A family trip around the World – Los Angeles

I was on the last leg of a Round-the-World trip with my family. Having spent the last 2 weeks touring Australia, visiting Melbourne, Port Douglas and Sydney with my parents, brother and sister-in-law, we were now catching a very long flight to the USA where, with the time difference, we were all amused to be landing at LAX two hours before we had taken off in Sydney!

Exhausted and jet-lagged, we could have done without the usual long queues at LAX. Once through passport control and customs, we caught a taxi to our Santa Monica motel where we’d be staying the next 4 nights. Trying hard to stay awake that afternoon, we took at walk down to the beach then along Third Street Promenade where we called into a sports bar to grab some food. Back by the beach, the pier now lit up, we struggled to keep our eyes open so decided to head back to our rooms to relax and have an early night.

The next day, feeling refreshed and a bit more awake, we walked to a local cafe to grab bagels for breakfast.

Passing a Beverly Hills shield on the hop on/off tour bus

With the new Santa Monica metro line yet to be opened at the time and LA’s transport system appearing a bit too complicated for my parents at least to manage, we decided to use the hop on/off bus to get us around the city. Buying a 48-hour ticket, we boarded the yellow route open air bus across the road from Santa Monica Pier and sat back to enjoy the commentary as we headed towards Beverly Hills.

Disembarking at the Rodeo Drive stop, we wandered across the road to Beverly Hills Park, taking pictures with the large Beverly Hills sign and buying lemonade to cool us down from a stand set up by some local girl scouts. We then took a stroll down Rodeo Drive itself, window shopping but not being brave enough to actually enter any of the designer stores lining the road.

After grabbing ice cream from a local parlour, we returned to the bus stop to await the red route bus which would take us to Hollywood.

Above, passing an art installation outside LACMA, and below, spending the day in Hollywood

As we neared Hollywood and the famous Hollywood sign came into view, my family were very excited but that excitement faded slightly when we jumped off the bus at the Pantages Theatre, at the slightly run down end of Hollywood Boulevard! Despite Hollywood Boulevard’s first impression not living up to the idea they had in their head, their enthusiasm soon returned as we walked towards the Hollywood Highland Centre and they soon got into the swing of things shouting out names of celebrities as they passed their Hollywood Stars!

Lunch was at Mel’s Drive In, a 50s style diner where everyone was impressed by the portion sizes and then it was back to sightseeing as we took the obligatory photos on the “Oscars’ steps” at the Dolby Theatre and compared the size of our hands and feet to Hollywood stars outside the Chinese Theatre. To get back to Santa Monica, we had to catch the red route bus back to Beverly Hills then transfer back to the yellow route bus to complete the journey.

It took almost 2 hours to get back with the rush hour traffic but at least we had the commentary to keep us amused along the way.

Visiting the pier and riding the Ferris Wheel

Back in Santa Monica, we spent the evening down on the pier. Still full from our late lunch, we grabbed fast food from the pier then shared a funnel cake drowned in chocolate sauce for dessert. We ended our day taking a ride on the ferris wheel.

With nothing really planned for our second day in LA, we decided to make the most of our still valid hop on/off bus tickets and head back to Hollywood.

When we reached Beverly Hills, my brother and sister-in-law decided to stick around a bit to explore more while my parents and I hopped straight on to the next Hollywood bound bus. Having to listen to the bus commentary again was a bit tedious but at least it was a hassle free way to get to Hollywood Boulevard. Once there, we hopped off at the Hollywood Highland centre grabbing a mid-morning cupcake snack from one of the stands there.

Our hop on/off bus tickets came with free tickets for Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and with temperatures soaring that day, we decided to take advantage of these purely to get out of the sun and into some aircon for a bit! While I’d never pay full price to go to Madame Tussauds, it did turn out to be a fun way to spend and hour as we posed with wax statues of various celebrities.

Madame Tussauds fun, and below, at Madame Tussauds and by the Hollywood Gateway

After grabbing a sandwich from a nearby cafe, we decided to do a Star Homes Tour. With so many companies offering these tours, it’s difficult to know which one to go with and as we started to look along the boulevard, we began to be approached by the various companies each trying to get us to book with them. Playing them off against each other we managed to haggle some money off a tour leaving soon.

While I’m sceptical of whether the houses pointed out along the way on this kind of tour actually do belong to the said celebrities, it’s a great way to see the Hollywood and Beverly Hills and some of the huge mansions.

Above, viewpoint at Mullholland, and below, on the Hollywood Homes tour

Most of the tours also make a stop along Mullholland Drive at a Hollywood overlook too and this tour was no exception.

