TRIP OVERVIEW
Day 1 – Adamson House and Malibu Lagoon Museum · Malibu Lagoon State Beach · Solstice Canyon · Getty Villa · Point Dume State Beach and Preserve
Day 2 – El Matador State Beach · Zuma Beach · Leo Carrillo State Park
Day 3 – King Gillette Ranch · Malibu Creek State Park · Topanga State Park
Day 1
From Hotel: 🚕 22 min → Adamson House and Malibu Lagoon Museum
1. Adamson House and Malibu Lagoon Museum
A 1929 Moorish Spanish Colonial Revival residence designed by Stiles O. Clements for the Rindge family. Notable for its Malibu Potteries tile on floors, walls, fountains, and facades — the last major production run of the manufacturer founded by May K. Rindge. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
🏛️ Daily 11:00am - 3:00pm
⏰ ~1 hr
⚠️ Tours depart hourly — arrive near the top of the hour
🚶 2 min · 🚕 2 min → Malibu Lagoon State Beach
2. Malibu Lagoon State Beach
A California State Park where Malibu Creek meets the Pacific, encompassing a protected coastal lagoon and a beach recognized as one of the premier longboard surf breaks in the world. Three surf points generate long right-hand waves that established the international surfing reputation of this coastline.
🚕 20 min → Solstice Canyon
3. Solstice Canyon
A hiking area preserving Roberts Ranch, owned by supermarket chain founders Fred and Florence Roberts from 1932. Architect Paul Williams designed the family's ranch house around the canyon's creek and a waterfall in 1952; a 1982 wildfire left only its foundation, reached today by an easy trail.
🚕 50 min → Getty Villa
4. Getty Villa
A museum dedicated to the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria, housed in a recreated 1st-century Roman villa. The collection spans 44,000 objects — sculptures, mosaics, decorative arts, and manuscripts — acquired by J. Paul Getty beginning in 1945.
🏛️ Daily 10:00am - 5:00pm
⏰ ~2 hr
Free
⚠️ Reserve timed-entry tickets in advance — same-day entry not guaranteed
🚶 15 min · 🚕 5 min → Point Dume State Beach and Preserve
5. Point Dume State Beach and Preserve
A 34-acre California state preserve on a volcanic headland rising 200 feet above the Pacific. A trail leads to the clifftop, a documented observation point for gray whale migration in winter and California sea lion haul-outs on the rocks below. The beach includes tide pools accessible via stairs.
🚕 20 min → hotel
Day 2
From Hotel: 🚕 18 min → El Matador State Beach
1. El Matador State Beach
The most photographed of the three pocket beaches making up Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach, reached by a steep bluff-top staircase. Sea stacks and collapsed sea caves rise directly from the sand, casting shifting shadows through the day and drawing photographers at sunset.
🚕 13 min → Zuma Beach
2. Zuma Beach
The largest county-run beach in Los Angeles County, with 1.8 miles of wide sand acquired by the county in 1941 after tax foreclosure on the Marblehead Land Company. The 1959 film Gidget drew crowds of surfers here through the 1960s, and the beach remains one of the region's cleanest stretches of coastline.
🚕 30 min → Leo Carrillo State Park
3. Leo Carrillo State Park
A 2,513-acre park named for actor and conservationist Leo Carrillo, who served on the California State Parks Commission. Sea caves, tide pools, and reef formations line 1.5 miles of beach at the Los Angeles-Ventura county line; the Woolsey Fire burned through nearly the entire park in November 2018.
🚕 25 min → hotel
Day 3
From Hotel: 🚕 25 min → King Gillette Ranch
1. King Gillette Ranch
A 588-acre former estate built in the 1920s for razor magnate King C. Gillette, its buildings designed by architect Wallace Neff. Later a Catholic seminary for a quarter-century, the property opened to the public in 2007 and now serves as the main visitor center for the Santa Monica Mountains.
🏛️ Monday - Saturday 7:00am - 4:00pm
🚫 Closed Sunday
⏰ ~45 min
Free
🚕 3 min → Malibu Creek State Park
2. Malibu Creek State Park
An 8,215-acre park preserving the Malibu Creek canyon, home to the Chumash for millennia before Twentieth Century Fox used its rock formations and meadows as filming locations for M*A*S*H, Planet of the Apes, and more than 100 other productions. Trails lead to the Rock Pool and Century Lake.
🚕 22 min → Topanga State Park
3. Topanga State Park
At 11,000 acres, the largest state park within the boundaries of a major American city, reaching from Topanga Canyon to within a few miles of the Pacific. Trails from the Trippet Ranch entrance climb to viewpoints including Eagle Rock and Parker Mesa Overlook, with sightlines to the ocean and the San Fernando Valley.
