offwegooo.com
Travel guide
Los Angeles
5 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: March to May and September to November
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Welcome
Los Angeles, in a few days
A metropolis of 13 million people sprawling over 100 km between the Hollywood Hills and the Pacific, where you go from an Art Deco observatory to a 1909 pier and then to a museum perched on a travertine hilltop. You need a car, patience in the traffic jams, and a willingness to build your own city one neighbourhood at a time.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 1 thing
- D3 Day 3 2 things
- D4 Day 4 2 things
- D5 Day 5 1 thing
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Griffith Observatory free · 2 to 3 hA 1935 Art Deco observatory on Mount Hollywood, with free entry, views from the basin to the ocean and the Hollywood Sign, public telescopes at night and a planetarium under a 23-metre dome.
- Afternoon · Hollywood Walk of Fame free · about 1 h 30More than 2,800 pink terrazzo stars set since 1960 along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, busiest outside the TCL Chinese Theatre, with its handprints in cement, and the Dolby Theatre, home of the Oscars.
🛏️ Where to sleep · The Hollywood Roosevelt ↗ · All places to stay by budget →€260 a night
D2
Day 2
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- All day · Universal Studios Hollywood · a full dayA theme park on a working film studio, where the hour-long Studio Tour passes the Psycho house and outdoor sets, plus the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Super Nintendo World.
🛏️ Where to sleep · The Hollywood Roosevelt ↗€260 a night
D3
Day 3
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Getty Center free · half a dayRichard Meier's hilltop complex of travertine pavilions, reached by a driverless tram, with free collections from medieval manuscripts to Van Gogh's Irises, a spiralling central garden and terraces overlooking the ocean.
- Late afternoon · Santa Monica Pier free · 2 to 3 hThe 1909 wooden pier with its 1922 carousel and the Pacific Park Ferris wheel lit up at night, a symbolic end of Route 66, and a beachside cycle path stretching towards Venice.
🛏️ Where to sleep · The Hollywood Roosevelt ↗€260 a night
D4
Day 4
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Venice Beach free · 2 to 3 hAbbot Kinney's 1905 seaside district, famous for Ocean Front Walk with its street performers, murals, concrete skatepark and Muscle Beach, plus quiet residential canals and the independent shops of Abbot Kinney Boulevard.
- Afternoon · The Broad free · about 1 h 30A free contemporary art museum in a white honeycomb building on Grand Avenue, showing Warhol, Basquiat, Koons and Yayoi Kusama's much sought-after Infinity Mirrored Room, opposite Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall.
🛏️ Where to sleep · The Hollywood Roosevelt ↗€260 a night
D5
Day 5
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- All day · Disneyland Resort · a full dayThe original Disney park, opened in 1955 in Anaheim under Walt Disney's own supervision, with Sleeping Beauty Castle and Main Street, plus Disney California Adventure, home to Pixar and Avengers Campus.
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
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Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Burgers and barbecue: brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
- Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl: the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
- Mexican food: tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
- Pancakes and weekend brunch: a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
- Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
Getting by
Words that help
🗣️ English is the main language here, so there is nothing to learn by heart.
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyUS dollar (USD, $)
BudgetAbout €220 a day, mid-range
Best seasonMarch to May and September to November
PlugA/B · 120V
Tap waterSafe to drink
Tipping15 to 20%, expected
Emergency911
EntryUK, Australian and most EU passports need an ESTA, applied for online before departure, for stays of up to 90 days; a few EU countries sit outside the Visa Waiver Program and need a full visa. Canadians need neither, only a passport. Anyone who has been to Cuba since January 2021 cannot use an ESTA and must apply for a visa.
HealthNo vaccination required. Keep tetanus, diphtheria and polio up to date; hepatitis A is worth considering if you eat well off the tourist trail. In the desert parks, the heat is the real risk.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/los-angeles
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.