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Orange County

Orange County, also known as the OC, is a county in Southern California. The second most populous in California, after Las Angeles County, its seat is Santa Ana, which is the most populous city in Orange County. There is no defined urban centre to OC, which leads its residents to identify themselves with the entire county, as opposed to how it is in most other counties, where residents identify themselves with a major city.

The county is the smallest in Southern California, in terms of total area and is bordered on the north by Los Angeles County, on the southeast by San Diego County and on the southwest by the Pacific Ocean. The terrain is varied and beautiful, with the northwestern part of the county lying on the coastal plain of the Los Angeles Basin, and the southeastern end climbing into the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains, a short peninsular mountain range running along the coast of southern California.  The majority of the OC’s population lives in either Santa Ana Valley or Saddleback Valley, which are the two coastal valleys that lie in the Los Angeles Basin.

Orange County is a very famous tourist destination, especially for families, as it hosts world famous theme parks like Disneyland, Movieland Wax Museum, Knott’s Berry farm, Wild Rivers water park, the Fun Zone at Balboa Peninsula, Disney’s California Adventures and Discover Science Center. If you’re a sports fan, there are numerous places that you can visit to get your dose of sport; Edison Field (also known as ‘The Big A’) for baseball fans, Arrowhead Pont (home to the Anaheim Ducks) for hockey fans, and the OC is also home to the Orange County Gladiators basketball team.

The county is also a great place to go shopping, with designer boutiques and malls to be found in all areas. When you’ve done all the shopping and theme park visitation that you can do, you can enjoy all the beaches of Orange County. There are abundant sandy beaches such as Laguna Beach, Balboa Island, Newport Beach, San Clemente, Sunset Beach and Corona Del Mar. There are yacht harbors for sailing and pleasure boating, and places where you can play golf, tennis, go cycling, kayaking, skateboarding and hiking.

There is a good reason why so many people visit Orange County every year, with a beautiful landscape, amazing beaches, wonderful shopping to be had, and plenty of activities to keep you busy, not to mention Disneyland; a trip to OC will be one to remember.