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The Los Angeles area is huge; four days certainly aren’t enough to cover everything there is to see and (especially) eat in this American megalopolis, but this guide will give you a good introduction to Los Angeles.
In addition, the days on this four-day Los Angeles itinerary are very flexible, as they take you to several parts of the city.
So you can choose to follow a single day when you just have a stopover, for example.
Indeed, Los Angeles is often a hub for Asia or Oceania, and flight schedules are usually designed to leave you with several hours to spare.
When you think of Los Angeles, you immediately associate it with Hollywood, as this metropolis is the birthplace of the entertainment industry; this is where it happens for celebrities and aspiring artists.
The most famous tourist attraction in this neighborhood is undoubtedly the Walk of Fame. This begins at the intersection of La Brea Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard; in fact, the sites to visit are along this street.
Although there are many famous personalities in Los Angeles, they are often very discreet, so you have a better chance of seeing “stars” on the Walk of Fame! If you are looking for a particular star among the 2,500+, you can use this site to locate it.
Next, a visit to the TCL Chinese Theatre is extraordinary; this historic cultural landmark in Los Angeles is also renowned for its courtyard filled with celebrity handprints and footprints. The artists who have the privilege of leaving their mark at the Chinese Theatre are selected based on their impact in the industry; a ceremony is held during the imprints and it is a great honor to be featured there!
Next, I really enjoyed my guided tour of the Dolby Theatre to see behind the scenes of the Oscars. Then, most Disney movie premieres take place at the El Capitan Theatre; although you must be invited to attend, you can also go there to watch a movie during a regular screening.
After a morning in Hollywood, I suggest you go to Beverly Hills and take a walk on Rodeo Drive; it’s the luxury of luxury! The major brands of the fashion industry are located here and it is the perfect place for window shopping.
You can also find a beautiful Los Angeles park at Beverly Gardens Park. It is an ideal place for a break or a picnic.
The other iconic streets in this area are Melrose Avenue and Sunset Strip.
At the end of the day, I recommend a trip to the Griffith Observatory to watch the sunset; the views are breathtaking. There are also plenty of walking routes in the area if you want to spend a little more time in nature and away from the hustle and bustle of the big city.
Finally, the exhibitions at the Griffith Observatory are often very interesting and free.
The best place to see the Hollywood sign is at Griffith Park; there are multiple hiking trails on Mount Hollywood that start from the Observatory parking lot.
After a day of sightseeing focused on cinema and celebrities, the atmosphere changes as you head to the seaside. Los Angeles is associated with Hollywood, but also with sunshine, surfing, and the beach; the most iconic area is Santa Monica and Venice Beach.
You can start with lunch and a stroll along Third Street Promenade, a pedestrian street filled with great restaurants and cafes.
Later, the Santa Monica Pier is emblematic of this part of Los Angeles with its rides; the Ferris wheel is operated with solar energy! It is a must-see, even if you are not interested in amusement parks; the carnival atmosphere is superb and you can enjoy many sweet treats… kids love it.
Let yourself be tempted by an electric bike ride through Santa Monica!
Next, another distinctive feature of Santa Monica is that it is the last stop on the famous Route 66 that crosses the United States from Chicago.
For art lovers, the Getty Center is an unusual and impressive museum.
After a morning in Santa Monica, you can take a walk on the Ocean Front Walk to reach Venice Beach and its Boardwalk, which are very different from Santa Monica. This part of Los Angeles is more hipster and… weird, but interesting!
Try your hand at surfing lessons or book a culinary tour of Venice Beach.
Downtown Los Angeles is huge and includes several districts; you will need to dedicate more than one day to explore it. This neighbourhood will be especially pleasing to people who love urbanism and art.
City Hall is a beautiful building for architecture enthusiasts, and its observatory is accessible free of charge.
Next, two performance venues, the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, are worth a visit, even if only to view the buildings from the outside.
The Grammy Museum also offers several interactive exhibits related to all genres of music.
Then, the Grand Central Market is another must-do activity in Los Angeles; you can find a large number of local product stalls as well as food counters to eat or snack at low prices.
After several days in the hustle and bustle of the big city, a short roadtrip to Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway is definitely recommended. Malibu is a suburb of Los Angeles. Obviously, you should preferably rent a car to fully enjoy it at your own pace.
This roadtrip starts from Santa Monica, and you will head to the northwest of Los Angeles. The first stop at Malibu Pier is the ideal place to admire Santa Monica Bay and the mountains in the background. There is also a beautiful small beach around a lagoon at Malibu Lagoon State Beach and Surfrider Beach for surfing enthusiasts.
Right next to Malibu Lagoon, there are several small restaurants and shops where you can eat without breaking the bank. Then, the Malibu Country Mart is known as a place to spot celebrities. Indeed, many celebrities own a house or villa on the waterfront in Malibu.
Then, Zuma Beach is a good spot for surfing, and El Matador Beach offers a breathtaking landscape with its rock formations, cliffs and caves.