Back on Hollywood Boulevard, we grabbed ice cream and met up with my brother and sister-in-law who had now also made it into Hollywood. As we sat back on the open top bus heading back to Santa Monica, they filled us in on their adventures that day – walking from Rodeo Drive up into the Hollywood Hills to see some of the mansions and the hiking from Hollywood Boulevard up towards the Hollywood sign to get a closer view!

That evening we all went for a stroll along Third Street Promenade then for dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen, planning how to spend out final full day in LA and the last full day of our entire 3-week trip.

Deciding to stay local for the last day of our trip, we headed to the beach the next morning. We soon found we were ill-prepared for the scorching sun on a beach with little to no shade, the sand too hot to walk on, never mind sit on for long, even with a beach towel beneath us.

We took to the ocean to cool down having fun in the waves on a body board gifted to us from some departing holiday makers no longer in need of it but after lunch, decided we couldn’t take sitting in the sun anymore and made other plans for the afternoon.

My brother, sister-in-law and I decided to hire bikes and take a leisurely cycle to Venice Beach and back while my parents decided to walk there, asking me how they’d know once they’d reached their. “Oh, you’ll know!” I replied. Having been to Venice Beach on a previous trip to LA, I knew the eclectic beach city couldn’t be more different from Santa Monica.

Above, in Venice, and below, watching the sunset back in Santa Monica.

We enjoyed our bike ride along the cycle path, stopping drinks at a beach bar half way then for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery in Venice before cycling back again. My brother and sister-in-law both liked Venice, comparing it to the London borough of Camden “but by the sea”, and analogy also used by my parents once they’d arrived back from their stroll.

For the first time all week, we were back in Santa Monica in time to watch the sun go down so after returning to our motel for a bit to cool down and freshen up, we walked to the pier to find a spot to watch the sun set over the Santa Monica hills.

That evening, we took one final stroll along Third Street Promenade, everyone more subdued than usual as we contemplated our amazing three-week adventure coming to an end. We enjoyed one final holiday meal out together at Barney’s Beanery before strolling back to our motel.

The next day, after a pancake breakfast at Denny’s, we just about had time for a final stroll along the pier before catching a taxi back to LAX ready to fly back to the UK.

It had been an epic trip, making memories we all knew we’d be talking about for many years to come.

Southern BLT Day 1-4: Hollywood, San Diego and Las Vegas

My first small group tour travel experience – Part 1

The start of a 3-week road trip across America with 10 strangers!

Getting ready for the Oscars – red carpet lining Hollywood Blvd

Within minutes of meeting my companions for the next 3 weeks (you can read my previous blog on this here), we were all climbing into our mini-bus and being driven by our tour guide across the city to our first stop – Hollywood. Conversations in the bus at this point mainly consisted of the “What’s your name again?”, “Where did you say you’re from again?” kind and when we were dropped off and given an hour to wander around Hollywood Boulevard, we drifted into smaller groups – the 2 Swedish girls sticking together, the 20-something guys grouping up and then those of us that didn’t fit any other group wandering off together too. Hollywood was setting up for the weekend’s big Oscar Ceremony which, having been to the Walk of Fame many times before, made the stop a bit more exciting for me as we saw the preparations going on and watched through the fence as reporters broadcast from the red carpet already running down the middle of the road to the Kodak Theater.

Oscar preparations outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood

Once we were all back at the bus, we made one more quick hop off and on stop nearby to get a photo of the Hollywood sign from Beachwood Canyon before settling in for the 2 hour drive to San Diego. Lunch was at a truck stop just outside the city with a choice of fast food options (most of us tried Wendy’s!) and then it was off to drop our things at our hostel in the Gaslamp District. Like me, this was to be the first hostel experience for most of the group. We were allocated two 6-bed dorms to share between us, there were plenty of bathrooms along the corridor and breakfast was provided in the morning. Our room overlooked the main street in the Gaslamp Quarter, where all the bars were so we had loud music pumping through the walls until the early hours of the morning but it was only for 2 nights and our next stop would be a hotel in Vegas.

After we had settled, we met back at the bus and were taken to Mission Beach for the afternoon. Despite it being February, the weather was a balmy 20 degrees and we wandered along the sands chatting and getting to know each other a bit more before returning to the city for our first group dinner at Bepe di Bucco’s family dining restaurant. That night, we split into those who wanted to go partying and those who didn’t with some of us opting instead to keep out of the bars and get frozen yoghurt instead as we planned to be up early the next day for a trip to the zoo.

