Los Angeles is the home of the film industry, but it’s also a big city with beaches, mountains and some of the best museums in the USA. The city is huge and the distances are long, so it pays to group your days by area: Hollywood and Griffith Park, the museums on Wilshire Boulevard, Downtown, the coast from Santa Monica to Venice, and finally Long Beach and Anaheim.
Here are my picks for the 19 best things to see and do in Los Angeles, with prices, opening hours and tips on what to book before you go. Several of the best places are free, including Griffith Observatory, the Getty Center and The Broad, but some of them need a free reservation for a set time, so read the sections before you plan your days.
Contents
1. Hollywood Walk of Fame and TCL Chinese Theatre
Hollywood Boulevard is where most people start. The Walk of Fame stretches for 18 blocks through Hollywood, and more than 2,500 brass stars are set into the pavement. New ones are added all the time, and on the official Walk of Fame website you can look up where your favourite star is, so you don’t have to search blindly. It’s all free.
Halfway along stands the TCL Chinese Theatre, which opened as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in 1927. In the forecourt, there are almost 200 handprints, footprints and autographs of film stars set in concrete. The cinema has the world’s largest IMAX auditorium, and there’s a 30-minute guided tour every day, except when there are special events. Next door, in the Ovation Hollywood complex, is the Dolby Theatre, where the Oscars are held, and the tourist board has put together the story of the cinema here.
Take the Metro B Line to Hollywood/Highland station, which is right below Ovation Hollywood. From the complex, you can also see the Hollywood Sign up in the hills. My tip is to come early in the morning, before the pavements fill up, if you want photos of the prints without other tourists. If you’d like to stay close to Hollywood, West Hollywood is one of the areas in my guide to where to stay in Los Angeles.
Book a guided walking tour of the Walk of Fame with views of the Hollywood Sign.
2. The Hollywood Sign
The Hollywood Sign was put up in 1923 as an advert for the Hollywoodland housing development, and today it stands in the hills above the city. You can’t walk right up to the letters. The sign is fenced off and monitored by cameras, an LAPD officer keeps an eye on the area, and it’s illegal to enter the restricted area, so stay on the approved trails.
The easiest views are from Ovation Hollywood, on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, and from Griffith Observatory. If you want to get closer, the sign’s official website recommends three hiking trails. Mt. Hollywood Trail is 5.3 miles (about 8.5 km) and is considered easy, Brush Canyon Trail is 6 miles (about 9.7 km) and also easy, while Cahuenga Peak Trail is 3 miles (about 4.8 km) and hard.
Bring water and sun cream, and check the current conditions in Griffith Park with the city’s parks department before you go, because conditions in the park can change. If you’d rather have a guide and save your legs, there are e-bike tours from Hollywood up to the sign.
Book a guided e-bike tour to the Hollywood Sign.
3. Griffith Observatory
Griffith Observatory sits high up in Griffith Park and is, in my opinion, the best free viewpoint in Los Angeles. From the terraces, you look out over the city and across to the Hollywood Sign, and in the evening, the lights are spread out below you. The building itself, with its exhibitions, is free to enter.
The Samuel Oschin Planetarium puts on shows, and tickets cost $12 for adults, $10 for seniors aged 55 and over and $8 for children aged 5 to 12. Tickets can only be bought on site and only for the same day’s shows, so buy them as soon as you arrive.
The observatory is open Tuesday to Friday from 12pm to 10pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 10pm. It’s closed on Mondays, but the grounds outside follow the park’s opening hours, from 5am to 10.30pm. There’s paid parking nearby, and the machines only take credit cards. Without a car, take the B Line to Vermont/Sunset, where the DASH Observatory/Los Feliz bus runs up every 20 to 25 minutes from 10am to 10pm. The ride costs 50 cents, or 35 cents with a TAP card, and the driver can’t give change.
Book an insider tour of Griffith Observatory with a planetarium show.
