiesta to Santa Barbara, and December lights up the Newport Beach harbor with a boat parade.
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Southern California — FAQ
What are the best places to visit in Southern California outside Los Angeles?
San Diego, the Orange County beach towns, Palm Springs and Joshua Tree, Santa Barbara, Carlsbad and the Temecula wine country, and Catalina Island. Each works for a long weekend on its own, and several combine well on a road trip.
How many days do I need for a Southern California road trip?
A week covers San Diego, the Orange County coast and Santa Barbara at a comfortable pace. Add two or three days for Palm Springs and Joshua Tree, which are inland and best treated as a separate leg.
When is the best time to visit Southern California?
Spring and fall are the most comfortable everywhere. The coast is often gray in May and June, summer is the busy beach season, and the desert is best from October to May; summer days in Palm Springs are very hot.
Do I need a car in Southern California?
For most trips, yes. San Diego has a trolley and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains link San Diego, Orange County and Santa Barbara along the coast, but beaches, wineries, the desert and national parks are much easier by car.
Is Los Angeles covered in this guide?
Only briefly. Los Angeles County has its own visitor guide, bestoflacounty.com, with Hollywood, the beach cities, museums and Long Beach. This site covers the rest of Southern California.