Southern California is a megapolitan area in the southern region of the U.S. state of California. The large urban areas containing Los Angeles and San Diego stretch all along the coast from Ventura to the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego.

To the west of Southern California lies the Pacific Ocean and Channel Islands. To the south is the international border between the United States and Mexico. Towards the Arizona state border in the east lies the Colorado Desert and the Colorado River, and towards the Nevada state border lies the Mojave Desert. Though there is no official definition for the northern boundary of Southern California, most include all the land south of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Tehachapi Mountains.

Southern California is a culturally diverse and well known area worldwide. Many tourists frequently travel to South Coast for its popular beaches, and to the eastern Desert for its dramatic open spaces. Southern California, along with the San Francisco Bay Area, is a major cultural and economic center for the State of California and beyond.

Regions

Southern California includes three major metropolitan areas, each of which have over 3 million people. The Los Angeles area has over 12 million inhabitants, the Riverside-San Bernardino area has over 4 million inhabitants, and the San Diego area has over 3 million inhabitants. The region is the nation's most populous region behind the urban seaboard of the Northeastern United States.

Southern California is most easily divisible by counties. The following counties are completely in the Southern California region:

Southern California regions - Color-coded map — switch to interactive map

Southern California regions - Color-coded map

Los Angeles County While many places claim to have "something for everyone", Los Angeles County actually does. There are movie studios to tour in Hollywood and its surrounding cities, shopping at luxury boutiques in Beverly Hills, the Ice Age fossils of the La Brea Tar Pits, the incredible museums of Exposition Park (including the Space Shuttle Endeavour), hiking and camping opportunities in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, some of the world's most impressive roller coasters at Magic Mountain, the famous beaches of Malibu, Santa Monica or Venice, and a million other options; just budget extra time to get to all of these places as you brave the infamous traffic with the county's ten million residents.

Orange County While Disneyland is obviously the attraction that brings the most visitors to Orange County, there is more to this county than just the House of Mouse. The county's Beach Cities offer vast sand expanses great for sunbathing, swimming, surfing and even whale watching, particularly in the spring and fall when grey whales migrate along the coast. Festivals such as Laguna Beach's Pageant of the Masters (July & August) or the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa (mid-July to mid-August) draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. And Knott's Berry Farm was an actual berry farm before adding roller coasters and other rides, and since 1973 has featured a popular October transformation into "Knott's Scary Farm" when the entire 160 acres (65 hectares) park is re-themed into a haunted house style attraction.

San Diego County The city of San Diego sprawls across the southwestern portion of the county, with attractions that include the museums and famed zoo of lush Balboa Park, the upscale seaside community of La Jolla with its scenic coves and marine life, and the historic district of Old Town which is home to California's oldest Spanish mission. In contrast to its populous western side, the county's eastern half is a mountainous desert that attracts campers, hikers and OHV aficionados. The Anza-Borrego Desert State Park dominates this side of the county; after wet winters America's second-largest state park attracts hordes of visitors in the spring to admire the acres of desert wildflowers that carpet the normally barren ground.

Due to their vast size (San Bernardino County is larger than nine of the states in the U.S.) and varied topography, these counties are split among two different regions. The westernmost urban portions are considered part of Southern California and the eastern desert sections are part of Desert region.

San Bernardino County Massive San Bernardino County covers 20,000 mi (32,000 km) of the California Desert, an area larger than nine of the US states. The Mojave National Preserve is a centerpiece of the region, spanning portions of the Mojave, Great Basin, and Sonoran deserts. Fans of Americana will enjoy cruising historic Route 66, which bisects the county across its southern half and includes the ghost town of Amboy. The western side of the county spans both the outskirts of Los Angeles and the San Bernardino mountains, including popular destinations such as Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead.

Riverside County Riverside County's western portions include the far outskirts of Los Angeles, as well as more rural areas like Temecula, known for its wineries and hot air balloons. The majority of the county lies in the desert, with the most-visited portion being Palm Springs and its neighboring resort towns. Further east the county is essentially uninhabited, and includes the remote, rocky desert of Joshua Tree National Park, and the empty landscapes west of the Colorado River.

