Feature photo: Newport Beach
My favorite beach boasts its own town, which not only adds two piers to the beach, but also other attractions that make Newport Beach the town where I could easily spend all my time.
Newport Beach was founded in 1906 and today has a good 90 inhabitants. It has one of the largest marinas on the US West Coast and several small islands, of which Balboa can be considered a world of its own.
The city is located on the well-known Highway Number One and borders on Huntington Beach (approx. 200 inhabitants) and on Laguna Beach with approx. 000 inhabitants. The former town is a bigger draw for surfers and the latter for cabaret lovers who also prefer a slightly quieter beach.
From Newport Beach you can be very quickly at LAX and John Wayne Airport as well as in Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Anaheim or Riverside. By the way, still lies today John Waynes boat, the Wild Goose, docks in Newport Beach Harbor and you can cruise around the harbor over dinner.
Newport Beach is also a great way to get to Catalina Island by boat. If you want to fly from Germany to John Wayne Airport - Orange County, you have to make a stopover, which works very well via San Francisco. This saves you from a longer drive that you have to plan for if you land directly in Los Angeles.
And should you ever get bored in Newport Beach, all of Orange County's attractions are just minutes away, plus Los Angeles, San Diego or the other amenities of Southern California.
But once you've found Newport Beach to be your thing, you don't have to travel very far to enjoy a few pleasant days.
"If I'd learned one thing from travelling, it was that the way to get things done was to go ahead and do them. Don't talk about going to Borneo. Book a ticket, get a visa, pack a bag, and it just happens.”
Alex Garland, The Beach (2011 [1996]: 139)
Bettina is visibly comfortable.