What we did on our free day was completely up to us but with the suggestions being SeaWorld or San Diego Zoo, most of the group was keen on going to the zoo so our tour guide offered to drive us there and then we could make our own way back. Only 2 of the group – the two Swedish girls who were mainly keeping themselves to themselves at this point – decided to stay in the city and do their own bit of sightseeing. The zoo was huge, so much so that we lost one group member at one point which was a good point to decide we should all swap numbers and start a Whatsapp group! After spending most for the day there, we walked through Balboa Park and back to the hostel. Our tour guide suggested a seafood place for dinner but with none of the group too keen in that idea, we ended up in Hooters which, if nothing else, was cheaper!

It was a very early start the next morning to begin our drive to Las Vegas and most of us slept in the bus. Lunch was at a bizarre Greek-style diner in Baker, California, opposite the World’s Largest Thermometer(!) before continuing to our destination.

Watch my Trek America adventures in Hollywood and San Diego

Our seemingly luxurious hotel room at Bally’s!

After 2 nights in a hostel, our room at Bally’s Casino seemed like luxury and I was surprised we were in a hotel on the Strip and in such a good location, expecting to be Downtown from reading other Trekkers’ experiences online. With hotel rooms being for 2, the two Swedish girls shared a room, I shared with the other solo girl (we’d already become good friends at this point – 2 days can seem a lot longer when you’re spending all that time in someone’s company!) and then the guys paired up, taking it in turns to have a room to themselves with there being an odd number of them.

We had the rest of the afternoon as free time but were to be back early evening for our included Party Bus activity. As my roommate and I had decided we’d like to see Britney play the following night, we headed straight to the Planet Hollywood box office to acquire some tickets before joining the others strolling through some of the hotels on the strip. Then it was all round to our tour guide’s room for some group-bonding drinking games and Chinese food before we piled onto our private Vegas Party bus. The bus drives up and down the strip while music blasts out and the inside is like a mini-dance club.

Unimpressed by the very clubby music, one of the group asked if he could instead plug in his iPhone and we instead sang and danced along to cheesy 90s pop tracks from the Spice Girls and 5ive and tunes from Disney’s Frozen. The bus made a stop Downtown in time for us to catch the hourly laser show at Fremont Street and then at the Welcome to Vegas sign for us to get photos before dropping us off at the Bellagio to watch the penultimate dancing fountain show of the night. We loved this so much we decided to wait 15 minutes to watch the final show of the night too before following our tour guide to her favourite karaoke bar at Ellis Island Casino just behind Bally’s.

The next morning we split into 2 groups – those of us who had returned to our hotel at a reasonable time and were up to spend the day exploring Vegas, and those who were sleeping it off! By the time we met with the rest of the group later that afternoon, we had already had a huge Denny’s breakfast, took a gondola ride at the Venetian hotel, and got lost in Circus Circus. We were joined by a few more group members at the top of the Stratosphere where we screamed our way through the 3 rides sat on top of the tallest building in the Strip.

That evening, we all went off to see various shows and for me that meant the chance to see Britney’s Piece Of Me show, something I’d wanted to do since it was announced so I was ecstatic to discover she was playing on our free evening in the city. We’d managed to get our hands on pit tickets so were up close, especially when Britney came out along the catwalk and the show was every bit as amazing as I’d hoped. After, we met up with a few other group members for a late night ride on the High Roller Ferris Wheel to see the bright lights of Vegas from above.

I’d been to Vegas a few times before this trip but never experienced it quite like this. Being in a group tour situation was already taking me out of my comfort zone – drinking games, party buses, late night karaoke bars, none of these things were how I’d usually spend my time on holiday – and yet I was loving every minute and really enjoying the company of this eclectic band of individuals.

4 days in and things were going great but I should know by now to expect the unexpected…

Watch my Trek America adventures in Las Vegas

My Trek America Experience Part 2

My first solo travel adventure

Going it alone

The Hollywood Sign

As mentioned in my post on Hollywood, it’s possible to see the famous Hollywood sign clearly from the walkways across the arch at the Hollywood Highland Centre and if you take a Star Homes Tour into the Hollywood Hills, you will most likely stop at the Mulholland Lookout Point. But while both of these places give you good views of the sign and enable you to get a photo of the sign if you zoom in on your camera, they are not great if you want a clear photo with the sign as it looks tiny in the background from here.

Vire of the Hollywood Sign from the scenic point on Mulholland.

If you want to get closer, you are going to need to take a hike!

