I found out about Jill's walking tour from a friend. She took me to a spot with the best views in…read moreDana Point that I had never seen before, even from visiting here many times. Her tour was interesting, fun, and very educational. Dana Point has a remarkably colorful past! The best part was Jill herself; she is a fun and engaging guide who will keep you laughing and smiling. I highly recommend this tour for anyone who wants a fun few hours to see, hear and experience this beautiful and unique city, Dana Point.

We went on a walking tour of Dana Point and we were so impressed by our tour guide's (Jill)…read moreknowledge and the beauty of the harbor and headlands. We've lived here for 10 years and I had no idea of the history of the place. Pirates, priests, sailors and surfers! So much fun! Highly recommend this tour.

What a great, historic site. Mission San Juan Capistrano was built in 1776 and is the seventh…read moreoldest Mission in California. View is truly grand and majestic. As soon as you enter you will see a gorgeous garden and remnants of The Great Stone Church, which was destroyed by earthquake in 1812. I also liked Serra Chapel, which is the oldest building in California that's still in use, based on online search. I felt at peace just sitting inside the chapel for few minutes. Current admission fee is $19 for adults and $11 for youth (5-17) years of age). Admission fee includes a self-guided audio tour but the device was kind of difficult to hear. There isn't a designated parking lot for the Mission but there are few public parking lots near the area. I was here on a weekday so was able to find street parking along Camino Capistrano. Most of the street parking is limited to 5 hours. There are plenty of restaurants within walking distance so it's a great location. You will definitely smell BBQ smoke coming from Heritage BBQ restaurant across the street.

We drove up the coast, on this FIRST OFFICIAL DAY OF SUMMER. We drove up the I-5 to the PCH…read more We drove through Dana Point and into Laguna Beach. FROM THERE, we had to drive to a place for a PICNIC. We hoped on the I-5, and we drove back down the I-5 to the San Juan CAPISTRANO Mission. After driving back and forth, and around the MISSION 2 Times, we found PARKING ON THE THIRD ATTEMPT. We found it in the Church Parking Lot. WE RECOMMEND MORE DISABLED PARKING!!! We walked right in, NO WAIT AT ALL. We started by looking for the Picnic Spot, which is in the back left corner. It is a nice spot with lots of tables and trees. In addition, there are individual handwashing stations there. After lunch, which we picked up at a nearby SUBWAY, we spent about an hour touring the SJC MISSION!!! Its highlight was the display of US FLAGS, my guess would be over 100!!!

Love, love this area of Dana Point. This has been my families spot to learn about the ocean and to…read moreenjoy sea life. We have always come to the Marine protected area when the tide is low and walked along the beach and sand outside the Institute to see all sorts of sea life. It is amazing what you can see, even saw an octopus one time. Just make sure that you know when the tide is rolling in and out to not get caught out on the rocks! On the backside of the Institute there are also benches to sit at and listen to the ocean. The Institute itself is filled with wonderful sea life and is a great learning experience no matter your age. Outside, there is a calm bay area where paddle boarders are all over as well as the educational ships filled with history. There is nothing that you cannot do in this area!

We came to the Ocean Institute for a homeschool field trip and was it ever worth it for waking up…read moreat 6am! The initial lesson part was split into groups and we were assigned to Sydney. She was absolutely delightful! Very knowledgeable and receptive to the questions the kids have! After the lesson, we headed out to the open sea. To our delight we got to see dolphins, sea lions, and even spotter a whale! Overall it was a great experience and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting a lesson on ocean mammals!

Best bike rental shop in town! Great customer service and bike selection. They deliver and pick-up…read morethe bike, which is super convenient.

My wife and I had an amazing afternoon with Shawn's ebike. He was super helpful getting her set…read moreup, and even fixed a problem with my (own) bike before we headed out. The scenery around here is spectacular, my wife said it's one of her top few California experiences!

Paid by card online. Capt. Dave's is located by the harbor and offers a lot of parking. I was…read moreeasily able to book online for the 2.5 hour 8 am tour, for my child and me. When we arrived at the harbor, we went upstairs to check in and got the passes to get on the boat. The staff was super friendly at check-in and on the boat (Capt. Matt, 1st mate, Mike, and photographer, Andy.) Everything about the experience was well-organized. The boat was clean and comfortable so it was an enjoyable ride. We saw about 400 dolphins and 1 humpback whale! It was such an enjoyable excursion! I would recommend you bring your own snacks and/or drinks on board if you don't have a chance to eat beforehand, since snacks and drinks are not provided on the 2.5 hour 8 am tour. There is a small snack shack upstairs where you check in if you forget to bring things to eat and drink. I would recommend this tour and would go back.

Highly recommend going out with the Capt Dave's crew!…read more Had an amazing time out on their Manute'a boat. Cannot say enough about how cool it was to view the wildlife through the underwater viewing pods. It was an unbelievable experience to come nose to nose with wild bottlenose dolphins. We visited on a busy day on Memorial Day weekend, and the crew still took time to make sure that everyone on the boat was having a good time and getting their questions answered. I also brought along my rambunctious 2 1/2 year old son, and felt totally safe on the boat, which felt very secure for kids. On our cruise we saw dolphins, a fin whale, a sun fish, sealions, and common dolphins. A great day. Special thanks to Matt and Amanda for all their fun facts and knowledge sharing! We will definitely be back later in the year to look out for blue whales and white sided dolphins.

What a great tour! I was the only person to book the Sustainable Laguna Beach tour that morning and…read moreMike took me on a personalized adventure! Mike was very friendly, knowledgeable, professional, and safety minded. It was an absolute pleasure walking/driving around town and chatting with him all morning. I feel like I've made a new friend. Would highly recommend.

