Travel Costa Mesa Blog
Grab-and-Go Options Perfect for a Beach Day
- Blue Bowl – Stay energized during your beach day by creating your own superfood bowls and drinks.
- Mendocino Farms – This gourmet sandwich shop offers fresh, healthy options with locally sourced ingredients.
- The Crack Shack – Known for its delicious fried chicken sandwiches and creative sides. Convenient outdoor order and pick-up window. HINT: The dipping sauces are the secret ingredient to every dish.
- Seabirds Kitchen – A vegetarian and vegan restaurant serving up creative and flavorful dishes using fresh, organic ingredients. Located at The LAB.
- Milligram Coffee – More than a coffee shop! This independently owned shop has great bites. Features locally sourced and seasonal produce combined with modern and clean cooking techniques.
- Greenleaf Chopshop – A healthy restaurant offering salads, bowls, and sandwiches made with fresh, organic ingredients.
- Jan’s Health Bar – A place always full of fresh food! Locally sourced ingredients and a casual atmosphere. HINT: Try the date shake for a perfect after-beach treat.
For more tasty food options in Costa Mesa, start exploring (and making reservations) now!
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Travel for Your Health in the New Year
Orange County has your Rx for post holiday stress!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The beginning of a new year is a perfect time for fresh starts, new goals, and resolutions (if you’re into those). It’s time to start planning your travel for the new year. Here in Costa Mesa, in the heart of Southern California’s Orange County, we believe in taking time to enjoy life…and while we all have responsibilities and obligations that simply must be met, one of the best things we can do for ourselves and our health is to take a vacation and some time off. Learn more about flat belly tonic benefits.
It might sound strange to start planning your next vacation, especially just coming off the holidays, but we all know what happens once we get back to work – kids go back to school, the year flies by and we find ourselves wondering where time went. According to the U.S. Travel Association, more than half of those who work full time do not take the amount of vacation they earn. National Plan for a Vacation Day is January 30. Pull out your bucket list and if you don’t have one, start one now. The first thing on the list should be, 1. Take time off in 2018!
TV Host and Travel Expert Samantha Brown offers some tips in this short video clip.
Samantha’s right…traveling for your health helps promote creativity, improves relationships and can even get you a raise at work! check edibles here ! Consider this, plan a long weekend getaway in Southern California where the average year-round temperature is 72 degrees and the forecast calls for sunshine almost every day of the year. Not only is California a great destination any time of the year, it’s the endless sunshine that makes every day brighter and wipes out any post-holiday stress. Costa Mesa has just the prescription to get your new year started off right. We’ve created some itineraries to make it easy to plan your stay.
Rejuvenate Your Body and Soul at SOCO and The OC Mix
Start your day SOCO and The OC Mix – a design and culinary center where you can experience more than 70 curated boutique shops, home design stores, restaurants and cafés. For a fresh dose of fruit and Vitamin C, visit Birdie Bowl and Juicery for a cold-pressed organic juice, nut mylks and acai bowls. A few doors down you can sample a fresh production of Kombucha at Farm & Culture Co.’s Kombucha and Bone Broth Bar. Quench your body with probiotics and the healthy concoctions of this organic and raw foods store or candy with probiotics cbd or the new best delta 8 gummies.
Continue on the journey to find the freshest fruit and veggies and seasonal blooming flowers just outside The OC Mix at a locals’ favorite certified farmers’ market at SOCO, open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Saturday.
Stop by Bon Spera, a women’s athletic and beauty store offering casual and comfortable clothing as well as all natural, eco-friendly skin care anti-aging products and a Korean beauty line.
Next up, browse some of the home stores for creative inspiration such as Uni Design, where the focus is on natural products and earth tones. You can even sit in one of their staged garden areas for a Zen moment.
Another great place for dining on healthy and hearty foods is at Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop – a fast, casual restaurant focused on high-quality, local fare and menu items including a build-your-own salad, baked ‘spaghetti’ (squash) with Tuscan kale salad or a grilled BQQ chicken Panini. You’ll also find a variety of fresh juices and protein shakes made to order.
Finally, we’ve all heard that a glass of wine a day can produce positive health benefits. If you want to treat yourself to happy hour, SOCO and The OC Mix has two great choices for wine tasting. Try LCA Wines, where for just $10 you’ll sample four varietals from all over the world and learn a little bit about those regions from LCA’s knowledgeable team members.
We Olive & Wine Bar inside The OC Mix offers wine tasting as well as locally produced olive oil and balsamic vinegar sampling. You can even grab a small cheese and meat tray from The Cheese Shop next door and create a relaxing afternoon while treating your taste buds. This is how Exipure works.
Connect With Your Inner Activist at The CAMP
The CAMP is an outdoor shopping and dining center focused on health, fitness and eco-friendly lifestyles. Start the morning with Yoga in the Treehouse held on the second Saturday of each month in the open-air, rooftop venue. Awaken your mind and body for your own health and for a good cause. A small donation of $5 gets you into the class and will help support both local and global nonprofit organizations dedicated to animal welfare. Bring your own mat and some water!