Along with the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood sign will probably be a must-see on any first time visit to LA. As I’ve mentioned previously, you don’t need to leave Hollywood Boulevard to see the sign with it being visible from the arch at the Hollywood Highland Centre and other viewpoints include the stop along Mulholland included in most of the Star Homes Tours or from Griffith Observatory. But if you want to get closer and get a good photo of yourself with the sign, then you really need put on your walking shoes!

Both times I’ve got a bit closer to the sign, I’ve taken a DASH bus from the intersection of Hollywood and Vine – by the Capitol Records Building – towards Beachwood Canyon. The first time I went looking for a good viewpoint, we got a little lost and ended up climbing Deronda Drive where we accidentally stumbled upon a great view of the sign in a residential district.

It did mean standing in the road in between cars passing by to get a photo with it though – probably not the best or safest idea!

*Warning signs hiking through the Hollywood Hills*

The next time I went looking for the sign, I followed a set of instructions found on line which took me onto the Hollyridge Trail via a pathway by Sunset Ranch. I followed the trail – and other hikers – to a trail that eventually lead me to a path that climbed up behind the Hollywood sign. Unfortunately, access to this trail at Sunset Ranch has now been closed but that doesn’t mean you can no longer hike to the sign.

*Hiking to Mount Lee, view from behind the Hollywood sign*

You can now pick the trail up at the ‘Deronda Gate’, further along Deronda Drive at it’s intersection with Mulholland. It’s about a 1 mile walk from where the DASH bus drops you in Beachwood Canyon but the path is steep making it a difficult walk especially in the LA heat. If you don’t have a car, you can get a taxi or Uber to the gate then hike the trail from there. Although the main trail takes you behind the sign, there are great views of the front of it too, close enough for you to get a photo with it, or you can turn off the main path to get a bit closer before retracing your steps and hiking back.

If you’re unsure of finding the sign yourself and think you might end up lost in the Hollywood Hills, there are a few companies offering guided hikes. This year, I’ve booked a sunset tour with Bikes and Hikes LA. While I’m not expecting to get as close to the sign, I’m looking forward to hiking into the hills from Griffith Park and hearing a bit about the area and the history of the sign from the tour’s guide as well as getting a few photos from a different angle.

Another different way of visiting the sign is by horse back. Sunset Ranch in Beachwood Canyon offer various guided horse trail rides into the Hollywood Hills and past the sign throughout the day.

LA Overview

Hollywood and Beverly Hills

Downtown LA

Beach Cities

LA Studio Tours

Hollywood and Beverly Hills

Visiting Hollywood and wondering what there is to do and see? Read through my ideas and tips to get the most out of your visit!

Hollywood Boulevard

No matter where you’ve decided to stay, A visit to Hollywood Boulevard is probably going to be on your itinerary. So what to expect? Yes, it’s tacky. Yes, it’s full of crowds of tourists all congregating in the same small areas of pavement. Yes, the far ends of the Hollywood Boulevard and anywhere slightly off the Boulevard, does not feel the safest place in the World to wander. But go with your expectations not too high and you’ll find plenty to enjoy.

The Four Ladies Statue, Hollywood/La Brea Gateway

You’ll more than likely find yourself wandering along the Walk of Fame eyes down with exclaims of ‘oh Britney Spears!’ , ‘Look, there’s Tom Cruise!’ and ‘Kermit the Frog!!!’ – no, not pointing out the actual celebrity of course but just shouting out the name on every other star you walk past with no real reason why you’re doing it. Be prepared to get annoyed as fellow tourists decide to sit in the middle of the pavement to get photos with various stars only to find yourself doing exactly the same when you see one of your faves.

Then as the pavement opens out in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, push your way through the crowds waiting for your turn to see how your shoe size measures up to your Hollywood faves. When in Hollywood…!

Looking for a particular celebrity’s star? Then download the Walk of Fame app which will pinpoint the exact place of any star you are looking for or look on the Walk of Fame’s official site. You can also find out if there’s any new stars ceremonies going on while you’re in town.
https://www.walkoffame.com/

View of he Capital Records Building from the Hollywood & Vine intersection

If you can raise your eyes from the pavement long enough to notice, you’ll find various costumed individuals around the area in front of Madame Tussaud’s encouraging tourists to have photos with them – remember, they are expecting hefty tip in return – and many competing tacky gift stores selling cheap and cheerful souvenirs – fake Oscar statuette with you name on anyone?! Look out for the $10 store which seems to constantly have an ‘everything is just $5’ sale on!!