Cities

Some of the major cities in the Southern California region include:

• 1 Long Beach
• 2 Los Angeles
• 3 Pasadena
• 4 San Diego
• The Westside of Los Angeles County: Beverly Hills, Malibu, Venice Beach, and more

Urban Landscape. Southern California consists of a heavily developed urban environment, along with vast areas that have been left undeveloped. It is the second largest urbanized region in the United States, first being the Philadelphia/New York City/Boston Northeastern areas. These cities are considered dense, with major downtown populations and significant rail and transit systems, but much of Southern California is famous for its large, spread-out, suburban communities and use of automobiles and highways. The dominant areas are Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino, each of which is the center of its respective metropolitan area, composed of numerous smaller cities and communities.

Natural Landscape. Southern California consists of geologic, topographic, and natural ecosystem landscapes in a diverse setting, outnumbering other major regions across the state/country. The region spans from the Pacific Ocean islands, shorelines, beaches, and coastal plains, through the Peninsular Ranges with their peaks, into the large/small interior valleys, to the vast Deserts of California. Each year, the area has about 10,000 earthquakes. Nearly all of them are so small that they are not felt. Only several hundred are greater than magnitude 3.0, and only about 15-20 are greater than magnitude 4.0.

Other destinations

Southern California is home to numerous world-famous attractions including Disneyland, the San Diego Zoo, Legoland, and others.

• 1 Disneyland
• 2 Knott's Berry Farm
• 3 Six Flags Magic Mountain

Understand

Southern California is famous for the movie industry around LA (and if you explore a bit you are bound to find "exotic" locales from many a movie that were filmed in Southern California due to the proximity) and also for its sheer amount of freeways and highways. Southern Californians stereotypically spend most of their time when they meet each other talking about how horrible the traffic getting there was and how horrible the traffic getting back will be. Despite that its world class cities and suburbs continue to attract a wide variety of people from all over the country and abroad to live and vacation due to the pleasant climate and diverse landscapes with many natural and cultural attractions just a short (depending on congestion) drive away. Even though you can swim in the Pacific its cold currents make it somewhat less pleasant than you might think.

Talk

English is the official language of California and is the predominant language in Southern California. However, Spanish is also spoken by large Hispanic populations and it is not uncommon in Southern California to see store and street signs written in both English and Spanish. Armenian, Farsi, Chinese, Tagalog, Japanese, Hindi, Korean, Vietnamese, and Cambodian are also spoken by various immigrant groups.

Get in

By plane

See also: Air travel in the United States

• Los Angeles International Airport (LAX ^IATA), 1 World Way, ☏ +1 310-646-5252. LAX is one of the major ports of entry for international flights to the United States as well as a major destination for domestic flights so it can be quite busy, especially around holidays. Nearly all major airlines as well as some smaller regional airlines fly into LAX. All of the major rental car agencies have a location near the airport with hundreds of cars available for rent.

The below are some of the smaller airports in the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area with commercial flights, some of which may be closer to your final destination or point of origin and tend to be less busier than LAX. Most are served by domestic flights from other parts of the U.S. and a few international flights from Mexico and Canada:

