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LA oozes eccentric creativity like nowhere else on earth. From the laid-back sands of Santa Monica to the cartoonish glamour of Hollywood Boulevard, there’s nothing quite like LA. Scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find a city of world-class museums, mountain trails with magnificent views, and an incredibly diverse food scene. LA is huge, and many of its best bits are spread quite far apart. Whilst you can get around in taxis and public transport, hiring a car really opens the city up so you can make the most of it and truly explore all it has to offer. Here’s our rundown of the best bits.
Hollywood Boulevard is home to the Walk of Fame, with over a mile of pavement embedded with star-shaped plaques bearing the names of more than 2,800 celebrities, from Marilyn Monroe to Ricky Gervais. Also along the Boulevard, you’ll find the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, whose forecourt is filled with the handprints and footprints of Hollywood legends, plus the Dolby Theatre, long-time home to the Oscars. It’s a fun place to have a stroll and soak it all in.
No trip to LA feels complete without seeing the Hollywood Sign, which you can glimpse from all over the city, although the best views are from Griffith Park or the Brush Canyon Trail. There are also plenty of tours that leave from Hollywood Boulevard, taking you up into the Hollywood Hills so you can get that must-have picture in front of the sign. Griffith Observatory is another essential attraction, with some great views, particularly at sunset. Inside, the Zeiss telescope offers public viewings of the moon, planets, and star clusters on clear nights. A short drive away, Sunset Strip is one of LA’s most famous stretches of road, known for its legendary billboards and iconic music venues, including the Roxy and the Whisky a Go Go, plus the glamorous celeb haunt, Chateau Marmont hotel. In Beverly Hills, even if designer shopping isn’t your thing, a stroll along Rodeo Drive with its palm-lined streets, luxury boutiques, and occasional celebrity sighting, is about as quintessentially LA as it gets. If you have a car, a scenic drive along Mulholland Drive is a must, with sweeping views across the city, Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.
Spending time on at least a couple of LA’s beaches is non-negotiable. Santa Monica is beautiful, walkable, and full of things to do, including the pier with its iconic Ferris wheel right above the Pacific. From there, it’s an easy stroll to the Third Street Promenade, a lively pedestrianised street lined with shops, street performers, and open-air restaurants.
Venice Beach is a different experience altogether. It’s louder, more colourful, and utterly LA. The Boardwalk draws a fascinating mix of street performers, roller bladers, and bodybuilders, and there’s really nowhere quite like it in the daytime (although it does have a very different feel after dark and probably best avoided). Just behind the beach, you’ll find the Venice Canals – a network of waterways lined with pretty houses and footbridges. A few streets away is one of the coolest streets in the city: Abbot Kinney Boulevard. It’s a lovely place to spend the evening browsing the independent cafés, galleries, and boutiques.
If you’ve got a hire car, make time for a drive along the Pacific Coast Highway (or PCH as it’s known by the locals) up to Malibu. It’s one of the most scenic drives in America, with surfers on one side and cliffside homes on the other, and mountains tumbling straight into the ocean. In Malibu itself, wander out along the pier and grab some fresh seafood.
For something quieter, head to Point Dume, Leo Carrillo, or Malibu Lagoon State Beach, which boasts wide sandy stretches, wetlands, tide pools, and sightings of dolphins and sometimes even whales offshore. While you’re out that way, it’s well worth combining it with a visit to the Getty Villa, a stunning Roman villa-inspired museum of ancient art built into the hillside.
LA’s film industry still shapes the city in every sense, and Universal Studios Hollywood is a fun way to experience it, with working studio tours, incredible rides, and attractions including the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the new Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift. Warner Bros. Studio Tour is also a great alternative, offering a closer look at working film and TV sets, props, and costumes.
For something different, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is a must for any film lover, with Dorothy’s ruby slippers and a life-sized model of the Jaws shark among the highlights. And if you’re visiting in summer, try to get tickets for the Hollywood Bowl. It’s one of the most iconic open-air venues in the world, and there’s something very special about watching a live performance under the stars with a picnic and the Hollywood Hills as your backdrop.
Depending on the season, catching a Dodgers baseball game, Lakers basketball game, or NFL match is also a fantastic way to experience local life.
LA has far more to offer outdoors than you might expect. Griffith Park on its own could keep you busy for a day beyond the Hollywood Sign hike. One of the largest urban parks in North America, it’s home to miles of trails, canyons, horse-riding routes and some of the city’s best views. The hike up to Griffith Observatory is particularly good, especially around sunset.
Runyon Canyon is another favourite. The main loop takes around 90 minutes and offers fantastic panoramas stretching from Downtown LA to the Pacific on a clear day.
Beyond the city, the Santa Monica Mountains are a short drive away. Topanga State Park offers miles of peaceful hiking through hills, oak woodlands and chaparral-covered valleys. For coastal scenery, the trails around Point Dume in Malibu also offer spectacular clifftop views over the Pacific, while the Solstice Canyon Trail offers gentle walking with ocean views and the ruins of a historic stone house hidden in the hills.
LA is best known for its film industry, of course, but it punches well above its weight when it comes to art and culture. The Getty Center in Brentwood is a wonderful place to start. It’s a stunning hilltop complex housing incredible works by the likes of Van Gogh, Monet, Cézanne, and Degas.
LACMA on Wilshire’s Miracle Mile is the largest art museum in the western United States, and its iconic Urban Light installation (202 antique street lamps glowing at dusk) is magical. In Exposition Park, highlights include the Natural History Museum and the California Science Center, which is expanding with a huge new wing, the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. Here you will soon be able to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour displayed in an upright ‘ready-to-launch’ position.
In Downtown, the Walt Disney Concert Hall is a dramatic, curved stainless-steel building, designed by Frank Gehry, and makes for some brilliant photographs even if you’re not going to see a concert. Also in Downtown, The Broad is free to enter and is home to an exciting contemporary art collection, including works by Jeff Koons and Yayoi Kusama.
LA’s food scene is world-class. At Grand Central Market in Downtown, you can work your way through everything from Salvadoran pupusas to Thai noodles and strawberry-stuffed doughnuts. In the evening, head to Koreatown for late-night Korean BBQ, with neon-lit karaoke bars that come alive after midnight.
Another must-visit is the Original Farmers Market, which has been around since the 1930s and is a great place for casual dining. And no visit to LA is complete without tacos. Head to Boyle Heights or East LA, where taco trucks line the streets at all hours. If you’re not sure which truck to try, just look for the longest queue of locals!
If you want to get under the skin of LA, the best thing you can do is leave the main tourist trail and spend time in some of its neighbourhoods.
Silver Lake has long been associated with the city’s artists and creatives. Head to Sunset Boulevard to browse the independent record shops and coffee shops, or walk the reservoir path. In Downtown, the Arts District is a former warehouse quarter whose walls are covered in extraordinary street murals, with numerous independent restaurants and galleries housed in its old factory spaces. Nearby, El Pueblo de Los Angeles is the city’s original 1781 settlement, where Olvera Street’s Mexican marketplace offers food stalls and mariachi music, making it a lively place to stop for a couple of hours.
Los Angeles works brilliantly as part of a wider California road trip, whether you’re combining it with San Diego, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara or San Francisco. It also pairs perfectly with Las Vegas, Hawaii and many other USA destinations. Take a look at some of our favourite itineraries or get in touch and we’ll help create your perfect tailor made US Multi Centre holiday.
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