Advice for LA

homerjay2005

me and my missus are heading to LA in April for 2 nights as part of a 10 day trip along the west coast. we have everything else sorted, but looking for advice on what to do there for these 2 days.

we would like to do the tour of hollywood and all that kinda stuff but have no clue where to begin!

would like to stay in Santa Monica, but hotels are wicked expensive and also the same in Beverly hills.

we have heard the public transport system is poor (surely this cant be true???) so if it is, wheres the best locations to be in so that we dont need to be getting taxis all the time.

is there a bus connection from Santa Monica to Hollywood allowing us to stay somewhere central around Sunset Bvl and get in both the studio and beach areas?

thanks in advance.

Greg81

homerjay2005 wrote: »

me and my missus are heading to LA in April for 2 nights as part of a 10 day trip along the west coast. we have everything else sorted, but looking for advice on what to do there for these 2 days.

we would like to do the tour of hollywood and all that kinda stuff but have no clue where to begin!

would like to stay in Santa Monica, but hotels are wicked expensive and also the same in Beverly hills.

we have heard the public transport system is poor (surely this cant be true???) so if it is, wheres the best locations to be in so that we dont need to be getting taxis all the time.

is there a bus connection from Santa Monica to Hollywood allowing us to stay somewhere central around Sunset Bvl and get in both the studio and beach areas?

thanks in advance.

If you could rent a car for 2 days that would help a lot.

Personally I think that LA is a kip. Areas around the city that is the different story. Santa Monica and Malibu is a must visit places. BH is very nice. Hollywood very dirty. You could find a motel in the area between Malibu and BH for 130-140$ per night.

If you can't rent a car I think bus will be the best option.

Sleepless and Manic

homerjay2005 wrote: »

we have heard the public transport system is poor (surely this cant be true???) so if it is, wheres the best locations to be in so that we dont need to be getting taxis all the time.

LA is an incredible city. World class. The USA's second city.

If you go to LA and try to rely on "public transport" you will have a frustrating time. I would even recommend avoiding the place unless you can rent a car.

Los Angeles boomed in the 20s/30s and on. The Age of the Automobile.

Its very spread out. Very very spread out. In a way that can not be duplicated in europe. Neighbourhoods connected by huge freeways.

So there's public transport. but it'll take forever to get anywhere. And Taxis will cost a lot.

You really need to rent a car.

Failing that, at least stay in Santa Monica. Its the most walkable of the neighbourhoods and your hotel will have details of arranged bus tours you can take to see the rest of the city.

Sleepless and Manic

Greg81 wrote: »

If you could rent a car for 2 days that would help a lot.

Personally I think that LA is a kip. Areas around the city that is the different story. Santa Monica and Malibu is a must visit places. BH is very nice. Hollywood very dirty. You could find a motel in the area between Malibu and BH for 130-140$ per night.

If you can't rent a car I think bus will be the best option.

Worst case scenario for visiting LA would be staying in a $130/night motel in the suburbs and expecting to take buses. Eugh.

It would be like visiting London for 2 nights and staying in Reading, expecting to take the bus in to the city.

Sleepless and Manic

homerjay2005 wrote: »

is there a bus connection from Santa Monica to Hollywood allowing us to stay somewhere central around Sunset Bvl and get in both the studio and beach areas?

I'm sure there probably is but if you look at a map you'll see that its well over 25 miles from santa monica to hollywood. (Sunset blvd is over 20 miles long.)

Stay in Santa Monica, Venice Beach or Beverley Hills.

Sleepless and Manic

homerjay2005 wrote: »

me and my missus are heading to LA in April for 2 nights as part of a 10 day trip along the west coast.

If you're not renting a car how are you getting up the coast?

You cant miss the scenic drive up Highway One.

homerjay2005

Sleepless and Manic wrote: »

If you're not renting a car how are you getting up the coast?

You cant miss the scenic drive up Highway One.

have a bus booked to Vegas and flying the rest of the way

Sleepless and Manic wrote: »

You really need to rent a car.

Failing that, at least stay in Santa Monica. Its the most walkable of the neighbourhoods and your hotel will have details of arranged bus tours you can take to see the rest of the city.

sounds good....do you know if theres bus tours to Hollywood from Santa Monica?

anybody been on the Studio tours?

oh, theres one thing i forgot to mention about a car, we have a friend there who has offered to drive us around but we dont really want to burden him too much and would rather we relied on our own to do things!

InTheTrees

Your hotel will have the tourist brochures for tour companies. There's many many.

From limos to mini buses to full buses, you'll have a lot of choice. And they will come and get you in Santa Monica.

Santa Monica is really a part of LA too.

"Downtown Los Angeles", inland to the east, is more like the City of London, its just the financial centre. Not much to see there. Conference center , banks, etc.

InTheTrees

homerjay2005 wrote: »

oh, theres one thing i forgot to mention about a car, we have a friend there who has offered to drive us around but we dont really want to burden him too much and would rather we relied on our own to do things!

That's a pretty good opportunity. To spend some time with someone who lives there. They love driving around too.
Why not buy him dinner in exchange for a drive along mulholland drive afterwards? There's spectacular views of the city from up there at night. And its probably not something tour buses would do.

