LA / Hollywood Question

victor2

Agree with what has been said. Don't bother with LA. SF has so much more to see.
Yosemite is amazing and well worth a trip for a day or two if you can fit it in. I would like to go back there in a different season (we went in September), would prefer that to seeing the Grand Canyon again...

Alan_Bowen

I won't disagree with anyone who says you may be underwhelmed by Hollywood but if you want to go and say you've been, why not? The easiest way is the Flyaway bus direct from the airport terminals every hour at 0015 minutes past the hour, the fare is $8 each way and takes about an hour.

If you want to see somewhere really worth seeing take a flight to San Diego, flying time is around 1hr20 rather than an hour to LAX and see how life should be lived. However the main airlines on the route are United and Southwest rather than American which is where I expect you were going to burn your Avios for your flights to LAX

cottyh24

Unlike many on here, I like LA however I'd have to agree with them that there are better places you could visit. San Diego is a good suggestion - it's much smaller than LA and you can get a good sense of the place in a day. Our first visit was a day trip - we went back the following year for a longer stay as we really liked the place. If you do go there, Coronado and Old Town San Diego are both worth a visit.

Whilst I like LA, I'm madly in love with San Francisco and cannot wait to go back. Do you have space in your suitcase? :-)

TBeckett100

When I told people I was going to Hollywood, they told me it was a dump

When I got there, I realised it was a dump. So many drug addicts, alcoholics etc it was a culture shock having just come from SF. I would really really reconsider reducing time in SF to go there. The shops sell tat and it doesn't feel safe.

I would only visit again to go back to do the studio tours and to enjoy the garlic bread at Smokehouse Restaurant in Burbank which is George Clooney's favourite place

John259

Here's another idea: Disneyland.

LAX to Disneyland is about 35 miles of often congested freeways each way, but instead of LAX you could fly to John Wayne Orange County Airport (about 15 miles from Disneyland) or Long Beach Airport (about 14 miles).

Here's an article that includes some information about getting from those airports to Disneyland: http://wikitravel.org/en/Disneyland

I've checked that you can get flights from San Francisco to those airports but I haven't investigated flight timings or costs.

growler834

I agree with the comments re Hollywood Boulevard (and the rest of LA to be truthful). We go to SF regularly & do a different side trip every time. The day trip to Yosemite is well worth trying. Also an overnighter in the Monterey/Pacific Grove area is not to missed. Or how about (for wine lovers) going up to the Sonoma wine region & take in the Bodega Bay area at the same time (where Hitchcock's The Birds & John Travolta's Phenomenon were filmed).

agrinnall

You might want to see if there are any flights to Bob Hope airport in Burbank, I'd imagine it will be a lot less hassle than using LAX.

duchy

Personally I wouldn't bother but leave it til your next trip and book a UK LAX and SFO UK flight and make LA your first night stop before flying up to SFO.

Least hassled and reasonable way to see LA would be to start at the Chinese theatre and pick up one of the open top single deck tour buses as they pass most of the sights on the should see sight list on the Tour of the Stars Homes hour. I loathe LA in general but enjoyed doing it this way. You may be able to book this tour with a feeder bus picking up from a LAX airport hotel so you could leave your luggage in storage at the hotel and pick it up at the end of your tour and fly on up to SF the same evening so just one night needed in LA on your day of arrival.

If you still want to do it mid stay then look at flights into Burbank rather than LAX -it is much closer.

Both Long Beach and Burbank airports are tiny compared to LAX (think London City airport size) and far nicer to travel through than LAX which is huge and horrible.

Bri1

If you have a car just drive straight down the Freeway, Hollywood is North of LA & you would be in your exact location & be able to travel around the area as well, the Griffith observatory (at the far end of Hollywood Blvd) before & after Sunset gives you great views of Hollywood & LA Day & lit up at night, but really a bit too much for a day trip an overnight at least would be more viable, Hollywood isn't as sleazy as it used to be, but be aware of colourful characters looking out to make a few $ out of gullible tourists

davetrousers

The car journey between SF and LA is a better reason to do this trip!

Take in places such as Monterrey and Carmel, Santa Cruz and Morro Bay whilst Enjoying Highway 1 and also consider visiting Solvang for a couple of hours too.

Then maybe on the return leg spend time in Sequoia and Yosemite.

Mind you this is pretty much a whole holiday!