Book a flight to Santa Ana with Qatar Airways

On your trip to Santa Ana, don’t miss the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, which has brilliant ethnographic displays exploring the history of indigenous peoples around the world. There’s also a children’s section of the museum with interactive displays. 

Another must-see museum here is the Discovery Cube Orange County, formerly the Discovery Science Centre, which has over 100 hands-on models and exhibits tracing scientific endeavours of the last century. They include a real rocket engine and a two-storey high dinosaur.

Santa Ana Zoo at Prentice Park is especially good for younger kids with its creative environments for exotic animals such as South American parrots and other species.

Find out more about the hip side of Santa Ana’s artistic scene by visiting the Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art. It’s a small and cosy museum bursting with colour and innovation, a showcase for the area’s vibrant modern art movement in all its forms.

Anyone interested in the aircraft used in World War II or just aviation history in general will love the Lyon Air Museum. Based at John Wayne Airport, the museum is home to a fleet of vehicles and aircraft from the period and has a hands-on approach that kids and adults alike will enjoy.

A good way to discover more of Orange County history on your trip to Santa Ana is to visit the Old Courthouse, which is now a museum with lots of displays and exhibitions throughout the year. 

One of the few really old buildings still standing in Santa Ana is the ornate Queen Anne Victorian House, as it’s quaintly (and somewhat confusingly) called. Take a guided tour to see how the folks round these parts used to live in perhaps more genteel days.

Another museum, but a really tiny and unusual one, is the Bowers, which has become something of an icon for Orange County. You can find it in the centre of the artistic downtown quarter of Santa Ana, surrounded by artists’ villages. The pervading Spanish style makes you feel that you must have dozed off and woken up in Seville or Madrid.

Santa Ana has many different dining options on offer, from small taco bars to plush restaurants, but they all serve a delicious range of local Californian and international cuisine. 

Anyone with a taste for Mexican food will be in heaven here, as Santa Ana has some of the best tapas and plates in the region. 

There are also plenty of chicken dishes on the menu as well as that traditional US staple, the well-grilled beef steak. Everything is served up with plenty of fresh salad and vegetables.

There are lots of small independent stores in and around town, so when travelling to Santa Ana with a shopping list you’re almost certain to find what you’re looking for. There are also many big malls and plazas here now, selling everything from knick-knacks to designer jeans and jewellery.

Malls such as Main Place Santa Ana and South Coast Plaza have entertainment venues and restaurants as well as shopping outlets, so you can comfortably spend an entire afternoon shopping, eating and relaxing under the one roof.