Following your workout, recharge with an acai bowl and an organic brewed lavender tea at Milk & Honey, one of our favorite coffee and tea spots in Costa Mesa. While at The CAMP, you’ll definitely want to explore the SEED People’s Market for handmade gift items, leather handbags, jewelry and clothing all by local business owners. SEED also dedicates an area to children’s shoes, clothes and toys, as well as an area for the outdoor activists. Their Instagram page is a great place to get some inspiration!
The CAMP has a rustic feel and offers plenty of spaces to lounge and enjoy the outdoors while sipping a latte, snacking on a homemade treat from Blackmarket Bakery, or a scoop of homemade gelato from Vitaly Caffé.
If you enjoy brunch, and want to indulge a bit, Old Vine Café should be on your list, where Chef Mark McDonald has created a casual Italian-inspired bistro reflective of his training in Italy. The menu items are focused on dishes inspired by seasonal ingredients and feature a variety of sweet, savory and comfort foods.
Stick around for lunch or stop in for dinner at Native Foods Café where they aim to create popular menu items with a vegetarian and vegan focus. Did someone say chicken and waffles? A quick trip across the street (please use the crosswalk) to The LAB will have you inspired to travel more, explore and use all of your vacation for the year. This is just a peek into all that The CAMP and its sister property The LAB offer for healthy, outdoor-friendly, inspirational outings.
Indulge Your Senses at South Coast Plaza
Are shopping and the pursuit of high-fashion trends the way you like escaping the daily hustle? Come to Costa Mesa for a day of indulgence and relaxation at one of the world’s most famous shopping destinations – South Coast Plaza. As if shopping amongst some of the top designers like Bally, Burberry, Fendi, Hermes and Louis Vuitton aren’t enough to let your mind wander, women will love to step into Fresh for a mini facial and to try on dozens of invigorating new scents. Men can also experience a little pampering when visiting The Art of Shaving, where the Barber Spa offers traditional barber services and essential oil facial treatments. Check out the latest Alpha heater reviews.
You can even shop for a car and its accessories at the first American Porsche Design concept store, where new vehicles will be on display each season surrounded by Porsche Design products such as timepieces, sound and electronics, luggage and leather goods, eyewear, men’s apparel, men’s sportswear, writing tools, fragrances and more. Shop before February 28, 2018, and save 40%.
If the Mediterranean way of dining is your style, try Mezzet Mediterranean a selection of kabobs, flatbreads and variety of hummus and savory small plates to share. Enjoy a glass of champagne while thanking yourself for taking this time off.
Most any night of the week, Costa Mesa’s performing arts come alive at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, featuring Broadway musicals like Love Never Dies and Hamilton, or performances by the Pacific Symphony in 2018.
Hotels with a Health and Body Focus
Costa Mesa hotels vary from full-service to low key with breakfast and evening happy hour and often offer great getaway packages. Many of Costa Mesa’s hotels are also are within walking distance of many of the cities’ attractions, allowing you more time to get out and take a walk and enjoy the sunshine. These are the latest Exipure reviews.
Focusing on the active and healthy lifestyle, The Westin South Coast Plaza houses a WestinWORKOUT® Fitness Studio, on-site tennis courts and offers running maps.
Avenue of the Arts – A Tribute Portfolio Hotel has an on-site gym and offers free yoga on Saturday mornings.
Residence Inn by Marriott is like a home away from home with residential amenities and outdoor sports courts.
A stay at the Best Western Plus, OC Hotel, Holiday Inn & Suites and Ramada Inn & Suites are the next closest to being at the beach in Newport. Take a jog or leisurely walk to the beach. It’s easy to get from these Costa Mesa hotels to the Pacific Coast when they’re just about a mile from the ocean. Whatever your ideal vacation entails, it’s easy to get to Costa Mesa by car, plane or train. So start planning for that time off and be sure to include Costa Mesa – Orange County’s City of the Arts™ on your itinerary.
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Top 10 Things to Experience in Orange County
At the heart of Southern California is Orange County, the destination of choice for more than 46 million visitors each year. And nestled within Orange County is the internationally acclaimed arts and theater district – Costa Mesa.
1. Top Designer Shopping, World-Class Restaurants at South Coast Plaza
Rivaling the trend-setting shopping meccas of Fifth Avenue in New York and Bond Street in London, as well as Avenue Montaigne in Paris and Ginza in Tokyo, South Coast Plaza is the largest shopping center in California. With over 250 retailers representing the highest concentration of design fashion retail in the United States, its stellar cast of shops by Fendi, Harry Winston, Gucci and Chanel has visitors from all over the world flocking to this luxury-shopping destination.
Costa Mesa is a great home base when visiting Southern California. Located in the heart of Orange County, Costa Mesa is just about a 10-minute drive to the sparkling Pacific Ocean where you can stroll the boardwalk along Balboa Island, have lunch on the pier in Surf City USA, watch the professional surfers catch some of the best waves and enjoy the year-round mild weather, cool ocean breezes and endless sunshine that Southern California is known for.
