Visitors can enjoy unlimited things to do in Newport Beach. Enjoy luxury shopping, spa treatments, championship golf, and sample a bit of the sophisticated and aspirational lifestyle found here.

Newport Beach is home to Lexus Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race, Newport Beach Film Festival, Restaurant Week, Newport Beach Independence Day on the Bay, Hyatt Regency Summer Concert Series, and the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade.

There are fun things to do in Newport Beach with attractions focused on families, couples, or trips of solitude. Outdoor enthusiasts will love miles of hiking and cycling trails, surfing, and sailing.

With the largest recreational harbor on the west coast, Newport Beach activities are abundant. Visitors can choose aquatic adventures from sunset cruises to stand-up paddle boarding. Art walks, wine tastings, tours, live entertainment and cultural venues will fill your itinerary.

Create lasting memories on idyllic California beaches, breathtaking seaside cliffs, harbor-front promenades and leave with the desire to return.

Activities & Attractions

The Balboa Fun Zone is one of the most well-known Newport Beach attractions. With a Ferris wheel, arcade games, and ExplorOcean, the Fun Zone offers family fun for all ages. Millions of people every year visit the two Newport Beach piers, Balboa and Newport pier, to walk high above the waves.

The best Newport Beach attractions are usually found in the water. Surfing, kayaking, stand up paddleboarding and body surfing are favorite year-round activities as the California beach destination enjoys gorgeous Mediterranean-like weather.

The newest water attraction is Jetpack America, which allows people to fly and hover high in the air with the world’s first water-powered jetpack. (Just ask Rob Lowe.)

Newport Beach is also an active community of walkers, runners, cyclists, and even Segway riders. With long stretches of boardwalks, bike routes, and trails, there are numerous paths for outdoor enthusiasts.

Arts & Culture

Newport Beach is fortunate to possess a vibrant artistic and cultural community with several museums and theaters:

• Orange County Museum of Art is the home to modern and contemporary works. 
• Newport Beach Museum features 2,500 objects with a concentration on California art and history.
• Balboa Island Museum and Historical Society preserves the island’s historic photographs and artifacts.
• ExplorOcean is an interactive experience designed to teach visitors about the seven principals of ocean literacy. Exhibits provide an up-close look at maritime history.
• Newport Sports Museum celebrates the legends of sport with 10,000 artifacts from baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, and more.
• Newport Theatre Arts Center offers an intimate setting for plays and musicals from world famous playwrights. Balboa Performing Arts Theater holds up to 300 people with spectacular seating, bringing guests close to the performances.
• Newport Beach City Arts Commission offers outdoor performances like Shakespeare by the sea.

Beaches & Parks

Newport Beach, California prides itself on pristine beaches with 10 miles of coastline for surfing, swimming, or sunbathing. Millions of people visit Newport Beach annually and enjoy the sand, pier, ocean, and boardwalk. The most famous spot for seeing monstrous surf is The Wedge at 2172 E. Ocean Front. Thirteen Newport beaches have received a 5-star rating by the Natural Resources Defense Council with Newport Beach taking top honors.

Enjoy a warm fire and dig your toes in the cold sand. It’s an ideal way to spend the time with family or friends. The fire rings are located at Corona del Mar State Beach and near the Balboa Pier.

Upper Newport Bay is one of the premier recreational assets. The 10.5-mile Back Bay Loop Trail offers fantastic terrain for hiking and biking. For marine, and wildlife buffs, the Back Bay Science Center provides a hands-on learning experience about the species of the estuary.

Newport Beach has dozens of parks with play equipment, baseball/softball diamonds, and basketball courts for all ages to enjoy.

Boating & Yacht Charters

Yachting isn’t just a sport in Newport Beach — it’s a lifestyle! There are several private yacht clubs in Newport Beach. Members embrace racing and cruising, and celebrate the nautical community. Many of the clubs have reciprocal privileges; so if you’re a member at another yacht club out of town, check with your club before arriving.

Anyone can enjoy boating in Newport Beach. For the active and recreational boaters, there are a variety of long-time local businesses that rent everything from pontoon boats, sailboats, and kayaks to pedal boats and stand-up paddleboards. If romance is the reason for your visit, gondoliers — with gondolas brought from Italy — will serenade you in a moonlit harbor cruise.

Newport Beach visitors can also enjoy a water experience of elegance aboard a yacht that specializes in dinner cruises, boat charters, and Newport Beach weddings. People can hit the water to celebrate a special occasion, or just relax aboard a Duffy boat. The electric “golf carts on water” are easy to drive and gently coast in the water and are perfect to appreciate and savor the natural beauty of Newport Beach from the harbor. Newport Beach is also home to some of the best whale watching and sportfishing excursions in Southern California. Boats launch early and often from the Balboa Fun Zone.