4. Getty Center
The Getty Center sits on a hill in Brentwood and is one of the best places in the city if you want to combine art, architecture, gardens and views in one go. The collection spans the Middle Ages to the present day, and the terraces and gardens have sweeping views over Los Angeles. You park at the foot of the hill, and a small tram takes you up to the top.
Entry is free, but you need to reserve a timed ticket in advance on the Getty’s website or by phone. The museum is open Tuesday to Friday and on Sundays from 10am to 6.30pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 9pm. It’s closed on Mondays, as well as on New Year’s Day, 4 July, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
Parking costs $25 per car, $15 after 3pm and $10 after 6pm, and on Saturdays after 6pm it’s free. Payment is cashless. Without a car, take Metro bus 761, which stops at the entrance on Sepulveda Boulevard. Some pavilions and galleries may be closed for renovation, so check the website before you go, and try to come on a Saturday afternoon, when you get both long opening hours and cheaper parking.
5. Santa Monica Pier
Santa Monica Pier is LA’s best-known pier and, in my opinion, the best place to watch the sun set over the Pacific. The pier is the symbolic end of Route 66, and the End of the Trail sign is a popular photo spot for people on a road trip. The official end of the road, however, is at the junction of Lincoln and Olympic Boulevard. If you complete the whole route, you can pick up a free certificate at the visitor centre, which is open from 9am to 5pm but closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Santa Monica’s tourist board tells you more about Route 66 here.
On the pier is the Pacific Park amusement park, which is free to enter. You pay per ride, and the Pacific Wheel, the first solar-powered Ferris wheel, costs $14 online and $20 at the ticket booth. A wristband with unlimited rides costs $40 online for everyone aged 8 and over and $20 for children up to 7. Opening hours change from day to day, so check the calendar on the park’s website.
The Metro E Line ends in Santa Monica, so you can take the train all the way from Downtown. Buy tickets for the rides online, because it saves you $6 per ride on the big attractions.
6. Venice Beach and the Venice Canals
From Santa Monica, you can cycle or walk along the beach to Venice Beach. The Ocean Front Walk promenade is lined with T-shirt stalls and tattoo parlours and buzzes with street life, and by the recreation centre, you’ll find the skate park, the basketball courts and the outdoor gym Muscle Beach. Muscle Beach is open from 8am to 5pm from October to April and from 8am to 6pm from May to September. You can check the opening hours with the Los Angeles parks department.
The canals are, in my opinion, the quietest corner of Venice. Abbot Kinney opened the seaside resort Venice of America on 4 July 1905, with seven canals modelled on Venice in Italy. In 1929, the original canals were filled in, but six later canals south of his area still exist, and PBS SoCal tells the whole story. Walk along the paths by the water between the houses and over the small arched bridges.
Watch out when you cross the cycle path on the beach, especially on weekend afternoons, when there are lots of cyclists. If you’d like to see it all in one go, a guided bike tour from Santa Monica to Venice is a good option. If you’d like to stay close to the beach, you can see hotels in Venice Beach here.
Book a guided bike tour from Santa Monica to Venice Beach and the canals.
7. Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is both a theme park and a real film studio, and a tour of the studio lot is included in the ticket. The park’s areas include The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Super Nintendo World, and you should allow a whole day if you want to fit in the big rides.
Prices change by date, and a one-day ticket costs from about $100. For Super Nintendo World, the park sells a special ticket with early access to the area, but it isn’t valid as an admission ticket, so you’ll also need a regular ticket for the same day. Opening hours change from day to day, so check them in the calendar on the park’s website.
It’s easy to get there on the Metro B Line to Universal City/Studio City station. From there, cross Lankershim Boulevard to Universal Hollywood Drive, where you can take a shuttle bus or walk the roughly 800 metres. My tip is to be there at opening time and do the most popular rides first, before the queues build up.
Book tickets for Universal Studios Hollywood.
8. Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
Warner Bros. is a working film studio in Burbank, and the Studio Tour takes you around a 110-acre lot. The visit starts with a one-hour guided tour of the studio. Along the way, you’ll see Midwest Street, the studio’s largest set, which has appeared in almost 400 films and TV series. Afterwards, you have two hours to explore on your own.
In Stage 48, you can see the Central Perk set from Friends and eat at the café of the same name, and another area has real props and costumes from Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. At the end, you’ll see costumes from Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman, among others. The tourist board has a good rundown of the tour.
Tickets cost from $79, tours run from 8.30am to 3.30pm, and the whole visit takes about three hours. Children under 5 aren’t allowed, and young people aged 5 to 17 must be accompanied by an adult. The address is 3400 Warner Boulevard in Burbank, and you can see the day’s tours on the studio’s own website. Book well ahead, especially during the school holidays. If Harry Potter is your main interest, I’ve also written about the Harry Potter Studios in London.
Book the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood.
9. Disneyland Resort in Anaheim
Disneyland Resort is in Anaheim and has two theme parks. Disneyland Park is the original park, while Disney California Adventure was built as a tribute to California and was rebuilt in 2012, when Cars Land was added. Between the parks and the hotels is Downtown Disney, with shops and restaurants, and it’s free to enter.
Tickets are priced by date, and a one-day ticket to one park costs from about $104 to about $224 for an adult. With a Park Hopper ticket, you can switch between the two parks on the same day, but it costs more. See the exact prices for your date in Disneyland’s ticket calendar.
It’s a full-day trip, so I’d recommend staying overnight in Anaheim if you want more than one day in the parks, and you can see hotels in Anaheim here. Anaheim’s tourist board has a good guide to your first visit. Use the Disneyland app to see when and where you can meet the characters, and book a table at the popular restaurants up to 60 days in advance. If you’d rather have Disney closer to home in Europe, I’ve also written about Disneyland Paris.
10. LACMA and La Brea Tar Pits
LACMA is LA’s big art museum and stands on Wilshire Boulevard. Many people know it from Chris Burden’s Urban Light from 2008, which is made up of 202 restored cast-iron street lamps. The museum’s large exhibition building, the David Geffen Galleries, was designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.
Tickets cost $30 for adults who don’t live in Los Angeles County and $15 for children and young people aged 3 to 17. Entry is free for everyone on the second Tuesday of every month. The museum is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11am to 6pm, on Fridays from 11am to 8pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 7pm. It’s closed on Wednesdays. You can buy timed tickets in advance on LACMA’s website.
Right next door is La Brea Tar Pits, where natural asphalt seeps have preserved fossils from the Ice Age, including sabre-toothed cats, mammoths and wolves. The museum building itself may be closed for redevelopment, but many of the outdoor areas in Hancock Park are usually open. Check the status on the Tar Pits’ own website. Take the D Line to Wilshire/Fairfax, which is a few steps from LACMA, the Tar Pits, the Academy Museum and the Petersen.
11. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
The Academy Museum is run by the Academy behind the Oscars and is the largest museum in the USA devoted to film and filmmaking. It’s at 6067 Wilshire Boulevard in the old May Company department store, and the architect behind the museum is Renzo Piano. The round Sphere Building has a glass dome on top.
The museum covers the art, the technology and the people behind the films, and the Academy’s own collection includes Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. For an extra charge, you can try The Oscars Experience, a simulation of what it’s like to win an Oscar.
Tickets cost $25, and the museum recommends booking in advance. It’s open Wednesday to Monday from 10am to 6pm and closed on Tuesdays. Film screenings, the shop and the restaurant Fanny’s don’t require a museum ticket. Combine your visit with LACMA and the Petersen, which are on the same stretch of Wilshire Boulevard.
12. The Broad and Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Broad is Downtown’s free museum of contemporary art. It opened in 2015 and holds more than 2,000 works by almost 200 artists, including Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Yayoi Kusama. The building was designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro together with Gensler, and the façade is an airy, honeycomb-like structure that wraps around the whole building. The museum calls it the veil.