ProudDUB

homerjay2005 wrote: »

would like to stay in Santa Monica, but hotels are wicked expensive and also the same in Beverly hills.

we have heard the public transport system is poor (surely this cant be true???) so if it is, wheres the best locations to be in so that we dont need to be getting taxis all the time.

Am afraid it is. Open up any LA guide book and the need for a car will probably be the first thing mentioned, after all the Hollywood stuff. The car culture in LA is as (in)famous as the movie one is. If you were staying in the downtown area, or Bev Hills, or Santa Monica and you were planning on seeing the sights local to those areas only, you'd probably be ok. But if you want to get out and about to places as far flung as Santa Monica and the beaches & the studios, you will really have your work cut out for you without a car. Geographically, it is a very spread out and sprawling area, which makes getting around even harder.

Take your friend up on his offer. If he lives there, he will know very well how hard it is to get around without a car, hence his offer. If you were there for a week and you had loads of time to waste it would be one thing. But if you are only going to be there for two days, you don't want to waste precious time trying to get around using the woefully inadequate public transport.

Mars Bar

Public transport is atrocious. You'll save yourself your time and sanity with a car.
My favourite parts were driving the Pacific Coast Highway. Malibu was beautiful too.

solerina

We were in LA last year and I agree with the above posters you really do need a car, we had never driven in the US but as long as you have Sat Nav you will be grand. I love driving about, esp the views from Mulholland !!

To get to see the sights there will be brochures in the hotel lobby and you can book day trips, there are quite a variety of them available !!!

athtrasna

To be honest, you can see and do all the big stuff in LA in a day or less. It's one of the most rubbish US cities because there's no real centre and all the nice stuff is in the middle of really dodgy stuff.

A car is a must. To get you in and out and around. And out, did I mention out? I love Southern California, have visited many times as have dear friends in Orange County, but LA has always been an in and out. Visit the beach towns as much as you want but Rodeo Drive, Hollywood etc are very much a box ticking exercise...and I didn't buy into the tours for "really really wealthy people whose houses are worth more than your could earn in twenty lifetimes".

PS If renting a car you need to factor in overnight parking. LA area hotels can charge $50+ per night for self parking and double that for valet!

homerjay2005

thanks everybody!

1 last question for those who have been there, if you were going back again, what are would you stay in!?

Greg81

homerjay2005 wrote: »

thanks everybody!

1 last question for those who have been there, if you were going back again, what are would you stay in!?

Santa Monica/Malibu area.

Greg81

Btw. Last time I have stayed there:

Here is a place I found on TripAdvisor:

Travelodge Santa Monica

3102 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g33052-d82079-Reviews-Travelodge_Santa_Monica-Santa_Monica_California.html?m=19904

Would stay there again.

Mars Bar

Santa Monica. I quite like staying in Culver City. It's not far from Santa Monica and Venice Beach. It's about a 20 minute drive with traffic on the 10W for SM and on Venice Boulevard for Venice Beach.

rossie1977

hollywood boulevard is disappointing. its tacky and all the studios have long moved out to the hills.

speaking of the hills that is easily the best place to get a close-up shot of the hollywood sign around canyon lake drive. universal studios is well worth a few hours..its a theme park come an actual working movie studio. if you have a car mulholland drive is where alot of celebs live and its also very scenic. runyon canyon park just off mulholland is probably the best place in the city to go hiking with a great view of the whole valley. lots of celebs go running, hiking and walking their dog on that route so you never know who you will run into.

la is beyond huge so if you are only there for a few days forget public transport.

Wompa1

Los Angeles is a dump. Santa Barbara was the nicest part I went to and that was a good bit North.

Northern California is much nicer, San Francisco, Monterey etc.

I spent some time on Warner Bros. Studio lot, that was kind of interesting. There's some really great restaurants there. I think Universal Studio is better in Florida. I haven't been to Disney in Anaheim but have heard from others that the same is true, Disney in Orlando is better.

When I was there (a few times) I went into downtown LA, Burbank, Huntington Bech, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Marina Del Ray, Malibu, Venice Beach...even went out by Joshua Tree National Park.

The only thing left for me to see in California is Yosemite. I really liked Monterey for what that's worth

rossy1044

Stay in Santa Monica or Venice if you can. You mentioned Santa Monica was too expensive but Venice has some cheaper hotels you can also check airbnb. Santa Monica is relatively walkable for LA and is has loads to keep you busy day and night. You can get a bus tour of Hollywood from Santa Monica from those Star line tours.
I would Santa Monica itself has enough to keep you busy if its only for 2 days.

homerjay2005

perfect, santa monica it is then!

thanks to everybody for their advice!

homerjay2005

just an update here on our trip, it was a trip of a lifetime! LA is perhaps the most amazing City i have ever been it, weather sensational and Venice Beach and Santa Monica is a really beautiful place.

we are in a lucky position to know somebody there who is involved in the movie industry. he picked us up in Venice Beach the morning after we arrived at 7am and drove us around the City to all the famous places, we did over 130km worth of driving, went up to the hills for a few hours, the observatory, had lunch on hollywood BVL and beverly hills and it was fantastic experience. i defo would go back there and spend more time in Santa Monica and Venice for sure.

we bussed it up to Vegas for 5 days, costs $22-$30 return on average and it was a great service.

Vegas was amazing!thanks for all your advise.