*Looking out towards Hollywood Boulevard from the arch at the Hollywood & Highland Center*

For a handful of high street stores and chain restaurants, the Hollywood and Highland Center, a 3-storey entertainment complex, is a good bet and also provides some great photo opportunities with it’s over-the-top Babylon Gate entrance flanked by elephant statues, the jumping water jets/fountain in the central courtyard and the ‘casting couch’ from which you can follow the Road to Hollywood with it’s anonymous stories of industry stars’ rise to fame.

From the walkways across the arch at the back of the center, there are views of the Hollywood sign in the distance. Not really close enough for you to get a photo with the sign but you can definitely get a photo of it. (You can find my tips on getting closer to the Hollywood sign here.)

View of the Hollywood sign from the Hollywood Highland Centre

From the center, you can access the neighbouring Dolby Theatre – famous for being the most recent location of the Oscars ceremonies. Take a tour of the theatre and if you’re lucky and there’s no current production on there, you’ll get to step onto the stage where so many winners have accepted their award. Or for free, just pose on the red carpet steps leading up to the theatre’s entrance!

*The entrance to the Dolby (formerly Kodak) theatre*

A few doors down, you can also take a tour of the Chinese Theatre to hear some of it’s history although personally, I didn’t really feel the tour was worth it and you can see just as much of the theatre by seeing a film there!

I much prefer a visit to the Hollywood Museum, just off Hollywood Boulevard opposite the Hollywood & Highland Center. The building it’s housed in is the former Max Factor Building and now contains props and costumes from Hollywood films and TV shows. The museum changes and updates a lot of its displays regularly so I like to return whenever I’m visiting Hollywood to see what’s currently on display.

Next door to the Hollywood Museum is one of my favourite places to eat in Hollywood, Mel’s Drive In, a traditional 50s style diner.

*Mel’s Drive In Diner next to the Hollywood Museum*

Slightly cheaper fare than at the Hard Rock Cafe across Hollywood Boulevard and better value, in my opinion, than the similar Johnny Rocket’s in the Hollywood Highland Center, it offers the usual burgers and sandwiches-type diner menu.

There’s plenty of other entertainment opportunities along the strip including Ripley’s Believe It or Not and two wax museums. If you’ve bought a tourist card such as the Go Los Angeles pass or Starline’s Hollywood Pass then it’s likely you’ll have a visit to Madame Tussaud’s included. If nothing else, a walk around the heavily air-conditioned museum is a welcome relief from the hot summer days or if you’re looking for a quieter visit, go in the evening after 8 when the queues are usually non-existent and you can move around much easier once inside.

Star Homes Tours

When my brother and his wife visited LA, they googled a map and headed of into the Hollywood Hills from Hollywood Boulevard by foot the one day and into the Beverly Hills on foot from Rodeo Drive another day!! It was the middle of August and sweltering heat but they had a great time exploring. If you have hired a car or also enjoy a hike then maps of the Star Homes can be purchased in many stores around the Hollywood area or you can indeed find plenty of information just using google but if not, there are plenty of companies offering these tours departing from Hollywood Boulevard!

*View of the Hollywood sign from a scenic lookout on Mulholland.*

I’ve taken 3 of these tours from Hollywood – and one to Malibu from Santa Monica – all with different companies and quite honestly, they’re all pretty similar – driving up into the Hollywood Hills via a stop at the Mulholland Drive lookout point to see the Hollywood sign in the distance before continuing through the Hollywood Hills and into Beverly Hills all the time with the driver shouting out the names of the celebrities that supposedly live at the various gated mansions you pass along the way! I say ‘supposedly’ because quite honestly, they could be saying anything and I’d have no idea if they were telling the truth or now but it’s always fun to see the huge compounds and see how the other half lives if nothing else!

A Star Homes Tour is included on the Go LA tourist card and also in a lot of the tourist combo tickets available but if you haven’t purchased one of these then I recommend just walking along Hollywood Boulevard bartering with the tour guides – they are all trying to get you on their tour and are willing to offer competitive prices to gain your custom so don’t sign up at the first price offered or the first company you come to, see what’s on offer and haggle!

To read about the Malibu Star Homes tour I took, see my post about LA’s Beach Cities here.

Studio Tours

If you’re a movie buff or US TV fan then you’ll probably enjoy one, or all, of the 4 film studio tours LA currently offers. All are pretty easily accessible from Hollywood via the metro or public buses and while I do have a favourite – the Warner Brother’s Studio Tour – they all have their merits and are worth doing if you are a film and TV fan. The studio tour at Universal is only available with entry to Universal Studios Hollywood amusement park and is almost like a ride rather than a traditional backlot tour as you stay on an almost constantly moving bus past the film sets and there are many effects laden set pieces to add to the fun. (A more in-depth ‘VIP’ tour where you do get to tour some of the sets is also available but at a much higher cost.)

Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures and Paramount all offer more traditional backlot tours at their working studios with the opportunity to step foot on some of their sound stages and see the sets of some of their current shows. The tours are quite similar in some ways so you probably wouldn’t want to do all 4 on one trip as they could all end up blending into one. To help narrow it down, it could be worth looking into what’s currently filming at each one to give you an idea of what sets you might get to see although it’s all dependent on what’s not being used on the day. It is possible to apply to be an audience member at some of the shows but many have long waiting lists making it difficult to guarantee tickets for the days you are in the city.

For a more detailed account of my own experiences of the various Studio Tours available in LA and what they each have to offer, see my page here.

Griffith Park and Observatory

I’d often see Griffith Observatory high up in the Hollywood Hills while in LA and was familiar with it from various films and TV shows, but it wasn’t until my most recent visit that I finally paid it a visit. The observatory lies in Griffith Park but on top of a steep hill so unless you want to hike up it, the easiest way to get there is on public transport.

When I visited, an easy public transport option didn’t exist so I caught an Uber there and walked back but now you can catch a red metro line train a few stops from Hollywood Boulevard to the Vermont/Sunset Station and catch a DASH bus from here which will drop you right outside the observatory! DASH buses are not included on TAP card fares but having a TAP card will get you a discount, making the fare just 35 cents, otherwise, it’ll set you back a whole 50 cents – bargainous either way!!

The observatory itself is free to enter and has some really interesting space-related exhibitions but the big attraction for me was the view.

From the observatory it is possible to pick up hiking trails that will eventually lead you closer to the Hollywood sign but if you do plan on taking one of these, make sure you have plenty of water on you and the right footwear as it’s quite a long walk! Otherwise, I recommend strolling back down the hill and through Griffith Park itself before walking or catching a bus back into Hollywood!

Griffith Observatory on top of a hill in Griffith Park

Sunset Boulevard

Running parallel to Hollywood, a block south, is Sunset Boulevard. After passing along this road a few times on the sightseeing bus but never hopping off to explore I finally decided to take a walk down there on my last visit to the city.

The main reason I’d decided to head down to Sunset Boulevard was to visit Amoeba Records, the World’s largest independent music store. The store did not disappoint with 2 floors of cds, dvds, vinyls and music merchandise and is definitely worth a visit if you’re a music fan.

Walk a bit further west along Sunset Boulevard and you will come to Hollywood’s Rockwalk outside another music store, this one selling instruments. Like a mini-versions of the pavement outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre only this time, for musicians, the Rockwalk at the Guitar Centre has the handprints of many famous rock artists as well as bronze plaques on the walls for some well-known names.

Moving into West Hollywood by continuing a few miles along Sunset Boulevard, you will come to the infamous Sunset Strip. Here, Sunset Boulevard is lined with bars and clubs. The strip is a short taxi ride from Hollywood Boulevard and comes alive at night with clubs offering live music and comedy. During the day, there is shopping at Sunset Plaza.

The Grove and Farmers’ Market

If you are heading out of Hollywood towards Beverly Hills on public transport, then it’s likely you’ll turn south on Fairfax Avenue and pass The Grove Shopping Centre and neighbouring Farmer’s Market along the way.

Both worth a stop, The Grove is a pleasantly laid out open shopping mall with lots of high street stores, department stores, cafes, restaurants and even a cinema all set around a pretty lake and fountain area. A tram runs through the Grove complex connecting it with the LA Farmers Market where you will find a variety of food stalls selling both fresh produce and plenty of lunch or snack options.

While visiting The Grove and Farmers Market, why not walk a block south to the corner of Fairfax and Wiltshire where you’ll find LACMA – the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. While I’ve still not got round to actually visiting the museum, I did enjoy walking through it’s ‘Urban Lights’ sculpture while waiting for the bus back to Hollywood. Next door to LACMA, you’ll find the La Brea Tar Pits which I plan to visit for the first time on my LA visit later this year – can’t wait!

Beverly Hills

While most of the Star Homes Tours offered from Hollywood will drive through Beverly Hills past the huge mansions and along Rodeo Drive passing the designer stores, they don’t tend to make a stop here so you may decide to go back to explore this area a bit more by yourself.