From the owner: An Urban Adventures tour of Orange County is a unique way to get to know the area by foot from a…read morelocal's perspective. Our guides show you off the beaten path places and advise you on how to get around on your own. The experience can be as short as a couple of hours, or as long as a whole day, but in every case, our Urban Adventures tours take travelers to interesting places to experience local culture and see what makes a place unique. Join us for the Best. Day. Ever.

Always a good time with people who enjoy the outdoors and want to protect it for the next 7…read moregenerations. Many spots in the OC are really beautiful and need our protection. The last group I attended was a hike followed by a breath and meditation under the Oak trees. Great times and an education, fun for the whole family and children of all ages.

If you're looking for a fun group to hike with that is led by an experienced knowledgeable person,…read moreNaturalist For You is your stop. I found them by accident while looking up trails to hike on when I moved to the area and have been going on hikes with them ever since. Joel, the organizer, loves to talk about the areas the hikes are in and gives extensive historical information and has an encyclopedic-like knowledge of the plant and animal life. Talk about a modern day John Muir! They have hikes weekly all over the Orange County mountains and other local places, you can find them on Facebook or Meetup to get in on hikes and the best part is they do hikes from easy to difficult so whatever level you are on there are hikes for you. There are also hikes to study birds, edible plants, owling, and much more.

So this was part of my husband's surprise birthday Sunday, where he had no idea where we were going…read morestop after stop. This will stop number three and my thought is even if we never see a whale. It's always a pleasant way to spend a few hours out on the water.. Everyone on the boat was super professional and informative. We really appreciate Laura spitting facts at us and making sure we knew what was going on. At one point, I was standing in front of the boat and I was about to go sit back down, but Laura told me to stay because she knew we would see something soon and we saw a Fin whale, which we stopped for a while to watch come up and down and no matter what it's always magical. We ran into a bunch of dolphins and watching them chop and play as always fulfilling. There's no way you can go wrong with this excursion, especially with a discount. They seem to always be offering. They also give all the birthday people a drink cozy. Highly recommend a great way to spend a few hours..

We went on a family trip together for this Independence Day weekend. My dad suffered a stroke in…read moremid-December last year, and luckily he has recovered quite a bit since then. However, since he still can't travel too far, we decided to visit somewhere close by. So, we booked a hotel in Dana Point and had a wonderful two-night trip. On Saturday, July 4th, we all booked tickets for a whale/dolphin-watching cruise. When I booked the tickets, I asked how long the tour would be, and they said it would be two hours. The ticket prices were $78 for adults and $68 for seniors. At first, my brother accidentally bought all five tickets at the adult rate when three of them should have been seniors. I noticed this on the receipt, so I managed to get a refund for the price difference for the three senior tickets. We bought five tickets for the 12:00 PM cruise and were told to wait at Dock 6 starting from 11:45 AM, but the boat arrived a bit late. Once we got on board, the wind was blowing incredibly hard, and the waves were quite high, causing the boat to rock violently. After boarding, a friendly female crew member gave us a briefing at the front. She kindly advised everyone on board not to run, and said that if anyone felt seasick, it would be better to stay towards the back of the boat rather than the front. She also mentioned that if the motion sickness got too bad, they could provide peppermint or ginger candies, and added that there was a bar and snack counter inside the boat. Come to think of it, I once went sailing on a yacht with my friends a long time ago. For the first 30 minutes, I was clapping, taking photos, and having a great time, but then I got so severely seasick that I had a truly miserable time (the same thing happened to me on a cruise trip before). Still, when I rode a boat at Lake Arrowhead last year, I didn't experience any seasickness at all, so I thought I would be fine this time too--though looking back, that was probably because the lake was so calm. But during this cruise on July 4th, I ended up getting so incredibly seasick that I felt like I was dying. About 10 minutes before we docked, the seasickness got so severe that I even started dry-heaving, and it was just awful. I was dizzy, and my stomach kept churning. Even so, it was really wonderful to see so many dolphins during the cruise, and the crew members were all so kind. When I was struggling with severe seasickness, my brother went to inform the crew. A crew member came over and asked if I wanted a peppermint, ginger, or ginger ale candy. I asked for a peppermint candy, and they handed it to me, saying it was free. When I asked, "Does it work?" she assured me it would. I sucked on the candy while sitting at the back of the boat and fell asleep, but later on, the seasickness became so overwhelmingly intense that I ended up throwing up everything and had a horrible time. Anyone who gets easily seasick should definitely take this into consideration before going on a cruise. Still, seeing so many dolphins was a huge highlight.

What a wonderful experience and overall fun way to experience Temecula, in a sidecar. Our driver…read morewas Bryan. He's extremely well-versed in the wine industry and also the city of Temecula. Bryan is also very attentive, reat conversationalist, and just an overall nice guy. If you're looking for a different way to experience Temecula, Sidecar Tours is the way to go. And make sure you ask for Bryan to be your driver. Just highly recommend! Cheers !

This is a must! It was fun, informative, and a unique experience. The wine tasting at 1 winery and…read morea bottle at another is all included, as well as professional looking photos from the driver which are shared to you before the tour even ends. The driver dropped us off at another winery once the tour concluded so they can be flexible. Will do it again!

This was an AMAZING experience. I wasn't expecting to see anything, and then there were dolphins…read more Once we got farther out. We saw a few blue always. Amazing! First time for me and my sister. We also saw a Fin whale briefly. All in all, the event was spectacular. I highly recommend it. The Captain and the crew were super and helpful with answering questions. I will be going back when I visit my sister in SoCal! Woot!

We really enjoyed our Dolphin/ Whale cruise! The all female crew was great! Professional &…read moreInformative! I guess early June wasn't the best month to see whales but we will return and try again on our next visit. Everything was professional and great, but kept Dave's highly recommend them.!