Huntington Beach

The town is built along roughly 14km of wide, flat sand, from the dog-friendly stretch in the north past the pier to the state beaches in the south, with fire rings for evening bonfires, volleyball nets and a long beachfront path. The beach is the reason people stay here, and it fills from early morning surfers to sunset.

The Pacific is the catch. Water reaches about 20-21°C in August and September but sits near 15°C through winter and spring, and early summer often brings grey mornings. Waves are steady and rip currents common, so swimming means staying near the lifeguard towers. For calmer water and rocky coves, the beaches of Newport and Laguna are within half an hour.

Eating here is mostly casual and outdoors: fish tacos and burritos near the pier, breakfast and acai spots for surfers, brewpubs and seafood places with ocean views along the coast highway. Main Street and the shopping blocks around it carry most of the choice, with plenty of chains in between.

The real draw is a short drive inland. Little Saigon, in neighbouring Westminster and Garden Grove, is one of the largest Vietnamese communities outside Vietnam. Its pho houses, banh mi bakeries and busy family restaurants are worth a dedicated trip. Good Mexican cooking is spread through the county. Fine dining is thin in town itself and usually means a trip to Newport Beach or Costa Mesa.

Sightseeing is short and centres on surf culture. The long concrete pier is the landmark, the International Surfing Museum tells the story of the sport and the town's place in it, and the Surfers' Hall of Fame sets handprints into the pavement at the foot of Main Street. Beyond that the city is largely postwar suburbs and oil-field history, with little old architecture. Visitors who want museums and heritage head to Los Angeles or the mission towns down the coast.

Going out happens on and around Main Street, a few blocks inland from the pier, where sports bars, beach bars with rooftop decks and a handful of cocktail and dance spots fill up on Friday and Saturday nights. The crowd is young, local and casual, and summer weekends can be loud and boisterous. Weeknights are quiet, everything shuts at 2am under California law, and there is little beyond this one strip. For a bigger night out, Long Beach or Los Angeles are the options, both a drive away.

The ocean is the outdoor life here. Surfing defines the town, with consistent breaks either side of the pier and schools for beginners, and stand-up paddling and kayaking are easy in the harbour channels. A paved path runs the length of the beach for cycling and running.

The Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, a restored coastal wetland, is one of the best birding spots in Southern California, with herons, terns and pelicans close to the trail. Huntington Central Park adds lakes and woodland. For hills, Crystal Cove's canyon trails and the Laguna coast wilderness are about half an hour south, and the Santa Ana Mountains a little further inland. The surroundings, though, are mostly flat, built-up suburb.

The base works well for exploring Southern California, as long as you have a car and avoid rush hour. Los Angeles is about an hour away, with Hollywood, Downtown and the museums of the Westside. Laguna Beach, an arts town on a dramatic stretch of coast, is half an hour south, and Mission San Juan Capistrano, one of the best preserved of the Spanish missions, is a little further.

Ferries from Long Beach and Newport reach Avalon on Catalina Island in about an hour, a car-light harbour town with its own island character. Long Beach itself has the Queen Mary and a historic downtown. San Diego is around one and a half to two hours, and the Temecula wine country about the same.

Few beach towns sit this close to so many big family attractions. Disneyland and California Adventure are around half an hour inland, Knott's Berry Farm is closer still, and the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach makes an easy morning. Legoland and the San Diego zoos are reachable on a longer day.

In town, children have the wide sandy beaches, the boardwalk trails and pelicans at Bolsa Chica, and the playgrounds and lakes of Huntington Central Park. For tide pools, the rocky shores of Crystal Cove and Laguna are about half an hour south. Hotels and restaurants are relaxed and used to families. The drawbacks are the driving, because every outing needs a car, and the waves. They are better for boogie boarding under a lifeguard's eye than for toddlers paddling.

Downtown, the pier and Main Street can be walked comfortably, and the flat beachfront path makes a rented bike or e-bike the pleasantest way to move along the coast. Beyond that, this is car country. Local buses exist but are slow and infrequent, there is no rail in town, and the theme parks, Little Saigon, Laguna and Los Angeles all mean driving or ride-hailing on busy freeways. Parking near the beach fills on summer weekends.

Shopping in town is about surf and beach style. Main Street and the blocks by the pier are lined with surf shops, board makers, swimwear and casual clothing, and an open-air centre across the coast highway adds mid-range brands and ocean-view terraces. Local surfboards and surf brand clothing are the most characteristic things to take home.

For anything bigger, South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, about twenty minutes away, is one of the largest luxury malls in the country, with the major fashion houses under one roof, and Newport's outdoor malls are close too. There are no real markets or crafts of note.

This is an expensive stretch of coast. Beachfront and resort hotels charge high rates, particularly in summer and on weekends, and sit-down meals with tips and tax add up quickly. A rental car and parking are close to essential and need budgeting for. The beach itself is free, motels along the inland boulevards are cheaper, and the Vietnamese and Mexican places of the surrounding county offer good food at modest cost.

Huntington Beach itself has little formal stage life: cover bands and acoustic sets in the Main Street bars, summer concerts in the park and a small community theatre. The serious programme is a short drive away in Costa Mesa, where the Segerstrom Center for the Arts hosts the Pacific Symphony, touring Broadway productions, ballet and opera, and South Coast Repertory runs a respected theatre season. The large concert halls and arenas of Los Angeles are about an hour off.

There is no bathing tradition here, and spa life means the resort hotels on the coast highway and ordinary day spas and massage studios in the shopping centres. What the town does offer is an unhurried rhythm: yoga on the sand, slow walks on the pier at sunset and evenings around a beach fire. It suits a visitor who unwinds by doing little, rather than one looking for baths or a dedicated retreat.