A little further, you can find Neptune’s Net, an iconic seafood restaurant. We can recognize this establishment the first film of Fast & Furious.
Finally, you will have completed the Malibu tour when you reach Point Mugu. In fact, Point Mugu is in another county, but it is the last point of interest on this road trip where you can relax at the beach or go hiking in the area.
And why not a Malibu tour in a van with a driver-guide, including a wine tasting.
It is certain that the itinerary proposed below is very condensed and does not include everything, but I tried to group as many attractions as possible.
If you have more time, the following sites are also worth a visit:
One of the must-do activities is the visit to Universal Studios Hollywood.
Then, here are the best viewpoints in Los Angeles:
If you are planning a trip to Los Angeles this summer, you are timing it perfectly. For the first time in over thirty years, Los Angeles is hosting the FIFA World Cup, and the city will be the venue for eight matches played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
During the tournament, the stadium will be officially designated as “Los Angeles Stadium,” in accordance with FIFA policy requiring neutral, sponsor-free names for all host venues. The stadium is located just minutes from LAX airport, making it an easily accessible destination.
Los Angeles hosts five group stage matches, including two featuring the United States national team, as well as three knockout matches between June 12 and 25.
This is followed by two Round of 32 matches (June 28 and July 2), then a quarterfinal on July 10, making Los Angeles the only American city to host a match at this stage of the tournament.
The public transit service is deploying 300 additional buses for direct, non-stop shuttles to the stadium for each of the eight matches. This is the most convenient and affordable option to avoid traffic jams, which will be particularly intense on match evenings.
Outside the stadium, Los Angeles is organizing a FIFA Fan Festival at LA Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park, in addition to official fan zones throughout the region, for 39 days of festivities. Even without a ticket to a match, the city’s atmosphere will be worth the trip.
Los Angeles has no shortage of good restaurants; with a mix of multiethnic neighborhoods like Little Tokyo, Thai Town, Koreatown, Little Armenia, etc., it is very easy to find meals for all tastes and budgets!
Here are my recommendations, by sector, based on the itinerary suggestions in the previous section of this article.
Here are the restaurants I recommend in Hollywood & Beverly Hills:
Here are the restaurants I recommend in Santa Monica & Venice Beach:
Here are the restaurants I recommend in Downtown Los Angeles:
Here are the restaurants I recommend in Malibu:
For movie lovers, there is no better place to get away from it all than Los Angeles. First, celebrities are everywhere in the city and it is not uncommon to run into them when you have breakfast at a restaurant.
For my part, I spotted Keanu Reeves on the bus (!) and Julia Roberts in the Warner Brothers studio parking lot. However, you should not expect to see celebrities either; Los Angeles is huge.
In Los Angeles, guided tours of production studios are very interesting; it is not possible to go on filming sets when they are in use, but these tours give a good idea of what happens behind the scenes in Hollywood.
These are so large that they have their own separate zip code! For example, Warner Brothers is located in Burbank, on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
I was lucky enough to discover the studios of Paramount, Sony, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers. That one was my favorite, by far; the famous Stage 24 at Warner Brothers is the Friends set and you can still visit the filming site in this building.
The majority of the shows are filmed in Los Angeles. So it’s possible to get tickets when there’s an audience, like at Jimmy Kimmel Live.
These tickets can be obtained through a draw, among other ways; for years, I have been subscribed to the Seat Fillers and more newsletter, which offers me opportunities to participate in certain events in Los Angeles. However, these invitations are often last-minute!
So, the strategy here is to subscribe and hope to receive an email while keeping your fingers crossed that it aligns well with our stay in Los Angeles or be ready to buy a flight to get there quickly!
Then, since Los Angeles covers a very large area, I had booked a city tour on GetYourGuide to cover several areas, such as Rodeo Drive and the celebrity mansion district.
If you have little time (like on a stopover for example), these organized tours can be a good way to optimize your day.
You can check out activities to book in Los Angeles with our partner GetYourGuide:
For a stopover in Los Angeles, I suggest choosing a hotel near the airport; traffic is terrible in the metropolis and public transit will take you a lot of time.
Then, for several days in Los Angeles, it will depend on your interests and what you plan to do in the city; establishments near a metro station are usually a good option.
In Los Angeles, there are some hotels that are famous, very glamorous and frequented by famous people. These establishments have retained the original charm of Hollywood and can often be seen in movies; a simple visit to their restaurant or lounge can be a nice way to experience it at a lower cost.
Here’s our selection:
For my part, staying at The Beverly Hills Hotel is on my bucket list in Los Angeles; this property is probably the most historic and takes us back to the silent film era with Charlie Chaplin.
The points strategy for these hotels will primarily be done with travel points applicable to expenses. The majority of these establishments are independent or cost a lot of points.
