What are the Best Beaches near Anaheim? (Huntington Beach, Newport Beach: restaurants, shops)

[Hummer2007]

Can anyone tell me what are the best beaches to take my kids ages 12 and 15 near Anaheim, CA?

[ocexpo]

Seal Beach is a fun beach to take older kids to. It has a great, fun downtown, a nice pier, and it is a really nice, clean beach.

I wouldn't recommend Huntington Beach. It can get VERY crowded. It is also more of a place for 20's or late teens where kids don't go with their parents. If you do plan to take kids to HB, make sure there isn't an event going on in Downtown. Traffic and crowds are horrendous when there are events.

I absolutely LOVE Doheny Beach. It is a beautiful beach (in Dana Point) and its a bit of a drive, but well worth it. Its not uncommon to see dolphins jumping in the afternoon at Doheny.

[Hummer2007]

Thank you!

[MisterDuke]

I was going to say the exact same thing ocexpo said.

[bhcompy]

I third Seal Beach.

[BRinSM]

Huntington Beach may be crowded, but it is so for a reason. There is a lot to do within a 5-10 walk of the pier. There are tons of shops and restaurants to check out and lots of people watching to do. Seal Beach is nice and quaint, but Huntington Beach, and Newport Beach to a lesser extent, is where the action is. I think your kids may be intrigued by the attractions of Huntington and Newport.

[preppyglam]

the closest beaches to anaheim are seal beach and HB. yes, HB can get crowded- especially in the summer and on weekends and on holidays (oh, wait- thats ALL so cal beaches!)

but seriously...if you are going to make a day of it- take the 22 to the 55. the 55 will end in costa mesa and its a straight shot into newport. find parking in the numbers for free parking. get there early. stay all day- or, get there by 10, leave by 1 and you will have minimal traffic getting back to anaheim.

newport is consistantly one of the most clean and beautiful beaches in OC, in my opinion. but, i also grew up going there. great fun- long boardwalks for rollerblading and bike rides, there is the balboa fun zone to take the kids, lots of open sand and no oil refinery or shipping rigs in sight (like in HB)...just a really pretty, nice beach. plus, there are lots of restaurants you can catch dinner at that arent necessarily expensive or snooty. just because its newport dosent mean its, well, newport! haha.

[Hummer2007]

Thank you!

[bhcompy]

just to elaborate a little..

Seal will get you a nice family area thats quiet and small with decent things to do if you walk up main street.. you can keep a kid occupied with some of the stores(my son likes the gift shop where they sell sea shells and stuff).

Huntington is a bit more for the old teen/young adult crowd.

If you're just lookin for a good place to go swimming and dont care about walkin to shops or restaurants or anything, I would suggest Bolsa Chica.. one of the best beaches in so cal in my opinion.

[missionhome]

Doheny is a decent/ok beach. I prefer going farther south towards San Clemente or up to Salt Creek though. Doheny is excellent for using the fire rings and for staying late, but the beach does tend to be one of the dirtiest (as if they weren't dirty enough already). The area north of where San Juan Creek meets the ocean is usually clean, but most of the beach is directly south of this creek and the water tends to be gross. Heal the Bay has consistently given Doheny Beach a F grade. Also, the beach has really small waves compared to other beaches which is either a major positive or major negative. It isn't worth the long drive unless you want to make it a total day trip, but I would probably go to San Clemente if you are going to drive all that way.