3. Award-Winning Broadway Theater at Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Segerstrom Center for the Arts is the largest nonprofit arts organization in Orange County. The Center offers the world’s leading dance companies, Broadway shows and is the home of 3 resident Orange County companies: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society and Pacific Chorale. The arts complex also includes Costa Mesa’s Tony® Award-winning resident theater, South Coast Repertory.
If an evening of dinner and the theater is an activity you enjoy, there’s no need to head to Los Angeles, or even New York City when Costa Mesa hosts the latest Broadway shows throughout the year. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is the crown jewel and arts complex in Orange County’s theater district. Visitors can check the Costa Mesa calendar to find shows featuring music legends like Tony Bennett, talented actress and producer Rita Rudner, or catch popular Broadway shows like Lion King, Wicked and Hamilton – coming to the stage in 2018..
4. Free Airport Shuttle and Hotel Shuttle to Disneyland® Resort
Whether you’re searching for a luxury weekend with room service in a suite, or a casual stay with accommodations for the whole family, there are a variety of hotels for every traveler’s needs, many of which offer regular deals or shopping packages. From rooftop swimming pools to highly rated restaurants, staying in Costa Mesa offers easy access to all the top attractions in Orange County.
Be sure to check deals and flight schedules into Orange County’s only commercial airport – John Wayne Airport (SNA). It is the closest airport to Costa Mesa, located just 4 miles away, with FREE shuttle service offered by most Costa Mesa hotels.
If you’re planning a day at Disneyland® Resort, it’s made easy by taking advantage of the convenient Anaheim Resort Transportation shuttle service to and from the resort area, about 20 minutes from Costa Mesa.
5. Fine Cuisine from “Top Chef” Star Amar Santana at Vaca
Voted one of America’s Best Restaurants by gayot.com, Vaca is the dining concept of Chef Amar Santana, finalist on “Top Chef” Season 13, Bravo TV’s hit chef competition. Vaca is authentically Spanish, serving everything from mouthwatering tapas and savory paellas to freshly cut steaks and ocean-caught seafood. Ninety percent of the food is jet-flown from Spain. Chef Amar prides himself in offering the finest cuts of meats and cheeses.
6. Health & Fitness Retailers at The CAMP
Located in Costa Mesa’s SoBeCa District, The CAMP offers customers a nontraditional retail community in a casual and lively atmosphere. All of the stores are health conscious or fitness related, with a strong emphasis on an active lifestyle. “Green” is everywhere, from the native vegetation to the progressive and select retailers offering their organic wares in the first-known environmentally sensitive retail campus in the United States. Be sure to visit SEED People’s Market – a collection of handmade and recycled items. Serving as a “green” department store, SEED carries a variety of products from the most practical outerwear and shoes for any outdoor atmosphere, to unique hand-crafted alternatives created with the environment in mind.
7. Stroll Charming Balboa Island
Immerse yourself in the hidden and quaint community of Balboa Island, located in Newport Beach. Despite its remote location, it has attracted a rich array of famous people and fascinating characters for more than 100 years. Marine Avenue is the main street of activity where you can sit on the patio of a cozy restaurant for breakfast or lunch, followed by a treat from the famous frozen banana stand, as featured in the TV show “Arrested Development.” Enjoy a stroll along the boardwalk lined with homes of some of the rich and famous, with views of one of the larges yacht harbors in California. At the end of the boardwalk, board the Balboa Island Ferry (on foot, bike or by car) and take it to the other side to experience the thrill of The Fun Zone, a throwback to the boardwalks of the past. This is a great place, for families, couples and friends alike.
8. Thrill Seekers and Foodies Will Enjoy The OC Fair
The Orange County Fair has had its home in Costa Mesa has since 1953, and it is one of the top 10 largest fairs in the United States running for three weeks from July to August.
The fair’s biggest ride, La Grande Wheel, is the largest traveling Ferris wheel in the Western hemisphere and is 15 stories high. The ride is so large, it takes three weeks to assemble. At 200 metric tons, it requires a steel-reinforced pad beneath it to keep it from sinking.
9. OC is Home to Amazing Restaurants like Taco María
Creating homestyle Mexican cuisine with a contemporary flair, Taco María offers California-Mexican fusion dishes by Michelin-starred chef Carlos Salgado, where he uses recipes straight from his mom, the restaurant’s namesake. Taco María has been rated by the Los Angeles Times as one of the best restaurants in Southern California and one of America’s Best Restaurants by Gayot.com. Seating is at a premium, but worth the wait.
10. Cruise Legendary Huntington Beach
The city that put California on the map for surf culture is lined with 10 miles of uninterrupted coastline. One of the most well-known and iconic locations is the Huntington Beach Pier, playing backdrop to many professional surfers including legendary Duke Kahanamoku. The pier is the perfect vantage point to watch professionals and amateurs take on some of the best waves in Southern California. Take a stroll to the very end of the pier and grab a bite at Ruby’s Surf City Diner. Most importantly, don’t miss the opportunity to snap a photo of the spectacular sunsets. Huntington Beach is also known to be one of the most pet-friendly cities in Orange County, the neighboring city to Costa Mesa.
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