Laguna Niguel

The affluent bedroom community of Laguna Niguel sits in the San Joaquin Hills southeast of Orange County. The first master-planned community in California, it was built in and around a system of public trails and parks, taking full advantage of its gorgeous climate and natural surrounds. The 4,500-acre Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, a designated wildlife sanctuary, is its centerpiece (hike to the stalactite-riddled Dripping Cave). The community stretches all the way to the coast (where you’ll find the beachfront Heisler Park), and even has great trout and bass fishing in its own Laguna Niguel Lake.