Whether you’ve hired a car to drive yourself or if you’re getting a bus from Hollywood or Santa Monica, you will probably find yourself at the large Beverly Hills sign in Beverly Gardens Park.

Across the road from the park, you’ll find the Beverly Hills Visitors Centre where you can get a photo with one of the famous Beverly Hills shields. It is also just a short walk to Rodeo Drive which I have walked down window shopping many a time but never had the nerve to enter any of the high end designer stores!!

Nearby is the Beverly Hills City Hall which is the building used as the police station in the Beverly Hills Cop films.

If you want to experience a bit of Hollywood glamour, walk to one of the 2 famous Beverly Hills hotels. The Beverly Wiltshire at the end of Rodeo Drive featured in the film Pretty Woman and the Beverly Hilton is just to many red carpet events including the annual Grammy awards!

Los Angeles

“There’s nothing there.” “It’s dirty.” “I didn’t like it.” “Hollywood is a dump.” “I wouldn’t bother.” Just some of the comments I’d heard about the City of Angels, Los Angeles. But I’d seen it in the movies – Hollywood, the Walk of Fame, the beaches, the mansions, the glamour, the Californian sunshine – what wasn’t there to like, right? And so, I floated the idea to my friend of possibly spending a few nights in the city of dreams on the way back from the trip we were planning to Australia, making our flight ticket a round-the-world trip, and the next thing I knew, we’d booked it and were planning our stay. Truth be told, I was as excited about our few days in Hollywood as I was about our 2 weeks in Australia – if not more so! – and despite the various warnings? I loved it. I’ve been back multiple times and still love it. I’ve taken family and friends there and made them fall in love with it. I’m going back there for my 6th visit this summer. I really have no idea why so many people I talk to don’t love it!!

So here’s my guide to LA!

Where To Stay and Getting Around

“It’s impossible to get around LA without a car.” I read or was repeatedly told when investigating my first trip there. Time consuming and complicated at first, maybe. Impossible? No. I’ve not had a hire car on any of my trips to the city and I’ve rarely even used taxis or ubers and yet I’ve still managed fine and seen everything I’ve wanted to see each time. And looking at the traffic in the city, there’s no way I’d ever want to drive there! The trouble with LA is it’s such a big place. Everything is spread out and unlike in New York, although improving, the metro system is currently not comprehensive enough to make getting from one place to another as quick or easy as it should be. Instead you need to make use of a combination of buses and trains. Choosing the right place to stay goes a long way to making getting around easier. I’ve always said that in an ideal world, I’d spend a few days staying in different areas – downtown, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills…but assuming you’ve got just a few days to a week in the city then you need to choose just one area to base yourself in.

For most of my visits, I’ve based myself in Hollywood, as close to the corner of Hollywood and Highland as possible. From here, most of the Hollywood sights are walkable, you have plenty of entertainment options to keep you occupied in the evenings along Hollywood Boulevard and the red line metro can be accessed easily. This is the line that runs downtown to Union Station in one direction but also to Universal Studios and City Walk in the other direction. Anything not accessible by metro, you can probably catch a bus to it from Hollywood! If you plan on using the hop on/off tourist bus to get around, then 3 of the routes – the Hollywood route, downtown route and Hollywood Bowl bus – all have a stop on Hollywood Boulevard.

Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard

I have stayed a couple of times in Santa Monica – which I absolutely love – but it’s not as convenient as Hollywood for getting around. The first time I stayed there we planned on taking the hop on/off bus to Hollywood the one day but it took so long to get there -it’s not even direct, you have to hop off at Rodeo Drive and wait for the Hollywood bus from there! – that we got less time than we thought we would there so decided to go back again the next day – which meant catching the hop on/off bus all over again! (Since then, I should point out that a new metro line has opened connecting Santa Monica with downtown and hopefully making the journey between there and Hollywood a bit easier – I’ll let you know after my trip this summer!) The second time I chose to stay there was for a quick visit before starting a tour which was meeting nearby, so a visit to Hollywood wasn’t on my itinerary and Santa Monica was just more convenient for my plans than Hollywood happened to be.

For my upcoming visit to LA this summer, we looked at possibly staying downtown as prices were a bit cheaper than Hollywood and from there we could easily catch the metro into Hollywood or the new line to Santa Monica. But not knowing the area as well, we were unsure which of the cheaper hotel options were in an area where it was ‘safe’ to stay – especially if we were out late and had to walk from the metro back to our hotel in the evenings. So we’ve plumped for a motel just off Hollywood Boulevard again, sticking with what we know!