Newport Beach is proud to be the home of one of the largest boating competitions on the West Coast. The Lexus Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race is held each April. The 126-nautical mile race from Newport Beach to Mexico’s Baja California peninsula is a tradition that has spanned nearly 70 years, and involves more than 200 racing crews.

Regardless of the craft you are in, there is no better time to celebrate the largest recreational boat harbor on the West Coast than December during the Christmas Boat Parade. An annual tradition for more than 100 years, millions of people come to Newport Beach to see theilluminated boats navigate the harbor during the holiday season, while bayside estates show their holiday spirit in a decoration competition called the “Ring of Lights.”

Dock & Dine – Dinner Cruise

One of the most unique things to do in Newport Beach is enjoy a dinner cruise, or what we like to call it, dock and dine. Nearly a dozen Newport Beach restaurants have docks welcoming the marine community, allowing boaters to pull up and enjoy a great dining experience.

Boaters can enjoy breakfast, lunch, happy hour, dinner, or after dinner libations, and when it’s time to leave, you are free to untie your craft and return to the harbor.

Guests arriving by boat can also eat while cruising the harbor. Several restaurants will provide you and your guests with fine cuisine to go.

Newport Beach Shopping

The Newport Beach shopping ranges from luxury retail shopping malls to bargain hunting – the options are endless. Fashion Island is a premier outdoor coastal shopping destination with a blend of designer, specialty boutiques, dining and an expert team of complimentary personal shoppers.

A unique offering in Corona del Mar is high-end consignment boutique shops. Here, shoppers can find pre-owned brand name clothing and accessories.

Hundreds of quaint specialty shops are scattered through the neighborhoods of Newport Coast, Balboa Village, Corona del Mar, Mariner’s Mile, Balboa Island and the Westcliff/17th area.

The Corona del Mar Farmer’s Market brings fresh local produce every Saturday, while the Newport Beach Certified Farmer’s Market in the Lido Village is a favorite Sunday stop.

Newport Beach caters to the car culture with an array of unique European motorcars. Boating and sailing aficionados can choose from a variety of luxury yachts, electronic Duffy boats, kayaks and surfboards to enjoy in the Newport Harbor.

Newport Beach Spas

There may be no better place to relax and unwind than by visiting one of the many Newport Beach spas. Guests can indulge in a variety of skin and body treatments designed to have them feeling rejuvenated and fresh. Newport Beach also features a collection of med spas to transform skin, giving everyone a youthful glow.

Many of the larger resorts offer complete day spa packages — some up to 10 hours long — that will refresh mind, body, and spirit. With added hair, make-up, and manicure/pedicure procedures, you will look as radiant as you feel. But you don’t have to spend an entire day to feel reinvigorated. The resorts and boutique spas offer quick services including facial exfoliation, relaxing or therapeutic massage, and treatments to detoxify and nourish the skin.

Sports & Recreation

Newport Beach is one of the surfing capitals in the world. The Wedge stands out as one of the most powerful and awesome beaches to surf. Up and down the coast of Newport Beach, surfers hit the waves early in the morning, spending their days studying the swells to find out when the killer sets will be rolling in.

Another local water adventure is sportfishing. Newport Beach is an angler’s paradise from land or sea. Deep-sea fisherman can reel in Yellowtail, Sculpin, Sea Bass, Perch, and Rockfish from boats launching out of Davey’s Locker.

Some people prefer Newport Beach recreation on land. In fact, there are some who purposely avoid the water — on Newport Beach golf courses. Condé Nast Traveler Magazine ranked The Resort at Pelican Hill as the “No. 1 Golf Resort in the World.” The resort features 36 holes of championship golf with stunning ocean front views.

Tours & Sightseeing

Exploring Newport Beach is fun whether you prefer to venture out on your own, or take one of many guided Newport Beach tours.

Newport Beach has some of the rarest and valuable cars, so it’s common to find others cruising Pacific Coast Highway checking out the coastline views from above the city. The best spots to catch a sunset are Lookout Point Park and Inspiration Point.

Among the top sightseeing adventures is the whale-watching Newport Beach excursion. A Duffy boat tour is a way to explore Newport Beach by navigating the Harbor as the captain of your own boat. For a traditional tour, there are always for-hire tour guides willing to show you some of the sights and relay the history of Balboa Island, Mariner’s Mile, Crystal Cove State Park and Newport Coast.

Learn more about Newport Beach tours at the Visit Newport Beach Inc. concierge desk in Fashion Island’s Atrium Court.