🚕 40 min → hotel
🗓️ Weekly Closures
Museums · Closed Tuesday
Historic Sites · Closed Sunday - Wednesday
📅 Tours
Viator
A 5.5-hour guided van tour covering celebrity home neighborhoods, beaches along Pacific Coast Highway, the Malibu Pier, and the Malibu Colony. Includes stops at Surfrider Beach and Point Dume with a local guide narrating history and resident lore.
⏳ 5 hr 30 min · 👥 Small group
🚕 22 min
A 2 to 3-hour guided hike through the vineyards of Saddlerock Ranch, with photo stops, ranch-animal encounters, and wine tastings along a beginner-friendly loop.
⏳ 2 hr · 👥 Small group
🚕 20 min
☕ Cappuccino
Malibu Farm Pier Cafe · 4.2⭐ · 800+ reviews
SunLife Organics · 4.5⭐ · 500+ reviews
Caffè Luxxe · 4.6⭐ · 300+ reviews
🫕 Restaurants Near Hotel
Malibu Café at Calamigos Ranch · 4.3⭐ · 1000+ reviews
California cuisine in an open-air dining room by oak trees and a creek.
🏨 In the hotel
🏛️ Daily 11:00am - 9:00pm
Old Place · 4.5⭐ · 600+ reviews
A converted 1869 general store serving wood-fired steaks. Cash only.
🏛️ Thursday - Sunday 5:00pm - 9:00pm
🚫 Closed Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday
🚕 15 min
Mastro's Ocean Club · 4.4⭐ · 2000+ reviews
Upscale steakhouse on Pacific Coast Highway with direct ocean access.
🏛️ Daily 5:00pm - 10:00pm
🚕 22 min
🍽️ Downtown Restaurants
Tra di Noi · 4.4⭐ · 700+ reviews
Italian trattoria with house-made pasta. Neighborhood fixture since 1994.
🏛️ Daily 11:30am - 9:00pm
Moonshadows · 4.0⭐ · 1800+ reviews
California cuisine with oceanfront outdoor seating since 1968.
🏛️ Daily 11:00am - 10:00pm
🍮 Local Tastes
Seafood at Neptune's Net
A roadside seafood counter on PCH at the Ventura County line since 1956 — fresh fish and chips, steamed clams, and crab at outdoor picnic tables overlooking the Pacific.
Santa Monica Mountains Wine
The Santa Monica Mountains AVA produces estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Sauvignon Blanc from vineyards in the hills above PCH. Malibu Family Wines and Cornell Winery are the primary producers with tastings by reservation.
Acai Bowls
Health food culture centered on acai bowls, green juices, and raw food — a diet popularized by the surf community in the 1990s. SunLife Organics and Malibu Smoothie are the principal local venues.
🎭 Shows, Performances & Concerts
Malibu Performing Arts Center
A 450-seat venue at Pepperdine University presenting professional theater, dance, and music productions throughout the year.
🚕 18 min
⛲️ Day Trips by Train
Ventura · 50 min
A small coastal city with a historic downtown, Mission San Buenaventura founded in 1782, a walkable Main Street, and access to Channel Islands National Park boat tours.
🎫 book at: amtrak.com or Omio
Santa Barbara · 2 hr
Known for Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, Mission Santa Barbara, and the State Street arts and restaurant corridor.
🎫 book at: amtrak.com or Omio
🏓 Pickleball
Pepperdine University · Outdoor
8 outdoor courts; community open play sessions; drop-in fee.
🏛️ Tuesday 4:30pm - 6:30pm · Thursday 4:30pm - 6:30pm · Sunday 10:00am - 12:00pm
🚫 Closed Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday
🚕 18 min
Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center · Indoor
6 wood-floor gym courts; morning open play; drop-in fee.
🏛️ Monday - Saturday 8:00am - 11:30am
🚫 Closed Sunday
🚕 22 min
Westlake Village Community Park · Outdoor
4 dedicated lighted outdoor courts; free; no reservations.
🏛️ Daily 6:00am - 9:00pm
🚕 25 min
⭐ Michelin Restaurants
⭐ Nobu Malibu
Japanese-Peruvian fusion · Omakase and à la carte.
🚕 22 min
🌊 On Malibu
Malibu is not a city in the conventional sense — it is 27 miles of Pacific coastline incorporated in 1991 primarily to give residents control over development. That tension between private land and public beach runs through everything here. The Rindge family spent decades trying to keep the public off what they believed was their private coast; their legal battles produced the estate system, the celebrity enclave, and eventually the Adamson House and its tile collection, which survived only because Rhoda Rindge built on the lagoon rather than the bluff.
The Getty Villa is a separate provenance entirely — an oil fortune translated into a replica Roman villa stuffed with antiquities — but it sits on the same coast for the same reason: the light, the views, the feeling that wealth and the Pacific belong together. Point Dume is what was here before any of that.