Entry is free, and you can turn up without a reservation, but a timed ticket booked in advance is recommended. Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room always requires an advance reservation. The Broad is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11am to 5pm, on Thursdays from 11am to 8pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 6pm. It’s closed on Mondays. The nearest station is Grand Av Arts/Bunker Hill on the A and E Lines.
On the same street, Grand Avenue, stands Walt Disney Concert Hall, which was designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 2003. The façade is made up of more than 6,000 stainless steel panels, and the hall is home to the LA Phil. You can take a free self-guided tour with an audio guide on your phone every day from 10am to 3pm, but the schedule can change when there are concerts.
13. Natural History Museum and California Science Center
Exposition Park is home to two of the best museums for families. The Natural History Museum opened in 1913 and is best known for its dinosaur hall, which opened in 2011, and for the gardens outside. Tickets cost $18 for adults, and the 3D film about T. rex and Dinosaur Encounters cost $10 extra each.
The museum is open every day from 9.30am to 5pm, but it’s closed on the first Tuesday of the month, except from June to August, and on major public holidays.
Next door is the California Science Center, where the permanent exhibitions are free and don’t require a reservation. Only the IMAX cinema and special exhibitions need a ticket. The centre is open every day from 10am to 5pm. The Space Shuttle Endeavour is getting its permanent home in the centre’s Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center and isn’t always on display, so check the centre’s website before you go if you want to see it. Take the E Line to Expo Park/USC, which is right by the park.
14. Petersen Automotive Museum
The Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard is an obvious stop for anyone interested in cars, especially if you’re at LACMA and the Academy Museum anyway. Beneath the museum is The Vault, where the museum shows more than 300 of the rarest cars ever gathered in one place.
An adult ticket costs $52 and also includes The Vault, and for young people aged 12 to 17 it costs $42. The museum is open every day of the week from 10am to 6pm. Check-in closes at 5.30pm, and last entry to The Vault is at 5pm.
The address is 6060 Wilshire Boulevard, and the D Line’s Wilshire/Fairfax station is a few steps away. My tip is to arrive by early afternoon at the latest, so you don’t have to rush through The Vault, which I think is the best part of the museum. Remember that last entry there is an hour before closing.
15. El Pueblo and Olvera Street
El Pueblo de Los Angeles is where the city was founded in 1781, and it calls itself the city’s historic heart and birthplace. Here stands the Avila Adobe from 1818, the oldest surviving house in Los Angeles, which is now a museum. Olvera Street opened on Easter Sunday 1930 as a Mexican market street and is still full of stalls and restaurants.
The area has several free museums, and El Pueblo offers free one-hour guided tours from Thursday to Saturday, starting at 10am, 11am and 12pm. The tours must be booked at least two weeks in advance. The shops on Olvera Street each have their own opening hours.
El Pueblo is right across from Union Station, the city’s big transport hub, with Metro, Amtrak, Metrolink and the LAX FlyAway buses to the airport. That makes it an obvious first or last stop on a day in Downtown, and I’d recommend having lunch at one of the Mexican restaurants on the street.
16. Grand Central Market and Angels Flight
Grand Central Market has been a Downtown landmark since 1917 and today is a food hall with lots of different stalls. The market is open every day from 8am to 9pm, but each stall has its own hours. The address is 317 South Broadway, and it’s a good place for lunch if you’re in Downtown.
Close by runs Angels Flight, which calls itself the world’s shortest railway. It opened in 1901 and runs between Hill Street and Olive Street, and the ride down ends close to the market. A ride costs $1.50 each way, or $0.75 with a TAP card, and the funicular runs every day from 6.45am to 10pm.
