Your Surf City Playbook for the 2026 US Open of Surfing
Some things were meant to go together. Margaritas, sunshine and surfing top the list, and for nine days every summer, Huntington Beach serves all three at once. The US Open of Surfing is the largest surf competition in the world. It’s been running here since 1959, and here’s the part first-timers never believe: it’s completely free. No tickets, no wristbands, just world-class surfing, live music, athlete signings, movie screenings on the sand and half a million people turning Surf City into one long beach party.
This year’s event runs Saturday, July 25 through Sunday, Aug. 2, and we partnered with Milagro Tequila to build the plan: where to stay, what to eat, which nights to show up for and where the Milagro margaritas are the freshest. You don’t need to know a cutback from a closeout to have the best week of your summer. You just need this.
The Tequila of Surf City Summer
First, the pour. Milagro is estate-grown 100% blue agave, handcrafted in Jalisco, and made for exactly this kind of week: Silver in your margarita on the sand at noon, Reposado in your glass on a rooftop at sunset. You’ll find it poured across the stops in this guide.
Now, the Surfing (So You Sound Smart on the Sand)
The 2026 US Open of Surfing carries two divisions. Huntington Beach kicks off the season for the WSL Longboard Tour this year, hosting Stop No. 1, while the Challenger Series rolls through for Stop No. 2. Quick translation: the Challenger Series is the proving ground where surfers battle for next year’s Championship Tour spots. Careers are made and lost on these waves, and everyone in the water knows it.
Last year was a Southern California sweep. Levi Slawson, from Encinitas, was overcome with emotion on the stage after claiming his first Challenger Series win, and San Clemente’s Sawyer Lindblad took the women’s title at 19, making her a two-time US Open champion. The one to watch this year, if she’s back in the field, is Tya Zebrowski, the French phenom who was just 14 when she pushed Lindblad to the final horn and shot to No. 1 on the Challenger Series rankings. On the Longboard side, Australia’s Kai Ellice-Flint claimed the men’s world title at the US Open, and San Clemente’s Rachael Tilly went on to claim her third women’s world crown later that season in El Salvador. That division is a full style show. Watch it even if you think you only care about airs.
Local Insight: Heats start early, but not the crowds. Morning sessions are the best viewing all week. Grab coffee, get on the sand by 8 am and you’ll get front-row real estate the afternoon mob never sees. By the time the afternoon heats roll in, you’ll have earned the first Milagro margarita of the day.
STAY
There’s one hotel move for a first-timer, and Kimpton Shorebreak Resort is it. It sits directly across Pacific Coast Highway from the contest site, which means you roll out of bed, cross the street and be standing on the biggest stage in surfing. Check in, drop the bags and start the trip right with a Milagro Tequila cocktail at the bar before you ever touch sand. For oceanfront rooms, pools, beachfront fire pits and a location steps from Pacific City, check out The Waterfront Beach Resort. The best part is that when the night rolls in, your rooftop nightcap is just an elevator ride away.
For the design-forward crowd, Paséa Hotel & Spa sits steps from the sand and adjacent to Pacific City, with a short walk to the pier and the contest itself. Ocean-view rooms, a Balinese-inspired spa if you need a reset day, and a built-in rooftop bar for the nights you don’t feel like going anywhere.
EAT
When the horn sounds on the final heat of the day, Huntington Beach heads straight for HQ Gastropub. HQ is the local room: full menu, screens everywhere, replays running and scores getting argued at the bar. Order a Milagro cocktail, grab a table and break down the day like you’re a regular. Then there’s Normita’s Surf City Taco, a tiny, cash-only counter on Indianapolis Ave that has been feeding HB surfers Baja-style fish tacos for decades, and locals will tell you they’re the best in OC without blinking. Huge mahi mahi tacos on homemade tortillas, chips and salsa, done. It’s a short drive from the pier, closed Monday and Tuesday and worth every bit of the detour.
Up on Bolsa Chica near Huntington Harbour, The Hangout Restaurant & Beach Bar is a short drive from the pier and worth timing right. Plan your arrival around the weekend specials: on Saturdays after 2 pm, the Smash Burger Saturday special gets you a Smashed Double Cheeseburger with Fries for $12.95, and on Sundays after 2 pm, the Southern Sunday Supper brings Shrimp & Grits, Country Chicken-Fried Chicken and Bourbon Braised Beef Dinner to the menu. Kick things off with a Watermelon Aqua Fresca made with Milagro Silver Tequila, grab a table and let the afternoon settle in before you make your way to the sand.
PLAY
The event footprint south of the pier is a festival in itself: brand demos with prizes and games, movie screenings, iHeart DJs and signings from athletes you just watched compete. Riding bikes down? The free Surf City Bike Valet on 5th Street runs both weekends. Two warnings: bring hats and sunscreen, and leave the dog and the drone at home.
When the sun drops, the live music at the Music Stage takes over. Tickets start at $69 GA and $119 for VIP. July 25 opens with G. Love & Special Sauce and OC native Matt Costa. July 31 brings Real Estate with Allah-Las, the golden-hour bill the week deserves. Aug. 1 closes with Local Natives and Arcy Drive, the night the whole week builds toward.
After the music, head to HB House for fire pits at the state beach, The Belle Rooftop Lounge at Jolie for the best pier views in town, or Treehouse on PCH for craft cocktails and 360-degree ocean views above Paséa.
SHOP
Right on the same block as Paséa and a short walk from the pier, Pacific City is Huntington Beach’s outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment center. Chic clothing brands, surf shops, a resort-style gym and the Lot 579 food hall if you need a break between stores. It’s the easy midday move on a contest day: duck out of the sun, browse for an hour, and you’re back on the sand before the next heat.
Then finish where Huntington Beach peaks. Offshore 9 sits on the 9th floor of the Waterfront’s Twin Dolphin Tower, the highest coastal rooftop in Orange County, with the entire event footprint glowing below. This is the signature Milagro moment of the week: sip a Devil Went Down to Mexico Milagro Silver cocktail, watch the sun drop over the Pacific, and stay for the DJs spinning Friday and Sunday from 6:30 to 9:15 pm. If you only make one rooftop all week, make it this one, on your last night, and let the Open close out beneath you.
For the official schedule and heat updates, head to usopenofsurfing.com. And if you found this through the carousel, you already know: comment MILAGRO, and we’ll send you the whole story.
Erik Hale is the visionary and publisher behind LOCALE Magazine. He launched the magazine in 2010, wanting to give the community of OC a premiere lifestyle magazine that knew all the native knowledge behind OC. “Six years ago Ashley and I sat at a table scratching the name LOCALE (among some other names) onto a sheet of paper,” says Erik, “coming up with story ideas and basically dreaming. Everything we imagined has happened and we have been blessed with so much more. I am so grateful as we start another year for my family, my two wonderful children, my health, our amazing writers, designers and photographers, our advertising partners and you.”
