TravelRocks

Hi! We are planning a trip to California in mid-July to visit my brother in Long Beach. We are trying to decide which place would be the best to stay for our family--Long Beach or Laguna Beach? We are a family who loves to hang out at the beach, biking, walking around the town, explore the town as locals, do local eateries, etc. We do not want to drive all over the place-we just plan one day trip to Disneyland (for our child's birthday) and the rest of the time, just hang out. I have read Laguna Beach has beautiful natural scenery and beautiful beaches...and the tide cove pools are popular...and the town has a trolley to ride around. Long Beach has the Aquarium but not the best beaches? It'd be nice to stay in Long Beach to be in close proximity to my brother...but not easy to find rentals. Any tips appreciated!

Thanks!

MonicaRichards

I would say look in both places to see where the best rentals are. If you find a great place at a good price, that would make your decision for you.

passerbye

Laguna Beach is quite a ways from Long Beach. Any reason not to consider Manhattan, Redondo, or Hermosa Beach?

mclaurie

Agree with passerbye. YOu need to look at a map. (maps.google.com) If the idea is to be near family, Laguna is a terrible option.

janisj

I was also confused by the two options. Laguna Beach is not at all convenient to Long Beach. Other nice beachy towns are.

Jean

Seal Beach, just south of Long Beach, has nice sandy beaches, a time-warpy kind of Main Street/downtown and a pier. Depending on where your brother lives in Long Beach, it could be a 15-20 minute drive.

Belmont Shore, which is technically part of Long Beach, would be another possibility. Definitely closer to your brother in Long Beach, but the "downtown" area is not very close to the beach.

As others have mentioned, Laguna is far from Long Beach, but it's a much more upscale, "pretty" option, if that's your preference. I don't see Hermosa/Redondo as being significantly closer to Long Beach than Laguna.

lvk

I think the Seal Beach/Sunset Beach or Huntington Beach areas might work better for you. Huntington has a nice wide bike path. However, the waves there are very powerful and might be intimidating for small children.

The beaches in Long Beach are mostly protected, so the waves are more gentle. The Belmont Shore area of Long Beach has its own neat shop & restaurant area, and you can take the Passport bus service to get into the main downtown/Pike/Shoreline Village/Aquarium area.

jim24

Not a local. But on my visit I stayed in many of these places. Laguna was my favorite. Nice downtown and the best beaches. Much better than Huntington and way better than long beach. Only way I would choose Long beach is if being close to the family is most important. For a nice beach stay, Laguna is the way to go.

MBnancy

Check out Seal Beach, a really nice place to stay, and closer to Long Beach which would be a good bet for your family. You could make a day trip to Laguna to see it, but it's awfully crowded in the summer, and getting back and forth to LB would be a trek.

lvk

This is a fun website that gives you a better idea of what the various oceanfront areas look like. Just type your desired location into the search box and move up and down the coast. If you click on the center photo, you can see the neighborhood in greater detail.

Here is an example of Seal Beach near the pier:
http://www.californiacoastline.org/c...gs=0&year=2008

Jean

Cool website, lvk.

TravelRocks

Thank you so much for all these tips--I knew I could count on you guys

the website link is cool-thanks so much, lvk-
jim24-true- the priority is to visit my brother and to spend time together instead of being on the road back and forth to see each other-

will check out seal beach area rentals to compare as well-

thanks so much again, will keep you posted!