The 14 Best Places in Laguna Beach

Stone pathways wind through lush gardens on a clifftop bluff above Laguna Beach, which sets the tone for this full-service luxury resort. The Arts and Crafts movement is the organizing inspiration, and original works from that era share walls with contemporary pieces throughout. Rooms and bungalows have private balconies with ocean views, fire pits burn at dusk, and the pool sits improbably blue below the Pacific sky. It holds a Forbes Five Star and two Michelin Keys.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. Michelin Guide 2 Keys

A Michelin-starred omakase counter tucked into a Laguna Beach strip mall, which is either a joke or a lesson in not judging by the parking lot. Chef Jordan Nakasone runs two seatings a night, and the menu moves between precise, traditional nigiri and kitchen courses with a looser, more playful hand. Service is the kind that's present without being felt. The room is quiet, the pacing deliberate, and the whole thing lands closer to ceremony than dinner.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star

A fire engine-red Berkel slicer sits in open view of the dining room, which tells you something about how seriously this fine dining French restaurant takes its charcuterie. Husband-and-wife team Florent and Amelia Marneau run a kitchen that moves between classical and modern French without making a fuss about it. The glassed-in kitchen and soft globe lighting keep things elegant without going stiff. The cocktail list tracks the seasons, and the wine pairings are unusually fairly priced.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Eater The 38 Essential Orange County Restaurants

Deer graze the golf course while guests roast s'mores at the fire pit, which tells you something about the vibe at this resort tucked into two canyons just across PCH from the beach. Eighty-seven acres of hills and ravines give it more of a nature retreat feeling than a seaside hotel. Laguna Beach has an old artist-colony identity beneath the resort gloss, and the Ranch, with its ranch-style rooms and coastal-chic sustainability angle, leans into that quieter story.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
2. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A converted house on Pacific Coast Highway that now does serious work as a steakhouse, with enough rooms and terraces that you could visit four times and sit somewhere different each time. The kitchen leans into butter the way a steakhouse should, and the bar draws regulars who look comfortable enough to have their own tabs. The Michelin Guide lists it among its selected restaurants for the region.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Eater The 38 Essential Orange County Restaurants

1. US Coffee Championships #3 · U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits Championship · Glen Ackerman

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Woven rattan pendants, curved wooden headboards, and patterned throws replace the usual beachy kitsch at this 70-room clifftop boutique hotel, which reopened recently with a Mallorcan-inflected, warm-minimalist sensibility. The Pacific does the decorating through the windows. Ocean-facing rooms add balconies or pool access, and a guest-only policy keeps things quieter than you'd expect for a place this central to Laguna's gallery-and-restaurant corridor.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Approved

Twenty-two rooms tucked into a hillside above the Pacific, with a garden courtyard quiet enough to make you forget Laguna Beach has been discovered. Casa Laguna reads more like a large, well-curated bed and breakfast than a proper hotel, which is part of the appeal. The breakfast has its admirers well beyond the coast, and the spa keeps things unhurried. A Michelin Selected Hotel for travelers who'd rather feel like a houseguest than a check-in number.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Sleek banquettes and artwork-lined walls give this upscale osteria more warmth than you'd expect from a canyon-road address near the PCH. The menu reads like a tour of Italian classics, from stuffed zucchini blossoms to a proper bucatini all'amatriciana, with house-made desserts closing things out. The bar works nicely for solo diners who'd rather eat well than wait for a table.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Los Angeles Times Fifty Under $50