Costa Mesa, United States: Self-Guided Walking Tour

The best things to do in Costa Mesa include exploring modern art, seeing a performance and discovering the city’s distinctive cultural institutions. Known as the “City of the Arts,” Costa Mesa brings together museums, theatres and entertainment venues in a Southern California setting near Orange County’s coast. Neywo has a free audio guide for Costa Mesa with four narrated places, available in 11 languages.

What to see in Costa Mesa

Orange County Museum of Art

The UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art is a modern and contemporary art museum at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Its collection focuses on art from California and the Pacific Rim, covering the early twentieth century to the present.

More than 4,500 objects trace the changing forms of modern and contemporary art across the region. The collection includes traditional paintings, sculptures and photography, as well as video, digital art and installation art. That range makes the museum a useful introduction to both familiar and experimental forms of artistic expression.

South Coast Repertory

South Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company and nonprofit organization founded in 1964. Its programme brings classic plays together with new works and performances created for young audiences.

For visitors looking for what to see in Costa Mesa beyond museums, the theatre offers a direct way to experience the city’s long-standing performing-arts scene. Its history reflects Costa Mesa’s role as a place where established works and contemporary theatre share the same cultural setting.

Pacific Amphitheatre

The Pacific Amphitheatre is a major concert venue on the grounds of the OC Fair and Event Center. Its performances are mainly held from early July through early September as part of the Summer Concert Series at the OC Fair.

The amphitheatre opened in July 1983, with Barry Manilow as its first performer. It later closed in 1995 after noise complaints and litigation connected to its surrounding residential development, then reopened in 2003 alongside the annual OC Fair.

A major construction project in 2013 reshaped the existing berm and reduced the venue’s capacity from approximately 18,500 to 8,200. It also created a new lobby entrance from inside the fairgrounds. Today, the venue is independently managed and operated by the OC Fair and Event Center, with reduced capacity and strict sound monitoring agreed with local residents.

St. James Anglican Church

St. James Anglican Church has a recent history shaped by a legal dispute that attracted national attention. The parish was formerly part of the Episcopal Church. After withdrawing from it, St. James joined another Anglican province, leading to a legal case involving the Episcopal Church.

The church offers a different perspective on Costa Mesa’s places of interest: rather than a museum or performance venue, it is a local parish whose institutional history became part of a wider religious and legal discussion.

Explore Costa Mesa with a free audio guide

A Costa Mesa self-guided walking tour is a simple way to explore the city independently, but Neywo’s free audio guide does not require a group or a fixed timetable. It tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with narration available in 11 languages.

You can also place Costa Mesa within a wider trip through California and the United States. Nearby destinations such as Del Mar, Coronado and Encinitas offer other ways to experience Southern California.

Download Neywo and explore Costa Mesa at your own pace

Download Neywo to explore Costa Mesa with a free audio guide covering four narrated places. The app plays each story when you reach the place, so you can move at your own pace, without joining a group and without following a schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages.