LA - Any must dos/must avoids??

wango_2

Personally, we loved it. We hired a convertible and cruised around. Followed an insiders directions and got close enough to the sign to have great pictures. We drove Mulholland parkway through the hills and down into Malibu, where we ate seafood on the beach. We watched the sunset with the extreme characters hanging around Venice "muscle Beach" and walked the pier of Santa Monica. We hired cycles and cycled the prom of Huntingdon(Baywatch) Beach, OC where there was a surfing contest taking place. We took a boat trip out to see the seals on the beach location of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and fantastic houses of Newport Beach. We followed the Pacific Coast highway and shopped at the Beverly Hills Mall. We even went to see the Bev Hills High School playing soccer against Santa Monica High and my daughter loved the cheerleading. We drove up and down Rodeo Drive star watching and stopped wherever we saw films on location (quite a few) It was a thrill to see places and buildings which felt familiar from the movies, like the "Spiderman" building and Hollywood Bowl. To me, every turn was exciting and providing you can hire a car, I would recommend a visit to anyone.

wannabe_a_mum

We are in LA next week after spending 3 days in New York over the weekend. We are in LA for around 12 days - staying with relatives.
They are going to pretty much give us the tour of southern California but my uncle gave us a great website for the Northern area as we wanted to see San Francisco etc.

The website was gotobus.com and it has loads of tours by coach - they include accommodation and are a great price. Make sure you check out the value breaks as well - it saved us over $230 on an identical tour by not including the accommodation in LA the night before as we already are staying there.

HTH

Mouth11

it sounds like 2-3 days will be enough to "do" LA then, am renting a convertible from enterprise who seem pretty competitive and we are probably gonna take a drive up to san fran.
would like to go to mexico but heard you can't take rental cars across the border

neilbond007

Mouth11 wrote: »

it sounds like 2-3 days will be enough to "do" LA then, am renting a convertible from enterprise who seem pretty competitive and we are probably gonna take a drive up to san fran.
would like to go to mexico but heard you can't take rental cars across the border

drive the pacific coast highway. be a bit too far for 1 day. stop off somewhere (we stopped at santa barbarra).
route 5 is extremely long and boring!!

flea72

Mouth11 wrote: »

it sounds like 2-3 days will be enough to "do" LA then, am renting a convertible from enterprise who seem pretty competitive and we are probably gonna take a drive up to san fran.
would like to go to mexico but heard you can't take rental cars across the border

do the same as every other tourist then, park the car stateside, and walk through the border crossing

Flea

flea72

i would recommend 6 Flags Magic Mountain, if you like roller coasters. much better rides than Disney, and Universal

Flea

Mouth11

flea72 wrote: »

i would recommend 6 Flags Magic Mountain, if you like roller coasters. much better rides than Disney, and Universal

Flea

I have heard that Disney is ridiculously overpriced and is more for the kids, just checked the 6 flags website, looks good, thanks for the tip

torbrex

6 flags anywhere has a high standard of rides, I always look out for a park, I have been to 3 so far, my only gripe is the car parking charges.

trets77

whatever you do , you will need a Car . LA is a place you Have to Visit once in your life but it can be a bit seedy in a lot of areas.

Universal studios is fun enough although mainly for kids .

best thing we did was this .....http://www2.warnerbros.com/vipstudiotour/

Very good Value for money and very intresting . advise you book it in advance . we saw the sets for Pushing Daises , Friends and ER as well some actual movies been filmed .

heading up to Griffith Observatory is a good way to get a great view of the city . a Cruise down Sunset Boulevard is fun as is a drive up into the Hills , Mullholland Drive is a good drive .

if you want somewhere for Breakfast try Canters deli .... http://www.cantersdeli.com/

a real authentic American diner and great food.




Things to Avoid.

Driving with your doors unlocked . using ATM that might be unsafe , going any where near Compton or Watts , wandering to far off from The Chinese Theatre area after dark.

Also if you get bumped by Another car , don't stop in a dodgy or badly lit area instead drive to Well lit and Populated public place and beckon the other car to follow you , as it might be a car Jacking Attempt .

maro11

Love LA,
Deff go to Santa Monica , shop on 3rd Street then stroll down to Venice beach.
Take the pacific coast highway to Santa Barbara.
Loads to see and do. Have a great time