Who doesn’t know about Long Beach? The beautiful city situated in California houses the nation’s busiest ports and largest marina docking everything from the tiny sabot sailboat invented here, to the historic Queen Mary Ship and huge freighters from around the world. As its name implies, Long Beach offer long stretches of beaches. There are  some sandy beaches and coastline near downtown, Naples, Belmont Shore and Long Beach Peninsula that are enjoyed for their scenic beauty. But it is not all about beaches for Long Beach. Once you go downtown, you will be greeted by high rise condominiums and complexes — shopping, tour trips to museums and dining are the main highlights when you go to this place.

I guess the two most popular tourist spots in Long Beach are the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Queen Mary. You meet more than 12,500 animals as you explore sunny Southern California and Baja, the frigid waters of the Northern Pacific, and the colorful reefs of the Tropical Pacific at the Aquarium of the Pacific. The historic ship of Queen Mary has a Behind the Scenes Guided Tour of the historic ocean liner and World War II troopship, where you can see restored areas that have been under wraps since the final voyage in 1967, including the Isolation Wards and the aft Machine Rooms. Long Beach cruises by Carnival are also really popular. They offer 3-day, 4-day and 7-day itineraries year-round. All of these cruises go to Mexico. Once done with the cruise, you can try the famous Long Beach restaurants that offer waterfront dining such as Stefano’s Pizza and Bogart’s Coffee House!

Long Beach hotels, such as the Courtyard by Marriott Long Beach Downtown, is only walking distance to shops and restaurants. What’s a vacation without some shopping right? For mementos from the trip!