This property is located one mile from the Newport Pier. It is close enough to walk down to the shops and restaurants, but far enough away to escape the most crowded part of the beach when you want to lay out and relax. You can ride a bike further down another 10 minutes or so to visit the arcade at the balboa fun zone or cross on the ferry for more food and shops on balboa Island. There is a little water museum there with a tide pool touch table for little kids. It also is the place to go if you are interested in booking whale watching trips, harbor cruises or want to take the ferry across to Catalina Island for the day. You can also rent kayaks, paddle boards wave runners etc. We like to rent the little electric duffy boats and cruise the bay with snacks and a glass of wine. If you ride in the opposite direction from the house you are about a 25 minute ride from all that Huntington pier area has to offer. I love the central location west Newport offers. Of course the house is also about 20 minutes away from big attractions such as Disneyland and Angel Stadium. My kids enjoy the Santa Ana Zoo which is small but nice. They also enjoyed the discovery cube hands on museum when they were little. Newport Dunes is a campground down the street a few miles that has set up a nice safe cove that is great for families. the have a little water park area set up during the summer and rent out paddle boats and things in a safe easy to watch area. They charge a small fee per car to enter for the day. Fashion Island is a nice outdoor mall that offers shopping, food and a nice movie theater. The waves at Newport are great for swimming, surfing and building sand castles. If you are interested in tide pools or snorkeling head over to Laguna Beach. The downtown area also has nice shopping and restaurants. We like to go to the Montage hotel for drinks. Parking can be tricky so we usually valet at the hotel even though it is pricey. It has an amazing view. There is a nice and expensive restaurant in the hotel but we usual opt for the cheaper more casual bar and restaurant by the pool. From there you can walk on a sidewalk along the beach or access the white sand by going down the stairs. While there is a lot to do in Southern California, half the time we park our car and dont use it at all. We go from the beach to the house to the beach and walk to dinner.