• Hollywood Burbank Airport (Bob Hope Airport) (BUR ^IATA), 2627 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, ☏ +1 818-840-8840. Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, JSX, Southwest, Spirit, and United fly into this airport in the San Fernando Valley, northeast of Downtown L.A. Closer to Hollywood and the San Fernando.
• Long Beach Airport (LGB ^IATA), 4100 Donald Douglas Dr., Long Beach, ☏ +1 562-570-2600. American, Delta, and JetBlue fly into this airport in southern Los Angeles County. West coast hub for JetBlue.
• Ontario International Airport (ONT ^IATA), 1940 East Moore Way, Ontario in the adjacent San Bernardino County, ☏ +1 909-937-2700. Alaska, American, China Airlines, Delta, Southwest, United and Volaris serve this airport which is 37 mi (59 km) east of Downtown Los Angeles and just west of the I-10/I-15 junction, about a 40-minute drive without traffic. It is the closest airport to San Bernardino, Riverside, Joshua Tree and the Inland Empire
• John Wayne Airport (SNA ^IATA), 18601 Airport Way, Santa Ana in adjacent Orange County, ☏ +1 949-252-5200. Alaska, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, United, and WestJet serve this airport which is 40 mi (64 km) southeast of Downtown Los Angeles, about a 45-minute drive without traffic. Closest airport to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm.
• Van Nuys (VNY ^IATA), 6461 Sherman Way, Van Nuys is a large public airport for general aviation and private VIP flights which may be ideal if you're flying in on your own private plane to avoid the crowds. Hollywood celebrities, politicians, and business executives are known to use this airport, which has convenience and anonymity. The airport is 22 mi (36 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles towards the San Fernando Valley. Go Rental and National are closest to the airport for car rental but there are others nearby offering rental cars. For all others using commercial flights they provide additional parking at Van Nuys for LAX with the LAX FlyAway bus going into LAX.

Other southern California airports are in:

• Palm Springs (PSP ^IATA), 3400 E Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs ☏ +1 760-318-3800. Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Sun Country, United, Virgin America & WestJet serve this airport which is 3 mi (5 km) east Downtown Palm Springs. Because of the limited number of flights offered from other parts of the U.S. the airfare can be cheaper to fly into Ontario (the next closest 70 mi (110 km) west), rent a car and drive over.
• San Diego International Airport (SAN ^IATA), 3225 N Harbor Dr, San Diego ☏ +1 619-400-2404. Air Canada, Alaska, Allegiant, American, British Airways, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, Japan Airlines, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country, United, & WestJet serve this airport which is 5 mi (8 km) north of Downtown San Diego, 5 - 20 min drive depending on traffic.
• General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport in Tijuana (TIJ ^IATA), Carretera Aeropuerto S/N, Col Nueva Tijuana, Tijuana ☏ +52 664-607-8200. Aeromexico, AeroCalifia, Viva Aerobus & Volaris serves this airport which is 6 mi (8 km) east of downtown Tijuana (Zona Centro & Zona Rio), just south of the border and 25 mi (42 km) south of downtown San Diego. There's also a second terminal just over the border fence in the American side with a pedestrian bridge connecting the main terminal and an airport bus terminal next to the main airline terminal. If coming from Mexico it may be more advantageous to fly to Tijuana on a (Mexican) domestic flight and then cross into San Diego by ground transportation than on an international flight to San Diego, Los Angeles, or other cities north of the border.

By rail

Amtrak (for inner-Californian services branded as "Amtrak California") serves most major cities, some through a bus connection from the last station as there are not always rail connections Amtrak can use. It is usually not the cheapest or the fastest option for longer distances and has thus historically played only a marginal role outside of commuter service, but road congestion and the increasingly annoying manner air passengers are treated by airlines and TSA as well as rising costs of other modes of transport have made Amtrak and commuter railways more and more attractive.

Construction is underway for a new high speed service linking San Francisco and Los Angeles. The network is scheduled to open in phases with the full distance completed by the late 2020s.

By car

Southern California is perhaps the most car dependent region in the US if not the world. As such a car is usually the most convenient but sometimes also the only way to get around. However congestion is frequent and during rush hour freeways and highways become parking lots. If you can arrange it try driving in off-peak hours and getting a small group together to travel in the (usually less congested) car pool lane.

By bus

Most of the buses are routed with Los Angeles as the hub or core with frequent services from San Francisco Bay Area (via Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and/or Oxnard); Sacramento (via Modesto, Stockton, Merced and/or Bakersfield); Las Vegas (via Barstow, San Bernardino); Mexicali and Tijuana (via San Ysidro, San Diego, and/or Santa Ana) with multiple companies. There are also other buses originating from El Paso (via Phoenix & Tucson), Seattle, Salt Lake City, Chicago and New York that go contiguously to Los Angeles with minimal layover or transfers in between. See By bus under Getting in, in the Los Angeles, San Diego and the Tijuana articles for a list of bus companies serving Southern California.

