Hollywood / LA

poormaria

Hello All,

We are going to LA for 4 days and would like to know the best place to stay... considering we won't be driving. We are going to Universal studios one day, hollywood hills hike, visiting the walk of fame and hoping to spend a day or so at the beach.

I am currently looking at these hotels so any thoughts would be great:

(We will not be getting a car - its not an option - so parking doesnt effect us)

1. Hollywood Roosevelt £167/night = £668
2. Loews £233/night = £932
3. Redwood £248/night = £992
4. Best western hollywood hills £110/night = £440
5. Hilton Garden Inn £155/night = £620

I can also roughly get 10% off these prices but its just for comparison more than anything. I am swaying towards the cheaper hotels. although Loews & Redwood look gorgeous, we are hoping to spend most of our time out and about.

Mr_Wang

poormaria wrote: »

Hello All,

We are going to LA for 4 days and would like to know the best place to stay... considering we won't be driving. We are going to Universal studios one day, hollywood hills hike, visiting the walk of fame and hoping to spend a day or so at the beach.

I am currently looking at these hotels so any thoughts would be great:

(We will not be getting a car - its not an option - so parking doesnt effect us)

1. Hollywood Roosevelt £167/night = £668
2. Loews £233/night = £932
3. Redwood £248/night = £992
4. Best western hollywood hills £110/night = £440
5. Hilton Garden Inn £155/night = £620

I can also roughly get 10% off these prices but its just for comparison more than anything. I am swaying towards the cheaper hotels. although Loews & Redwood look gorgeous, we are hoping to spend most of our time out and about.

If you absolutely, no choice, gun to the head have to be in LA... I'd consider staying in Santa Monica. Cheaper, livelier, everything in walking distance and a half decent beach next door. IF you smoke weed (or want to) then stay in Venice just a mile down the road.

Errata

If you're not hiring a car you'll be spending most of your time getting from somewhere to somewhere else. As recompense the passengers on public transport provide a lot of jaw-dropping entertainment.

HHarry

Just back from LA and stayed in the Chamberlain in West Hollywood, which was absolutely faultless.

Location wise the Walk of Fame and Santa Monica beach are at almost opposite corners of the city, so it doesn't matter where you stay, you'll have to travel. We used the open top bus, which has a number of loops around the city, the only disadvantage being that as its a circular route you might have to do a fair chunk of the circuit to get where you want to.

Not sure I'd agree that Santa Monica is cheaper. Everything we looked at was comparably more expensive, with mediocre reviews on Trip Advisor, hence the reason we stayed in the city.

poormaria

We are open on area so welcome suggestions. We are stopping via LAX so LA made sense to do for 4 days

Someone commented that staying in hollywood meant the public transport was slightly better

poormaria

Thanks for your replies!!

Any comments on best place to stay? I'm going to look at Santa monica hotels now as well

*smurfy*

I stayed in Loews about 2 years ago when I won a trip there, it was really lovely and It was really close to Chinese theatre. We did the bus tour of Hollywood hills took a few hours, wouldn't want to walk as they very spread out. The bus tour included a tickets for 2 days for the hop on hop off, but when we went down to Santa we stayed late and got a normal bus back.Also went to Warner Bros studio tour which was good for a few hour we kinda did it in the morning before flight. On a whole glad I didn't pay to go there, but glad i've been. I would also myself look for much cheaper hotels as your be out and about a lot.

glentoran99

check out the magic castle hotel in hollywood it was lovely when we stayed there

dickydonkin

Errata wrote: »

If you're not hiring a car you'll be spending most of your time getting from somewhere to somewhere else. As recompense the passengers on public transport provide a lot of jaw-dropping entertainment.

All of which is true.

Although not much help to the OP - and I appreciate that many will disagree, but I really believe that a car is essential. It allows flexibility as you are not controlled by public transport schedules.

I always base myself around the Garden Grove/Santa Ana area where hotels are realistically priced (avoid 'resort fees' and ridiculous parking charges) and you are within reasonable driving distances to Hollywood/Beach Cities etc. to the North and San Diego/Mexico to the South. If you are into Disney - then you are ideally situated for the theme parks as well.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but each to their own.

John259

dickydonkin wrote: »

I really believe that a car is essential.

If you want to spend all your time in one place (Santa Monica, or Anaheim, for example) then you could survive without a car. But if you want to visit various places in the greater Los Angeles area then I absolutely agree that without a car it would be a very painful and frustrating experience. If you want to explore further afield in California or the southwest, especially the national parks, then a car becomes even more essential.

Driving in the USA outside the big cities is generally very easy. On the other hand many people find driving on the Los Angeles freeways and navigating in that area somewhat daunting, but it can be done.

Just for completeness, there are some more places in the USA where a car is either not essential or even a liability, for example the centre of San Francisco, Las Vegas if you just want to stay on the Strip, Orlando if you just want to visit the theme parks, and the big cities of the northeast (Washington DC, New York City, etc which have good public transport systems and are connected by Amtrak).

I always base myself around the Garden Grove/Santa Ana area

That's the way I like to work too - but as you say it's not everyone's choice.

bex2002

I have recently stayed in the Lowes in June since the refurb and it is absolutely gorgeous. central to everything. I have done LA by car and public transport and got to see quite a bit using both methods of transport. as smurfy said the warner bros tour is great and would recommend.