Top travel locations to visit in Travis Newport Beach? Featuring an array of stunning beaches, nature preserves, a choice of activities and romantic restaurants, Newport Beach is a fun weekend destination. Take in the scenery at Corona del Mar State Beach, go for a walk along the Newport Pier, visit the Orange County Museum of Art and enjoy the beautiful Sherman Library and Gardens. Here are the best things to do in Newport Beach, California. Hours/availability may have changed.
Just south of Santa Monica lies bohemian Venice. A stroll down the iconic Venice Boardwalk provides gorgeous ocean views, shopping opportunities, food, bars and eclectic street performers. Key spots in the area include Venice Skate Park and Muscle Beach Venice. Enhance your stroll with a coffee from Groundwork Coffee Company or Menotti’s Coffee Stop. Rodeo Drive is synonymous with luxury and affluence. Though the Beverly Hills street itself is two miles (3.2 kilometers) long, the Rodeo Drive tourists flock to is a much shorter section bounded by Wilshire Boulevard to the south and Santa Monica Boulevard to the north. High-end stores like Louis Vuitton, Versace and Dior call this area home. Visitors may also want to stop by the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the exterior of which was prominently featured in the film Pretty Woman(1990).
The Balboa Fun Zone is a family destination located on East Bay Avenue on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. Built in 1936 by Al Anderson, the attraction began with a small beach and a Ferris Wheel. The area was rebuilt in 1986 but went into decline until a new owner began reviving the Fun Zone in 1994. Today the area includes Balboa Village with its beach, boardwalks, hotel, restaurants and shops. Amusement rides include an 18 foot tall bungee ride called Ocean Motion, the Ferris Wheel, Fish Pipe, Burt the Bull Shark, and many others. Other attractions include the historic 1905 Balboa Pavilion, arcades, harbor cruises, and more. Find even more info on Travis Newport Beach.
Bordering Los Angeles to the south, about 20 miles from downtown LA, Long Beach extends along San Pedro Bay. This is another community in the Los Angeles area that you can easily spend a day exploring. Worth visiting here are the historic Queen Mary ocean liner, now converted into a hotel and museum, the Aquarium of the Pacific, and the Museum of Latin America. You can also catch the Catalina Express from Long Beach for a trip over to Catalina Island. In Hancock Park, La Brea Tar Pits were formed 40,000 years ago, when oil seeped through the rock. The Tar Pits would entrap passing animals, which would get stuck in the substance. The tar then preserved the fossils throughout the ages, leaving behind an incredible glimpse into another age. The Page Museum shows reconstructed fossils of prehistoric animals found in the giant tar-craters of La Brea, as well as the process of fossil recovery. You can see bones being worked on and learn what takes place behind the scenes, before bones and skeletons are able to be displayed. The museum displays fully reconstructed fossils of a variety of mammals including mammoths, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, and others, all dating from between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago. An outdoor area in Hancock Park displays replicas of extinct animals.
The world-famous Santa Monica Pier is actually two piers in one. With its bait shop and pier-end restaurant, the longer section built in 1909 is characteristic of most Southern California piers. It’s the shorter adjacent pier constructed in 1916 that most attracts visitors. The elevated plaza linking the two piers is home to an old-fashioned amusement park with a vintage roller coaster, a wooden carousel and one of L.A.’s most recognizable landmarks, a solar-powered Ferris Wheel that sparkles with an ever-changing LED light show every night. There’s a small aquarium, a trapeze school and an array of tasty eateries at the pier too.
Trongsa Dzong: Trongsa Dzong is the biggest fortress and monastery in Bhutan. It is found in the Trongsa District at the heart of the country and overlooks the gorge of the stunning Mangde River. The dzong is the centre of the administrative district, and the monastic complex houses around 200 monks. Also found here is a printing press which publishes many of Bhutan’s religious texts. See more information at Travis Newport Beach.