Get around

Transportation in Southern California consists of public transit, rail transit, airports, shuttle services, highways, roads and bike paths.

By car

Most Southern Californians drive their personal cars to get around. Just listen to the morning and evening traffic reports and you'll get an idea of how many cars are driven in the area each and every day.

As such, a special vocabulary has developed surrounding the road system.

• Rush hour - somewhat of a misleading name as the period lasts longer than one hour. Indicates the hours of 6AM-8AM and 5PM-7PM when the highest volume of commuters are on the road.
• SigAlert - heard during a traffic report, indicates a long-lasting problem that closes one or more lanes.

Unlike many parts of the country, traffic reports often only cover accidents or unusual slowdowns - areas that are normally congested don't always rate a report. There are of course several smartphone apps that cover traffic; sigalert.com is one that's specific to Southern California.

The metropolitan regions of Southern California consist of many small cities that run into one another. It can be confusing and you can get lost very easily if you do not have a map, even with detailed directions. A Thomas Guide, which contains detailed maps of all neighborhoods, is a useful tool if you plan on doing any driving in Southern California. This book can be found in local stores and bookstores.

The freeways and highways are one of the major trademarks of the region. Extensive and complex freeway networks criss-cross the quickly-growing region, connecting urban centers with their suburbs, as well as the areas of urban sprawl between them. The major highways leading in and out of Southern California include Interstates 5, 8, 10, 15, 40, the Golden State, San Diego, Ocean Beach, Mission Valley, Santa Monica, Corona and Mojave Freeways.

Freeway system

The freeway naming conventions can be confusing to non-natives as a freeway will have multiple names depending on where in Southern California a particular section is located. When referring to a particular freeway by number, it is prefixed by the word "the". For example, Interstate 5 is referred to as "the 5" and State Route 91 is referred to as "the 91". Below is a basic guide to the various ways a particular freeway may be referenced.

• Interstate 5 - the Golden State Freeway (northern portions) and the Santa Ana Freeway (southern portions of L.A. and in Orange County); San Diego Freeway in San Diego County.
• - Mission Valley Freeway
• Interstate 10 - the Santa Monica Freeway (western portions), the San Bernardino Freeway (eastern portions)
• & - Escondido Freeway (southern portions); Temecula Valley Freeway in the Inland Empire. I-15 begins/ends as SR-15. It becomes I-15 north of its junction with I-8.
• - the Century Freeway
• - the Harbor Freeway
• - the Foothill Freeway
• - the San Diego Freeway
• - the Long Beach freeway (southern portions), the Pasadena Freeway (northern portions)
• - Jacob Dekema Freeway
• - the Hollywood Freeway (eastern portions), the Ventura Freeway (western portions)
• - the Antelope Valley Freeway
• - Garden Grove Freeway
• - Pomona Freeway
• - the Artesia Freeway (western portions), the Riverside Freeway (eastern portions)
• - the Hollywood Freeway (the 170 intersects with the 101 near Hollywood thus it shares its name with the 101.)

There are a few key locations that are referred to in traffic reports that may be unfamiliar to out-of-town visitors.

• The Sepulveda Pass - refers to the 405 between Santa Monica and Van Nuys.
• The El Toro Y (or Wye) - the intersection of the 5 and 405 near Irvine in Orange County.
• The Orange Crush - the intersection of the 5, 22, and 57 in the city of Orange.
• The Grapevine - the 5 as it climbs over the pass between the Los Angeles Basin and the Central Valley of California.
• The Cajon Pass (pronounced cuh-hone) - the 15 as it climbs the pass between San Bernardino and the High Desert city of Victorville.