My tip is to combine the market and Angels Flight with The Broad and Walt Disney Concert Hall on Grand Avenue and El Pueblo by Union Station. That way, you’ll see most of Downtown in a day. If you’d like to stay in Downtown, you can see hotels in Downtown Los Angeles here.
17. Getty Villa
The Getty Villa is the Getty’s second museum and stands by the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades. Its collection is Greek and Roman art from antiquity, and the architecture, the peaceful gardens and the sea breeze are a big part of the experience.
As at the Getty Center, entry is free, but you need to reserve a timed ticket in advance on the Getty’s website. The villa is open every day from 10am to 5pm, except on Tuesdays, and it’s closed on New Year’s Day, 4 July, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Parking costs $25 per car and $15 after 3pm.
The address is 17985 Pacific Coast Highway. In my opinion, the Getty Villa is one of the city’s most overlooked sights, and it fits well into a day on the coast together with Santa Monica. Remember that your reservation is for a specific time, so allow plenty of time for the drive. My tip is to take the earliest reservation and spend the afternoon on the beach. If you’re driving on up the coast towards San Francisco, I’ve also written about where to stay in San Francisco.
18. Aquarium of the Pacific
The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach is a good choice if you have children with you. The aquarium shows life in the Pacific Ocean, and it’s easy to spend half a day here.
Tickets cost $49.95 for adults, $34.95 for children aged 3 to 11 and $46.95 for seniors aged 62 and over. The aquarium is open every day from 9am to 6pm and is only closed on Christmas Day. At weekends and on public holidays, entry requires an advance reservation, so buy your ticket online before you go.
The address is 100 Aquarium Way in Long Beach, and the Metro A Line ends in Long Beach. If you have a car, you can combine the aquarium with Battleship IOWA in San Pedro on the same day.
Book a ticket for the Aquarium of the Pacific.
19. Battleship IOWA
The battleship USS Iowa is a museum ship on the LA Waterfront in San Pedro. The ship was launched in 1942, is 887 feet (about 270 metres) long and served in the Second World War, the Korean War and the Cold War. In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sailed on it for the first leg of his journey to the Tehran Conference.
With a standard ticket, you explore several decks on your own and see the crew’s quarters, the guns, the bridge and the galleys. If you’d like to see areas that aren’t included in the standard ticket, there are guided tours for an extra charge. The museum is open Thursday to Monday from 10am to 5pm, and last entry is at 4pm. It’s closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Tickets cost about $30.
The address is 250 South Harbor Boulevard in San Pedro, at the southern end of the 110 freeway. It’s one of the lesser-known places in this guide, but for anyone interested in history, it’s a good half-day out.
Book a ticket for Battleship IOWA.
Practical Travel Tips for Los Angeles
The distances between the sights in Los Angeles are long, but the Metro gets you to a lot of them. A ride costs $1.75, and when you pay with a TAP card, a contactless bank card or your phone, you never pay more than $5 a day or $18 a week. See Metro’s fares here. The B Line covers Hollywood and Universal, the D Line the museums on Wilshire Boulevard and the E Line Exposition Park and Santa Monica.
Many of the best places are free: Griffith Observatory, the Getty Center, the Getty Villa, The Broad, the California Science Center, the Walk of Fame and the beach. The two Getty museums do need a free timed ticket, though, and you pay for parking. Plan around the closing days, because Griffith Observatory and the Getty Center are closed on Mondays, LACMA on Wednesdays and the Academy Museum and the Getty Villa on Tuesdays.
If you want to see as much as possible in a short time without driving yourself, a minibus city tour is a good start to your first day.
Book a small-group city tour of Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
If you’d like the full selection, you can see all hotels in Los Angeles on Booking.com. If you’re heading on to Las Vegas, I’ve also written about where to stay in Las Vegas.
Travel ressources & websites I use all the time 👇
• Booking.com has the best offers on hotels and unique places to stay
• GetYourGuide is the best place to book tours & activities with free cancellation
• Welcome Pickups is the best & safest place to pre-book airport transfers
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