The best credit card to have in your arsenal if these Los Angeles hotels are in your sights is the Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card; the savings on foreign currency conversion fees of 2.5% and earning 6X points on this “travel” categorized expense is not negligible as a return.
Finally, this card offers a generous bonus to new customers and you can use Scene+ points to reimburse your purchase.
Around LAX, there are a lot of hotels, many of them from the Marriott Bonvoy chain. The Los Angeles Airport Marriott is just a few minutes from the airport.
I often used a free night certificate during my stopovers in Los Angeles. These certificates are offered with the Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card and the Marriott Bonvoy® Business American Express®* Card, which also offer generous welcome bonuses.
See our review of the Westdrift Manhattan Beach, Autograph Collection, which is less than 15 minutes from the airport.
If you’re spending several days in Los Angeles, I’d recommend an establishment like The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles, which is very central and where you can use Marriott certificates.
Among the other hotels in the same area:
Los Angeles Airport is one of the largest hubs in North America, so you have several options for getting there on major Canadian airlines.
Air Canada, Air Transat and WestJet provide direct flights to major cities across the country as shown on Flight Connections.
If you are flying with Air Canada, be on the lookout; if you are traveling in business class or if you plan to use upgrade credits, choosing your aircraft can pay off to find yourself in a lie-flat seat for this transcontinental flight!
Airfare to Los Angeles varies greatly depending on the time of year. In our experience, Air Transat often offers the best prices for direct flights from Montreal.
To save on this type of airfare, you need to have travel points applicable to expenses; that is, points that can be used to reimburse any airline ticket purchase such as NBC Rewards points from the National Bank World Elite Mastercard®*.
If you’d like to use NBC Rewards points to save on your Air Transat flight to Los Angeles, it’s best to use the National Bank booking platform.
In fact, the prices are similar to what you can find on the company’s website and you can redeem your points on your travel purchase. By doing so, you benefit from a better points exchange rate in addition to earning bonus points.
These low rates don’t usually include baggage fees, but you can use your $150 annual credit to get reimbursed for this expense!
Then, by doing so, you will benefit from your credit card’s excellent travel insurance!
When cash prices are harder to swallow, it may be more advantageous to use Aeroplan points.
You will need to use at least 12,500 Aeroplan points, departing from Montreal, for a one-way economy class ticket to reach Los Angeles airport, according to Air Canada’s points predictor.
To get to Los Angeles with Aeroplan points, you could quickly accumulate them with the welcome bonus from the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card.
In addition, you will have the advantage of checking your bags for free in case you feel like shopping on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles!
Los Angeles is not very well served by public transportation (bus and subway), but it is not imperative to rent a car either.
From Los Angeles airport, the “Aviation/LAX” metro station is your gateway to the city’s network. However, you will need to allow at least 1 hour 15 minutes and two line transfers to reach the center of Hollywood at the “Hollywood/Highland” station.
The first few times I went to Los Angeles, I traveled mainly by bus. So, it’s very doable though you will pay in time; I personally migrated to Uber on my most recent getaways and stopovers.
The bus is a pleasant way to discover the city. This comprehensive tour includes the Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and Bell Air.
A bus connects the airport to Santa Monica Pier, but the trip will take you about an hour compared to 20-30 minutes by Uber. Similarly, to get to Griffith Observatory from downtown, you can spend 45 minutes on public transit or 15-20 minutes by Uber.
Without a rental car, you can use Uber and Lyft to get from one area to another. Certainly, it is not the most economical way, but it is the best option without a car in Los Angeles.
Here’s a sample fare for an Uber ride between LAX airport and Santa Monica Pier, and for a ride between Hollywood and the Griffith Observatory.
I often transit through Los Angeles on my way to Sydney or New Zealand; each time, I ordered an Uber to get to a spot and spent the 8-12 hours I had before catching my connecting flight.
Depending on the location, it cost me about $50-60 USD for a round trip to LAX and I used my Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card to save on conversion fees.
When it comes to car rentals, I give priority to TD Rewards points, which are easily accumulated through the TDR Welcome Bonus. TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* Card. These points are best used on the Expedia for TD platform.
However, parking fees should not be overlooked as they can significantly increase the bill. Indeed, these costs can exceed $20 USD per day if you move around a lot.
Finally, traffic is terrible in Los Angeles, especially during rush hour between 6:00 am and 9:00 am and again between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm, so it is recommended that you spend the day in a corner of Los Angeles. It is up to you to see if it is optimal to rent a car for your stay compared to Uber, as driving or not in Los Angeles is also a personal decision!
Do not forget to get a Los Angeles travel guide from Ulysse bookstore!
Here are two travel guides about Los Angeles:
The city of Los Angeles is the perfect destination for a short getaway of a few days for a diversified trip: beach, city, roadtrip, Disneyland, good food, etc.
Although big American cities can be expensive, there are many ways to cut costs when you play your (credit) cards right!
Did you like this guide? Check out the one on New York in 4 days!
Savings this way:
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