Things to Do in Huntington Beach, California
Beyond the beach itself, Huntington Beach has a genuinely varied set of real, currently-operating attractions -- a working surf-history museum, a large city park, a nationally significant restored wetland, and an open-air retail district. This page covers what's real and documented, not a generic beach-town list.
The Huntington Beach Pier and 8.5 Miles of Beach
The Huntington Beach Pier -- rebuilt after storm damage in 1912, 1939, 1983, and most recently 1988, reopening in 1992 at roughly 1,850 feet long -- is the city's central landmark and a genuinely walkable public attraction, open for strolling, fishing (with California's public-pier license exemption applying, per our Fishing guide), and access to Duke's restaurant at its entrance. The surrounding roughly 8.5 miles of public sandy beach is the core, simplest attraction -- surfing, volleyball, and beach recreation along essentially the entire city coastline.
International Surfing Museum: Real, Free, and Historically Significant
The Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum, a nonprofit on Main Street, is open Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., with free (donation-based) admission. Its collection includes one of Duke Kahanamoku's surfboards and a Guinness World Records-certified 'world's largest surfboard' -- genuine, checkable artifacts documenting surf culture history, not a generic tourist-trap museum.
Huntington Central Park: A Large, Real City Park
Huntington Central Park East alone spans 343 acres, with additional acreage on the park's west side -- fields, gardens, lakes, and an equestrian center -- making it one of Orange County's larger city parks and a genuine inland recreation option distinct from the beach itself.
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve: A Nationally Significant Restoration
The roughly 1,445-acre Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, along the city's northern coastline, is a real, actively managed restored tidal wetland -- following a 2004-2006 restoration project described as the largest wetland restoration in Southern California history, with the tidal inlet reopening on August 24, 2006 after 107 years without natural tidal flow. It offers genuine hiking and birdwatching, not a paved amusement, and is directly adjacent to Huntington Harbour and northwest Huntington Beach residential areas.
Pacific City and Downtown Main Street
Pacific City, the 31-acre open-air retail and dining development that opened in 2015 near the pier, offers more than 60 shops and restaurants including anchor tenants H&M and Urban Outfitters, plus LOT 579's food-hall dining. Downtown Main Street itself, running from the pier inland, is the city's other core walkable shopping and dining corridor, with independent boutiques and restaurants distinct from Pacific City's larger-format retail.
Surfers' Hall of Fame and the Surfing Walk of Fame
At the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street, near the pier, the Surfing Walk of Fame -- founded in 1994 by Mike Abdelmuti, owner of Jack's Surfboards -- honors surf-culture figures with plaques embedded in the Main Street sidewalk. Nearby, the Surfers' Hall of Fame, which held its inaugural induction in 1997 and found its permanent home at the PCH/Main corner in 2001 alongside a bronze statue of Duke Kahanamoku, adds each year's inductees' actual handprints, footprints, and signatures set in concrete -- timed to coincide with the US Open of Surfing each year, across six categories including Surf Pioneer, Surf Champion, and Local Hero. This is a genuine, checkable piece of surf-culture institutional history, free to view any time, right at the pier entrance.
Huntington Dog Beach: A Real, Long-Established Off-Leash Beach
Huntington Dog Beach, a roughly 1.5-mile stretch of sand between Goldenwest Street and Seapoint Street, was formally established in 1998 following years of advocacy by founder Martin Senat, and remains one of Southern California's most popular off-leash dog beaches -- often nicknamed 'Doggy Disneyland' locally. It's managed today by the Preservation Society of Huntington Dog Beach, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and includes paid parking, restrooms, and picnic tables. Dogs must stay leashed until reaching the sand itself. This is a genuine, real amenity worth knowing about specifically for dog-owning residents or visitors, distinct from the main leashed-dog rules that apply along most of the rest of the city's public beach.
Old World Village: A Genuine, Long-Running Bavarian Village
A few miles inland from the beach, Old World Village is a real, currently operating 9-acre Bavarian-style shopping, dining, and residential village, opened in 1978 by developer Josef Bischof and his wife Dolores. Inspired by a visit to Solvang, California's Danish-themed village, Bischof built 50 shops with residences above them in traditional Bavarian architectural style, complete with cobblestone streets, imported lanterns, and 70 murals depicting scenes from 18 European countries. Today it includes a German restaurant, market, bakery, church, hotel, and various shops, and it's known for hosting one of California's largest annual Oktoberfest celebrations. This is a genuinely unexpected, real attraction distinct from Huntington Beach's surf-city identity -- worth knowing about specifically because it doesn't fit the beach-town stereotype at all.
The Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguard Program
For families, Huntington Beach's Junior Lifeguard Program -- established in 1964 and drawing an average of more than 1,000 students annually, ages 9-17 -- is a genuinely well-regarded, long-running civic institution, not just a summer camp. The seven-week summer program (Monday through Thursday, with off-site adventures and Surf Day on Fridays) teaches ocean safety, swimming, surfing, bodyboarding, first aid, and CPR, and has drawn international participants from Germany, France, England, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and Mexico. This is a real, checkable point of civic pride and a genuine practical resource for families relocating here with school-age children.
The US Open of Surfing: A Real Annual Event Worth Planning Around
For visitors specifically, the US Open of Surfing -- held annually since 1959, typically late July/early August, free and open to the public -- is a genuinely major event worth planning a visit around, drawing more than 370,000 spectators across nine days to watch professional surfing, skateboarding, and BMX competition on roughly 13 acres of beach south of the pier. Confirm current-year dates directly, since they shift somewhat year to year.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Pier length and rebuild history are drawn from the Encyclopedia of Surfing's pier-history retrospective and Calisphere/California Revealed digitized historical records. International Surfing Museum hours, admission, and collection details are drawn from the museum's own website (huntingtonbeachsurfingmuseum.org) and independent travel-guide sources. Huntington Central Park's East-section acreage is drawn from independent visitor-guide sources; total combined East/West acreage was not independently itemized this research pass. Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve acreage and restoration history are drawn from the Bolsa Chica Conservancy and California State Lands Commission's own materials. Pacific City's size, opening year, and anchor tenants are drawn from C.W. Driver Companies' own project-completion announcement and the development's own materials. US Open of Surfing history and attendance figures are drawn from SurfCityUSA.com's own event materials. The Surfing Walk of Fame's 1994 founding and the Surfers' Hall of Fame's 1997 inaugural induction and 2001 permanent PCH/Main location are drawn from the Encyclopedia of Surfing and SurfCityUSA.com's own listing pages. Huntington Dog Beach's 1998 establishment, founder Martin Senat, boundaries, and current nonprofit management are drawn from the Preservation Society of Huntington Dog Beach's own website (dogbeach.org) and California Beaches' independent description. Old World Village's 1978 founding, founders, acreage, and features are drawn from the village's own website (oldworldhb.com/about) and SuperMall's independent history piece. The Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguard Program's 1964 founding, enrollment figures, and program structure are drawn from the City of Huntington Beach's own Fire Department Junior Lifeguards page and hbjuniorguard.com. Confirm current hours, admission, and event dates directly with each attraction before planning a visit. Nothing on this page is a paid or sponsored listing.