Public transit

Public Transportation in Southern California includes:

• Coaster Train (commuter train between Oceanside and (downtown) San Diego)
• Metrolink (Commuter trains across the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura Counties)
• Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) (buses and light rail in around Los Angeles metropolitan area such as Los Angeles, East L.A., Burbank, Long Beach, Hollywood/W Hollywood, Santa Monica, Torrance, Culver City, Westwood, etc )
• Foothill Transit (Buses in the San Gabriel Valley, in the eastern part of the greater Los Angeles area and west of the Los Angeles/San Bernardino County Line such as Alhambra, Asuza, Baldwin Park, Claremont, Chino Hills, El Monte, Diamond Bar, Hacienda Heights, Pasadena, Montclair, Pomona, Rowland Heights, etc. Limited to no Metro services in the San Gabriel Valley.
• Gold Coast Transit (Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Ventura and adjacent unincorporated areas of Ventura County)
• Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) (Santa Ana, Anaheim, Irvine, etc in Orange County)
• Omnitrans (San Bernardino, Ontario, Chino, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, etc., in southwestern San Bernardino County)
• Riverside Transit Agency (RTA) (In and around Riverside in western Riverside County)
• North County Transit District (light rail & buses between Carlsbad, Escondido, Encinitas, Oceanside, San Marcos, etc in northern San Diego County)
• San Diego County MTS (SDMTS) (trolleys & buses in and around San Diego (proper), La Jolla, National City, Coronado, Chula Vista, San Ysidro, Imperial Beach, El Cajon, etc., in southern San Diego County)
• Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTS) (Intercity travel between Ventura, Oxnard, Carpinteria, Camarillo, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, etc within Ventura County and into the neighboring Santa Barbara County)

The below are the private intercity buses which can be useful to go across longer distances such as from Los Angeles to San Bernardino, Long Beach, Anaheim, Indio or to San Diego and more locally such as between Long Beach, Anaheim and Santa Ana with no stops. The caveats are that they operate on less frequent schedules and cost more than the city or county buses (listed above) for short distance travel:

• El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine Express, (downtown Los Angeles Station) 6th & Wall St, ☏ +1 213 623-2323. I-10/15 (Los Angeles, E Los Angeles, El Monte, San Bernardino and Indio (nearest stop to Palm Springs) some variations of the route continue north from San Bernardino to Barstow & Las Vegas. (updated Oct 2016)
• Greyhound & Curceros-USA, ☏ +1 213 629-8401, toll-free: +1 800 231-2222. Greyhound operates along I-5 (Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Oceanside, San Diego & Tijuana. Some of the I-5 buses operate non-stop between Los Angeles and San Diego); I-10/15 (Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Indio (nearest stop to Palm Springs) & Blythe some variations of the route continue north from San Bernardino to Barstow & Las Vegas; I-15 (San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Barstow & Las Vegas); US Hwy 101 (Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Santa Cruz); I-8 (San Diego, Calexico/Mexicali, Yuma); SR-111 (San Bernardino, Indio, Coachella and Calexico/Mexicali). They also have buses connecting Long Beach to Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Bernardino and San Diego. Cruceros USA is a subsidiary brand of Greyhound Mexico for cross-border travel between the U.S. and Mexico. $7-15+ o.w. (updated Apr 2016)
• Hoang Express, ☏ +1 714 839-3500, toll-free: +1-888-834-9336. Travels between SoCal (San Diego, El Monte, Los Angeles, Westminster); northern California (San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland and Sacramento) and Arizona (Phoenix, Chandler and Tempe). They also have additional stops in Westminster and El Monte. $60-65 to Bay Area; $80 to Sacramento. 
• InterCalifornias/Aeromexico Shuttle, ☏ +1 213 629-4885, toll-free: +1-888-834-9336. Buses travel along I-5 between Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Ysidro & Tijuana; SR60/I-215/15 between Los Angeles, Moreno Valley, Perris, Temecula, Escondido, San Ysidro, Tijuana; I-10/SR111 between Los Angeles, Coachella, Calexico & Mexicali; US-101 to Oxnard Prices vary depending on your destination. 
• Rapid Connections LLC, ☏ +1 559 442-3000. Buses travel along I-5 between Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Ysidro & Tijuana. (updated Oct 2016)
• Santa Barbara Airbus, ☏ +1 805 964-7759, toll-free: +1-800-423-1618. Connects LAX to Carpinteria, Santa Barbara and Goleta. (updated May 2016)

