Oxnard Things to Do

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Enjoy one of the many single or multi passenger cycles available for all ages. The stunning views and great weather will amaze you as you cruise the beautiful Oxnard beach bike paths on a tandem bicycle or take the whole family on a ride in the three to eight passenger style surreys. Wheel Fun Rentals offers all of these services year round for your vacation enjoyment.
You can even enjoy a scenic bicycle tour of the Channel Islands Harbor, local beaches, Coast Guard and Naval facilities, yacht club, coffee shops, delis, seafood restaurants, and other unique cuisines. The tours come complete with multi speed bikes, helmets, locks, maps, and more to enhance your enjoyment. Wheel Fun Rentals Bicycle Tours.

Fishermans Wharf and Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard is an excellent place to take the family and spend a Saturday afternoon. Peppered with some great places to eat, the Ventura County Maritime Museum, and seasonal family events- you can stroll around the Wharf and enjoy the day. If you'd like to book a tour to the Channel Islands, or a Whale Watching Excursion, then stroll over to the Harbor where those arrangements can be made. The Wharf and the Harbor are very safe and family friendly- relax and enjoy!

When working in Oxnard and staying Camarillo, one of my favorite things to do when driving to work in the morning was to put the convertible top down and let the fresh aroma of the fields help me coffee wake me up. Sometimes this would backfire when they were applying fertilizer. Just drive in Eastern Oxnard, down Pleasant Valley or Los Posas, towards the Paciofic from the 101, and you'll see the seemingly endless fields of strawberries, onions, and lettuce. You'll also find a bit of this if you drive down Rose.

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Oxnard Beach is located off of Harbor. Open from Dawn till Dusk, park here and enjoy a picnic or a stroll down the beach- I would drive through each day and try to capture the sunset before dinner. Amenities featured at this Oxnard beach include barbeque areas, volleyball courts, a covered picnic area and a path for inline skating and jogging. Parking is offered in a pay lot.

One of the best things to do, and FREE too, is beach combing. If your out and about in the early mornings you can discover various things the great pacific ocean has churned up. From seashells to driftwood, and maybe a message in a bottle from a lost soul in the pacific. Parts of shipwrecks have been recorded washing up on the beaches in California.

Romantic walks. Nothing more romantic than walking the beach with your significant other and holding hands while the sun sets! Be careful though, as a sudden blast of Stars from the heavens about appear when it gets dark, and you will think your in an observatory!

Travel northward up the beach to find more seculuded spots to get nekked, and enjoy that California special sex on the beach. Warning: Sand in the crack isn't much fun!

Enjoy Oxnard, but most of all, pick up your trash. Leave it pretty for the next people who come to see it.

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Sitting a few miles off the coast just before it turns north for Big Sur and San Francisco, the Channel Islands are a strange departure from the crowded natures of neighboring Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.
The only way to access any of them is by boat, and Island Packers is the only company licensed by the park service to take tourists out to the islands. Many people go for the kayaking, but I just went to see the islands.
The easiest is Anacapa, which can be done as a day trip, and is where I went. Santa Cruz Island is also a daytrip and a much larger island, but is a little further out. The Anacapa boat leaves from Oxnard, while the others leave from Ventura. Non-landing harbor cruises are also available for a quick trip, but I would strongly suggest getting off and looking at the island.
The boat ride out wasn't wonderful. There was a heavy morning fog, which made it cold (take a jacket!), but this subsided quickly and the rest of the trip was very clear. The boat ride back was spectacular. The captain, not happy with the lack of dolphins, deliberately veered off for an abandoned oil rig and we came across a large pod of them. Something very beautiful that I had not seen before.
Anacapa can be thought of as a giant island fortress, with cliffs shooting 100+ feet straight up from the ocean. An old metal staircase bolted to the rock is the only way up from the dock. The island is populated only by a couple of park service employees, but still features a working lighthouse (the sound of which is a constant on the island) and the structures formerly associated with the upkeep of that lighthouse.
The real show is the view though. It's very peaceful to find a spot on a cliff and just watch the ocean from 200' up. I brought music, so I spent much of my time sitting.
This is a wonderful experience, but it's certainly not cheap. Even Anacapa runs about $40/person just for the ride, but even being as cheap as I am, I thought that the trip was worth every dollar.

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Whenever we have out of town visitors we like to take them on a nice little harbor boat cruise. The boats are rented from the Channel Islands harbor (behind the italian restaurant and down the dock). One hour is JUST enough time to cruise the harbor pretty quickly, if you want to take your time and explore, I suggest renting the boat for 2 hours. The boats have CD players, and a few cds to choose from, but the selection is very limited. If you have something in mind, bring it. Renting the boat is a little expensive, but worth it for us because all of our visitors really enjoy the harbor cruise. You can take a picnic lunch, some wine... very nice and relaxing. My husband surprised me on my birthday a couple years ago with a picnic lunch and wine and it was great!

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Heritage Square is an entire city block of restored 1876 to 1912 buildings that were prevalent in the shaping of Oxnard's history. Lovely gardens and walk ways meander through the 15 restored structures.

In 1985 Oxnard's Redevelopment Agency in concert with descendants of the families and business investors launched the Hertiage Square project in an effort to revitalize downtown Oxnard.

Turn of the century homes, and other structures such as a church, water tower and storehouse were all painstakingly dismantled, moved and re-assembled at the Hertiage Square site.

The "crown jewel" of the square is the "Justin Petit" home which was lovingly restored by a descendant of Mr Petit. He told me that when he was stripping off the wallpaper in the bedroom the essence of ladies perfume wafted out and whhen he was stripping the kitchen he could smell the scent of bacon and eggs!

The square is home to professional offices, a community theatre, The Elite Theatre, a visitor center and is available for special events, meetings and weddings. In the summertime on Friday evenings there is a concert series held in the central square.

Tours are available on Saturdays 10:00am to 2:00 pm