Belmont Shore

LoginSave

If downtown Long Beach feels urban and corporate, Belmont Shore exudes a quintessential SoCal, laid-back air. It has a fine beach with a pier for fishing and watching sunsets, and keeps it real along a buzzy, four-block strip of E 2nd St, bursting with boutiques, cafes and bars filled with surfers and students.

Those palm-studded mini-islands you see offshore? Those are actually disused oil rigs.

Naples, just east of Belmont Shore, is Long Beach’s most exclusive neighborhood. It’s a canal-laced borough, created in 1903 by Arthur Parsons, not coincidentally a contemporary of Venice’s Abbot Kinney. It’s best explored on a gondola ride.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Griffith in Blue

    Griffith Observatory

    26.41 MILES

    With eyes on both the galaxy above and palm-flanked boulevards below, the Griffith Observatory hovers above LA like a hulking spacecraft. This is one of…

  • People entering Knott's Scary Farm at Knott's Berry Farm, celebrating a Southern California Halloween tradition, on October 14, 2013.

    Knott’s Berry Farm

    9.92 MILES

    What started as a simple berry farm is now a sprawling 160-acre operation with rides, live shows and lovable Peanuts characters roaming the grounds. Knott…

  • VENICE BEACH, USA - SEPTEMBER 29, 2016: The crowded Venice Beach Boardwalk. Lots of people are strolling down the boardwalk. On the sides there are several shops and palm trees.

    Venice Boardwalk

    24.95 MILES

    Prepare for a sensory overload on Venice's Boardwalk, a one-of-a-kind experience. Buff bodybuilders brush elbows with street performers and sellers of…

  • Santa Monica Pier

    Santa Monica Pier

    26.9 MILES

    Once the very end of the legendary Route 66 and still the object of a tourist love affair, this much-photographed pier dates back to 1908 and is the city…

  • The Broad Museum of Los Angeles.

    Broad

    21.3 MILES

    From the instant it opened in September 2015, the Broad (rhymes with 'road') became a must-visit for contemporary-art fans. It houses the world-class…

  • Getty Center, exterior.

    Getty Center

    29.27 MILES

    In its billion-dollar, in-the-clouds perch, high above the city grit and grime, the Getty Center presents triple delights: a stellar art collection …

  • Universal Studios Hollywood

    Universal Studios Hollywood

    28.86 MILES

    Dodge dinosaurs, hang with Homer Simpson and morph into a Minion on the sometimes hair-raising, always entertaining attractions at Universal Studios…

View more attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Long Beach Museum of Art

1.56 MILES

The beachfront location is breathtaking; permanent collections boast pop art, mid-20th-century furniture and sculpture and some contemporary work; and the…

2. Retro Row

1.81 MILES

This blocks-long stretch of 4th St is a fab destination for retro fashion, fun cafes and restaurants and an awesome art-house theater.

3. Seal Beach Pier

2.33 MILES

Where Main St ends, Seal Beach Pier begins, extending 1865ft over the ocean. The 1906 original fell victim to winter storms in the 1930s and has since…

4. Museum of Latin American Art

2.61 MILES

This gem of a museum is the only one in the US to present art created since 1945 in Latin America and in Latino communities in the US through important…

5. East Village Arts District

2.92 MILES

Don’t get overly excited just because the words 'East Village' and 'Arts' happen to appear in the same sentence. Still, this rather small corner of…

6. Queen Mary

3.02 MILES

Long Beach’s ‘flagship’ attraction is this grand – and supposedly haunted! – British luxury liner. Larger and more luxurious than even the Titanic…

7. Scorpion

3.11 MILES

This Cold War–era Soviet submarine is moored alongside the Queen Mary. As you scramble around, imagine how 78 crew shared 27 bunks and two bathrooms,…

8. Aquarium of the Pacific

3.39 MILES

Long Beach’s most mesmerizing experience, the Aquarium of the Pacific is a vast, high-tech indoor ocean where sharks dart, jellyfish dance and sea lions…