Within L.A. County and some of the other counties, the cities/municipalities operate their own bus transit systems within their respective areas and to adjacent areas such as:

• Antelope Valley Transit (Lancaster, Palmdale & Newhall Metrolink Station in northern Los Angeles County. Area not serviced by Metro.)
• Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica, LAX, Century City, Culver City, UCLA, Pacific Palisides, West Los Angeles, express service to downtown Los Angeles)
• Culver City Bus (Culver City, Inglewood, Marina del Rey, UCLA, Westwood, Venice & LAX)
• L.A. Dept of Transportation Transit (local neighborhood shuttles and express buses to/from downtown Los Angeles)
• Long Beach (Long Beach, Lakewood & Signal Hill)
• Montebello Transit (Montebello, East Los Angeles, Pico Riviera and Whittier)
• Torrance Transit (Torrance, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, Carson, LAX, Express service to downtown Los Angeles)

There are numerous other smaller local transit systems throughout southern California that are county or city operated. See By bus or By Public Transportation under Getting around in the individual city/municipality article for additional listings.

Major hubs of transportation and logistics are planning major capital investments in Southern California over the next several years. They have the largest federal stimulus project in L.A. County: the Harry Bridges reconstruction project. This will be a big commitment consisting of 250 construction jobs for a $25-million project. They also just kicked off a six-year expansion to the China Shipping Terminal which will include new wharfs, new cranes, and about 4,000 jobs at full capacity.

Mass transit is available throughout the area, with many connecting together at shared stops. The regional commuter train,MetroLink, connects many of the outlying areas, where many commuters live, in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura, Riverside and Orange Counties to/from where they work. This train system comes in handy when you need to get from one area to another, even with its limited schedule.

By plane

While it is theoretically possible to get around Southern California by air, the cost prohibits all but the most affluent from doing so on private aircraft. The major airports in the area include the Los Angeles, John Wayne (Orange County), San Diego and Palm Springs International Airports. There are smaller regional airports in Burbank, Long Beach, El Centro in Imperial County and Ontario. Commercial flights are only available between San Diego and Los Angeles International with multiple airlines, and between Los Angeles and El Centro in Imperial County with Mokulele Airlines. Flights between San Diego and Los Angeles are usually as part of an onward ticket to another part of the U.S. or part of an international flight to/from San Diego via Los Angeles International Airport. See By air under Get in in the above.

By thumb

It is not worth trying. Cities are too close together and there are too many access points to the highway, making it nearly impossible to find someone going your way. Your best bets are the 101 north of Santa Barbara, the 5 north of Santa Clarita, or east until you escape the sprawling cityscape.

On foot

Though Los Angeles is known throughout the U.S. for suburban sprawl and car-dependent development, efforts to make it more walkable have had some success, and you can now feasibly walk to many points in SoCal that used to be only reachable by motorized vehicles.

See

Southern California is home to many motion picture, television, and recorded music companies. This region is home to the world's largest adult entertainment industry, which is primarily in the San Fernando Valley, and Hollywood (the center of the motion picture industry, at least in name). Headquartered in Southern California is Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Sony Pictures (Culver City), Universal Pictures (Universal City), Paramount Pictures (Hollywood), DreamWorks Pictures (Universal City), 20th Century Studios (Century City) and Warner Bros. (Burbank).

SoCal is home to many sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Professional teams in the region include the Los Angeles Lakers (basketball), Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Dodgers (Baseball), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks (Ice Hockey), Los Angeles Galaxy (Soccer), Los Angeles Chargers American Football and Los Angeles Rams. Southern California also is home to a number of popular NCAA (college) sports programs, such as the UCLA Bruins, the USC Trojans, and the San Diego State Aztecs.

• Cabrillo National Monument - (San Diego) Climbing out of his boat and onto shore in 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo stepped into history as the first European to set foot on what is now the West Coast of the United States. In addition to telling the story of 16th century exploration, the park is home to a wealth of cultural and natural resources.

Do

Southern California is home to the movie studios of Hollywood, theme parks such as Disneyland and Universal Studios, and beautiful beaches.

Eat

Most major cuisines can be found in the towns and cities of Southern California, with especially popular ones including Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Salvadoran, Korean, Indian, Pilipino, and Armenian, owing to the large numbers of immigrants from these regions to Southern California.

Mexican food is particularly prominent, with taco shops being a ubiquitous feature of SoCal's urban landscape and offering some uniquely regional takes on Mexican staples like burritos and tacos. Unlike the Mission burrito, brought to prominence up north in San Francisco and spread across the nation, regional burrito varieties in SoCal tend to eschew rice as a filler ingredient; Los Angeles burritos tend to use some combination of refried beans, meat, chili, and cheese, while San Diegans embrace the meat-packed carne asada burrito along with its variant, the California burrito, which includes French fries and cheese in addition to carne asada. A lot of overlap between these two styles exists and you're likely to find both throughout Southern California. Another local specialty is rolled tacos, which consist of beef or chicken tightly rolled into a corn tortilla and fried until crispy, then served with guacamole and shredded cheese piled on top.

Southern California is the birthplace of modern day American fast food, with many drive-thru chains such as McDonald's (now headquartered in the Chicago metropolitan area) getting their start in the L.A. region. One should not miss out on In-N-Out Burger, a predominantly California chain with multiple locations throughout the SoCal region serving burgers and milkshakes; the menu is pretty short and straightforward, but a "secret" menu allows you to customize by ordering "animal style" fries and burgers.

For a taste of locally-grown food, you can visit a farmers' market and rub shoulders with celebrity chefs and foodie insiders picking out the finest organic produce. You can also step into sleek restaurants serving innovative, ultra-fresh fusion cuisine. You can taste gelato made with locally produced chocolate and toasted hazelnuts, or handmade cheeses from local farms. Drive down a tree-lined lane to wineries in grand chateaus, or relaxed, family-run vineyards where the guy pouring and chatting in the tasting room is a world-class winemaker.

Stay safe

• Crime can be high in certain parts of Southern California, particularly in parts of the Los Angeles area or parts of the Inland Empire area; however, the media tends to exaggerate this sometimes. Many areas are extremely good and safe, and Los Angeles, being a large diverse city, has many affluent, and middle-class areas, as well as struggling neighborhoods.
• Some tourists may suffer respiratory problems due to the pollution in the air closer to Southern California's major metropolitan areas. Drink plenty of fluids and keep outdoors activities within the city to a minimum.
• There are some animals you may want to be aware of in Southern California. There are rattlesnakes in the open spaces. It's not likely you will run into one, but if you do, they typically will not bother you if you don't bother them. Even so, it's best to always be alert while hiking. Mountain lions (also known as pumas, cougars, and catamounts) exist in National Parks and open spaces in Southern California. These cats are, however, shy and elusive. Although it has happened, you have very little chance of being attacked by one, let alone seeing one. Most hikers who have been hiking these areas their whole lives have never seen a mountain lion, but attacks do happen every few years or so. Make sure to always hike with another person, especially near dawn and dusk. Coyotes are common, but elusive, throughout Southern California mountains, even in relatively populated areas such as the Hollywood Hills. They pose little threat to humans but they will attack dogs and other domestic animals - if you have animals with you, be sure they are under your control and close by.
• Bears are in the mountains of Southern California and they have been known to wander into the neighborhoods of SoCal cities, mainly the cities that border the vast mountains. It's not very common, but one should be on the lookout, again if walking at dawn or dusk, especially in the cities that border the mountains.

Go next

• The California Desert, to the east
• The Central Coast and San Joaquin Valley to the north
• Baja California, in Mexico, to the south