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.

We had a wonderful time! We made it a point to stop here when driving from Temecula as we had never…read morebeen to a mission before, and we are so glad that we did. When getting the tickets, the lady helping us was so nice! We got our audio tour and started along the way. It really was beautiful and full of history! It's as old as the country! The audio tour and plaques along the way provided a lot of information and we spent at least 2 hours here wandering around and taking everything in, you could easily spend more time than that here. Beautiful grounds and it was amazing to see the original and uncovered structures that existed so long ago. You end up at the gift shop at the end and we left with a postcard and a magnet for home. Very reasonable prices in there and some cute things! Overall we had an amazing time and would love to visit other missions. Give this one a go!

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.

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!

Best experience I never knew I needed!…read more On July 18th, 2026, I went out on a boat with Captain Maria, First Mate Janelle, and Second Mate (photographer) Hannah. They were lovely, helpful, and gave good info. The boat was choppy, which I enjoyed, but I felt 100% safe the entire time. Of course, the main attraction was the dolphins (& sea lions); it was amazing. We must have seen at least 500 of them, jumping in and out, in Sync with the boat and each other. Earlier this year I completed one of the three items on my bucket list (yes, only three), which was to see the Aurora Borealis (In Lapland, Finland), and I have to be honest, today's experience topped that by far (also much less cold). To sum it up, thanks to Captain Maria, Janelle, and the lovely Hannah, I had the best experience I never knew I needed to experience! P.S. Item #2 was also completed earlier this year. P.P.S. Item #3 is still waiting (for 36 years now).

Located at the Dana Point Harbor, Capt Dave has dedicated parking lot. No bathrooms in the building…read morebut 2 bathrooms a skip away. They depart from the building towards the boat 15 mins beforehand so they want you to check in 30mins before (and on weekends/holidays, check in 45mins before). The boat departs on time at the scheduled time, so make sure you are here in the building 15-30mins before your booked time. We booked at 1pm and that's when the boat left the dock. We were gathered at the office at 12:45 to head towards the boat and unfortunately a couple missed their slot because they were not even in the parking lot at 1pm when the boat sailed. Don't make their mistake, just make sure you are parked at least 15mins before the booked time. They were willing to wait 5 mins, but not 30 mins, so timeliness from guests is important as we had almost 30 people on board. As you are led from the building to the boat, they have a pit stop at the bathroom as they warned that the boat's bathroom that can't take toilet paper and can easily clog. Unfortunately the ocean waters was unusually warm when we booked on 7/03 for whale/dolphin sighting so we didn't see any but they have a sighting guarantee so they gave us all a voucher to come back again for free. They gave out a delicious brownie at the end too, so I'm excited to come back for the brownie!

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.

NFY and Joel Robinson , the head Naturalist there brings fun and educational level service to the…read morelocal mountains. They offer tons of different hikes and walks to lots of the OC's last open or wild spaces. You'll learn something, laugh, touch grass and see all the wildlife around you and then learn something more. Go, you won't regret it!

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.

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.

Highly recommend taking a tour with Sidecar tours!!…read more My husband had been looking at this activity for a long time. He had found it through Groupon. Riding a sidecar in the middle of Temecula while being dropped off at several wineries without having to drive sounded like a unique and fun activity. By the time he was able to purchase it, only the cocktail tour was available. While we usually prefer cocktails, we found out after the fact that those start at 4:00pm and only Mon-Thurs. It didn't sound too fun to drive an hour away on a weekday in traffic to begin and come home late, but we wanted to check it out. A few days before our event was going to take place, the business called me to inform me that they are no longer doing cocktail tours at this time and were trying to get it off Groupon until the businesses working with them were more cooperative with pricing. While I was not thrilled about the last minute change, I was relieved because a big storm was coming the next day (never fails) and it would have been canceled anyway. I also didn't know until after that you mainly ride through Old Town and would not get nearly the amount of sidecar riding. However, they offered to change it to the wine tour and were able to squeeze us in three days later on the weekend so it worked out perfectly. Weather was on our side this time. It was bright and sunny. Bryan, our tour guide and driver texted me the morning of and gave us instructions on where to meet, and the waiver to sign, and that he would also be our professional photographer this day. It turns out Bryan was juggling three parties that day and was constantly on the go moving each party to the next stop. He introduced himself and explained what we would be doing and which wineries we would be visiting. He took a few pictures in the beginning and his phone may as well have been a professional camera! We first started with a fun ride throughout parts of Temecula and through a vineyard (literally!) as well. We got on one main road and went very fast! He gave us a lot of facts about Temecula and the vineyards as we rode. Our first stop was at Chapin winery where we were provided with six tastings of our choosing. I loved every selection! The pizza they made there smelled amazing, but we were full from breakfast (another time for sure!) Bryan explained that if we did want to eat pizza, please order it right away so it had time to cook and be eaten before he came back. He left us to be to relax and enjoy our wine while he took the previous group he had dropped off to the second winery. He texted me when he was on his way back to us and so we could get ready and whatnot. Once he arrived, we hopped back into the sidecar and got an even longer tour of the city and areas and had a longer time to enjoy the next sidecar ride. We stopped by some of the nearby animals such as llamas and he told us facts about the trees in their yard and about them, followed by some facts of the mountains and nearby homes and stopped for those views. Next we were brought to Bella Vista winery and were provided a full bottle of wine! We sat and relaxed and had some more wine while enjoying the views. The party before us was brought back to the starting point. Bryan took some more pictures and we brought the remaining wine back with us. It ended up being a perfect, sunny, great weather day and the business was great the whole time. Bryan was an amazing tour guide and photographer and we highly recommend him. A number of our friends are already considering trying this tour out after hearing about it and seeing the pictures.

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.!