Ventura County

• Channel Islands National Park - The Ventura harbor is the departure point for most excursions to the Channel Islands National Park, a series of islands that are home to incredible marine life, beautiful and remote scenery, and the wily Channel Islands fox.

For the first hundred years after California became a state, Ventura County was primarily agrarian, and was known for its fertile farmland and orange groves. The rise of Los Angeles, its eastern neighbor, into become a major metropolis has resulted in the south third of the county becoming increasingly suburban. Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, and Moorpark, in the southeast, are commonly considered the western extent of the Los Angeles exurbs.

The southwest of the county, Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo, and Port Hueneme, have grown into more urbanized communities in their own right, with modest commercial and retail development to complement the agricultural sector that has thrived in the fertile soil deposited by the Santa Clara River, and the now-largely-channelized Calleguas Creek.

The northern half of the county has been less affected by Southern California's immense appetite for development. The Santa Ynez and Santa Susana mountain ranges are sparsely populated, and a large percentage of the land has been federally designated as the Los Padres National Forest by the U.S. government. In the southern foothills of the mountains, the cities of Santa Paula and Fillmore make up the primary population centers of the north county.

Ventura County is bordered by Kern County and the San Joaquin Valley on the north, Santa Barbara County to the west, Los Angeles and Southern California to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the south.

English is the dominant language of interaction in Ventura County, but Spanish is also widely (but not universally) spoken and understood.

Transportation within Ventura County is structured around the automobile. There are some limited public transportation options, such as the VISTA bus system that travel between cities in the county, and some cities operate modest municipal bus services, such as Gold Coast Transit and Thousand Oaks Transit

Visiting Ventura County is often more about getting away from it all than checking things off an itinerary. One can get a glimpse of what life was like in colonial-era California at Mission San Buenaventura, go hiking the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, or just spend a day relaxing on the beaches of Ventura or Port Hueneme.

Outdoor enthusiasts will find Ventura County has much to offer them. There are excellent surfing spots, horseback and hiking trails are numerous, and the landscape is widely varied. Even in the largest city, the great outdoors in never more than an hour away, and there are numerous campgrounds for any visitors interested in roughing it a bit more. For those that prefer nature to be more tamed, there are several excellent resort hotels and golf courses throughout the county.

Ventura County may appear, at first, to suffer from the same homogenization of dining choices that plagues some Los Angeles suburbs, but a second look can unearth some authentic and unique choices that better reflect the areas multifaceted character. Though it does not yet have the ethnic diversity and density of options that can be found in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or San Diego, but proximity to both high-quality Pacific seafood and local produce, plus a local clientele that is rapidly becoming more discerning, means that a high quality meal is available for the adventurous. Authentic home-style Mexican cuisine like that at Taqueria El Tapatio in Oxnard, or Letty's in Newbury Park is also there waiting to be discovered for those willing to search a little harder.

Nightlife in Ventura County generally trends more toward neighborhood watering holes and dive bars than the full-blown club experience. There are still plenty of variety from gastropubs like Public School 805 in Thousand Oaks, to Barrel 33 wine bar in Ventura, to the archetypical beachfront dive bar, Beachcomber Tavern in Oxnard.

Cities in Ventura County have a relatively low crime rate, both violent and petty, roughly half that of neighboring metropolitan Los Angeles. The more urban areas in and around Oxnard and Ventura are grittier than the strictly suburban neighborhoods, but are still less than the regional averages. Visitors are unlikely to inadvertently experience any real trouble. Gang activity is minimal, but not non-existent.

Rural and mountainous areas in the county are home to some large predators, such as Mountain Lions and Coyotes. Attacks on people, especially in groups, are extremely rare, but pets should be kept on a leash or indoors in the back country. Rattlesnakes are also common in rural areas. They commonly sun themselves on rocks and trails during summer months, and visitors should watch their step when hiking. In case of snakebite, remain calm and seek medical attention immediately.

• 🌍 Santa Barbara County - Ventura County's neighbor to the northwest is most famous for the town of Santa Barbara and is sometimes considered the northern boundary of Southern California. While mountains run through the region, the county is well served by a network of highways, making road trips to the many beautiful wineries a popular activity. The Danish town of Solvang is a popular destination, and rocket launches can sometimes be viewed near Vandenberg Air Force base, America's west coast spaceport.
• 🌍 San Luis Obispo County - San Luis Obispo County is to the northwest of Ventura County, and it marks a noticeable shift in landscape from areas to the south, with a dramatic and remote coastline that draws nature lovers. Hearst Castle is located here, the massive and historic former home of the newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. The town of San Luis Obispo is a college town that is the last large city for over 100 miles for those traveling north along the coast.
• 🌍 Kern County - Bordering Ventura County to the north, Kern County extends across a number of geographic regions: the western portion is in the San Joaquin Valley, the northeastern portion is in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and the southeastern part is in the Desert. Visitors to the county are most likely to be heading to Bakersfield, one of California's largest cities, or traveling along Interstate 5 past oil fields and agricultural areas.
• 🌍 Los Angeles County - While many places claim to have "something for everyone", Ventura County's southeastern neighbor actually does. There are movie studios to tour in Hollywood and its surrounding cities, shopping at luxury boutiques in Beverly Hills, the Ice Age fossils of the La Brea Tar Pits, the incredible museums of Exposition Park (including the Space Shuttle Endeavour), hiking and camping opportunities in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, some of the world's most impressive roller coasters at Magic Mountain, the famous beaches of Malibu, Santa Monica or Venice, and a million other options; just budget extra time to get to all of these places as you brave the infamous traffic with the county's ten million residents.