If you’re arriving into Los Angeles from LAX airport then an easy way of reaching wherever you’ve decided to stay is the FlyAway bus service.
https://www.flylax.com/en/flyaway-bus

These buses run from the airport to most of the main touristy areas of the city – and slightly further a field – and I’ve found them to be a convenient, relatively cheap and easy way to get to and from the airport in the past. If there’s larger group of you then a taxi might be more cost effective and convenient .

If you’re arriving by train into Union Station then the metro is the cheapest way of getting to Hollywood or Santa Monica. Having tried it once, I wouldn’t advise the public buses as not only do they take forever in the LA traffic but there’s not much room to take a giant suitcase on there!!

To use the buses or metro system in LA you’ll need to get a $2 TAP card which you then load with cash or metro passes (you can add a one-day, 7-day or one-month pass). While cash fares are accepted on buses (exact fare only), you must use a TAP card on the metro so if it’s likely you’ll be using both forms of transport, you may as well just purchase a card. To plan your route, use the journey planner feature on the LA metro site.
https://www.metro.net/riding/trip-planner/

Just don’t expect to get to travel between places as quickly as you can in other big cities – the last time I caught the bus from Hollywood to Santa Monica, it took a good 2 hours to get there. I’m hoping the recent metro extension will cut this down a bit when I try it later this year but looking at the journey planner on the metro site, it won’t be by much!

Tourist cards

Whenever I’m doing a city break, I always weigh up purchasing a ‘tourist card’ where multiple attractions are included in one price against paying for the attractions individually. The problem is, a lot of the time many of the included attractions were never on my ‘to do’ list to start with but when I see them all listed on the card’s website, it seems too good value not to buy it as long as I can fit everything into my visit so I end up actually spending more by buying the card than I would have if I’d made a list of what I wanted to do and just bought admission to those things individually! Not that that’s always a bad thing – sometimes there I things included on these cards that I wouldn’t have otherwise considered going to but because I’ve purchased a card and I’m in the area I’ve popped in and actually really enjoyed then attraction!

Anyway, there are a few tourist card options for LA. On my first visit, we had just a few days stopover on the way back from Australia and were based in Hollywood but wanted to see a bit of Beverly Hills and the beaches too. Starline Tour’s Hollywood Pass was perfect for what we wanted – it included Hollywood attractions such as Madame Tussauds, the Hollywood Museum and Dolby theatre tour, a Star Homes Tour which took us into the Hollywood and Beverly Hills and the Hop on/Off bus pass which we used to get to Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica from which we walked to Venice Beach and back. We even had time to do a loop on the Downtown Hop on/off bus route – albeit without getting off to explore – on the last morning before we headed to the airport. Starline still offer similar passes now as well as add-ons and tickets and tours to many other LA attractions.
https://www.starlinetours.com/

The hop on/off bus tour run by Starline/Citysightseeing in LA will often offer tourist bundles as an incentive to sell tour tickets. When staying in Santa Monica, we enquired about bus tickets but were quite non-committal about it only for the cashier to suddenly offer to throw in a Madame Tussaud’s ticket in with every pass we purchased! Many other tour companies will off various combo packages on attractions so it’s definitely worth shopping around to see what discounts you can get.

Riding the Hop on/off sightseeing bus through Downtown LA

If you’ve got a bit more time and either have a car or are willing to spend time planning a way around the city on public transport, then the Go LA pass is probably the most extensive.
https://www.smartdestinations.com/los-angeles-attractions-and-tours/_d_Lax-p1.html?pass=Lax_Prod_Go

The company offer all inclusive cards valid for set number of days or you can build your own card starting from 2 attractions – the more you add, the more you save. In my opinion, the all inclusive card is only worth it if you’re staying for upwards of 3 days and you are going to spend one of those days at Universal Studios as this is one of the more expensive attractions to visit and goes a long way to getting your money back on the card and ending up in profit on what you’d have spent paying for attractions individually. Even with a visit to Universal, you need to plan your trip well to fit enough in to get the full value of it but if you’re planning to do one of the studio tours and a few of the Hollywood based attractions then it soon adds up.

As LA is such a huge city, I’ve written separate pages on different parts of the city and things to do:

Hollywood and Beverly Hills

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My first small group tour travel experience – Part 1

The start of a 3-week road trip across America with 10 strangers!

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Hollywood Boulevard

Star Homes Tours

Studio Tours

Griffith Park and Observatory

Sunset Boulevard

The Grove and Farmers’ Market

Beverly Hills

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Where To Stay and Getting Around

Tourist cards

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