The View From See Level

Summer in Laguna Beach! Home of art festivals, beach throngs . . . and the worst traffic of the year. Get above it all! Pack a picnic lunch, hop a bus to the Top of the World.

MORNING 1 2 3 4 5 6

How can you enjoy the gorgeous weather if you’re simmering behind the wheel? Park that car! If you arrive via Laguna Canyon Road, the Act V parking lot may be the ticket; then hop a Laguna Beach Transit Festival Service trolley to the depot. Buses also serve North and South Laguna.

You’re in Laguna; you can be creative when it comes to your picnic. Start with candy and condiments at Laguna Gourmet Food Gallery. Among the condiments are raspberry salsa, roasted garlic and onion jam and several tapenades. On the sweeter side are chocolate cigars and, “for that special dog,” a white chocolate-dipped bone. Wines include Graceland and Marilyn Merlot. Check out “Inter Courses,” an aphrodisiac cookbook.

At the Coffee Pub, “Laguna’s Original Coffee Pub,” sandwiches sport names such as “Laguna” (turkey, avocado, jack cheese, sprouts, bacon bits and tomato) and “Main Beach” (smoked ham and Swiss cheese) at $4.60, or $2.95 for a half sandwich. The house specialty is “Josephine on a Bagel” (melted cheeses, scallions, green chilies and spices, $4.50). On display now is “Woo-Woo Art” by Eliza Hilton-Osborn, inspired by dot-style aboriginal paintings.

Laguna Beach Wine Co. carries picnic totes, backpacks and baskets ranging from $18 to $134, from simple insulated wine bags to elaborate ensembles including silverware, glasses, cheese boards, bottle openers and more. Books include “Fear of Wine” and “Wine for Dummies.” Cost for tasting varies but recently ran about $4 for a flight of four wines, either red or white, or $6.50 for both flights. A taste of Deco Chocolate Port was $2. In the cellar was a 1935 Hoopers Port at $295.

For a really elaborate, albeit vegetarian, picnic, consider Zinc Market, which offers 10 pages of takeout items. Marinated goat cheese buttons (order a week in advance, $2.25 each). Eggplant sandwiches ($5.95). Asian coleslaw ($6.75 per pound). Spinach lasagne ($4.75 per serving). Chocolate Cherry Bread ($7.50). Prices vary for special occasion cakes for two, decorated with fresh flowers and available in a heart shape.

LATE MORNING 2

The Zinc Cafe borders the back of the depot. Hop a bus or trolley (one’s air-conditioned, one’s open-air) marked Top of the World. The route offers panoramic views. You’ll be chauffeured past Artists Theatre and zee corner of Zurich Court and Zell Drive. That’s Santiago Peak (Old Saddleback) to the east.

AFTERNOON 7

Once the bus reaches Alta Laguna Boulevard, you’ve got at least three choices for picnic spots. The shadiest and most intimate is Top of the World Park, where you can spread your blanket beneath a spreading oak. (Exit at Tree Top Lane.)

Alta Laguna Park provides picnic benches, restrooms and a playground. But you can really feel above it all at Laguna Heights’ adjacent West Ridge Trail, which offers curved concrete benches and spectacular views of the ocean and of the traffic along itty-bitty Laguna Canyon Road, wa-a-ay down below. (Get off at Park Avenue.)

Relax. Enjoy. Nap, even.

Sometime after lunch, take the bus back to town. Drivers seem happy to serve as tour guides, pointing out, for instance, which homes survived the infamous Laguna firestorm. Almost none did, which means that the route now provides a fabulous tour of contemporary home architecture.

EVENING 8

There’s still smoke in Laguna. The cigar fad shows no sign of burning out. It’s hard to imagine any other place with so many people roaming the streets smoking cigars.

Before or after dinner, many of them shop at Mr. Bones, where--in addition to expensive premium cigars--the store sells Davidoff Mini-Cigarillos that look (we hear) like joints, and Danneman “Moods,” for $1. Oh, and there’s a huge snifter of brandy for dipping.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

1) Act V Parking Lot

1900 Laguna Canyon Road, (714) 497-0746.

2) Laguna Beach Transit Center (bus depot)

On Broadway north of Beach Street, (714) 497-0746.

3) Laguna Gourmet Food Gallery

332 Forest Ave. No. 2, (714) 376-1615.

Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.

4) Coffee Pub

384 Forest Ave. #4, (714) 494-5334.

Open 6:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Sunday.

5) Laguna Beach Wine Co.

384 Forest Ave. No. 27, (714 376-9463.

Open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.

6) Zinc Cafe and Market

350 Ocean Ave. Cafe, (714) 494-6302. Market, (714) 494-2791.

Cafe open 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Market open 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.

7) Laguna Heights (West Ridge Trail)

Top of the World Park (Tree Top Lane and Top of the World Drive)

Alta Laguna Park (Alta Laguna Boulevard)

All parks open dawn to dusk, (714) 497-0716.

8) Mr. Bones

325 Glenneyre St., (714) 494-8665.

Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.

Parking: There is metered and non-metered street parking, and free and paid parking in lots. Act V lot rate of $2 per day includes $1 one-way trolley trip or $1 off $2 all-day bus-trolley pass.

Buses: Festival trolley service operates between parking lots, festivals and depot 9:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. daily. Top of the World line leaves depot starting at 6:53 a.m. Monday- Friday and 9:20 a.m. Saturday (about one departure per hour), final departure 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and 5:20 p.m. Saturday; round trip is 28 minutes. OCTA Bus No. 1 runs along Coast Highway and stops at the depot.