California - Your suggestions for a 11 days trip to LA ?

Hello ..

My wife and I will be in the USA for our honeymoon :)

11 days will be in CA. Our plan is to have them all in LA. We thought about SFO but we decided not to visit it since we think that we need the time for LA.

So, Last time i been to LA was when I was 14 years old and I don't remember it very well. I find it to be not an easy task to plan for LA due to its different counties and cities.

When i start to plan, i see all these different cities and i cant decide the best plan. For example, Hollywood, Beverly Hells , Santa Monica , Irvine , Anaheim , Huntington Beach .. etc :confused:

We want [shopping, beaches , entertainment and restaurants] , all the different cities are known for different things..

I will be glad if you can suggest a plan that satisfies the time limit and our needs, and if you can recommend any thing.

Thank you so much !

I would spend at least 7-8 days in the area between Monterey and Santa Barbara - including Big Sur, Wine Country, beaches, Hearst Castle, Carmel, etc.

If I had kids, I'd also do Disneyland. If I had never been there before, I would also spend some time at the Getty Museum, Hollywood, and Universal Studios. But frankly, that could be done in 2-3 days. I would spend the rest of my time outside of L.A. Personally, I have very little use for L.A. itself.

11 days solely in the LA area is a bit much. Include Santa Barbara (at least for a day trip or better yet 2) and San Diego (2-3 days) and I think you'll have a much better time than hanging around LA for a week and a half. What time of year are you going also as that can make a bit of a difference?

I woudl spend 2 to three days in each of the following-

Srat with one of these- Summer trip- Santa Barbara Winter trip- Palm Springs
Hollywood
Anaheim (with one day in Newport beach if in the summer) if you really don't like theme parks you could skip this, but for myself two adult days at Disneyland would be fun.
San Diego

When are you going? The time of year makes a difference in what I might suggtest (e.g., Channel Islands, beaches in the summer; desert, mountains in the winter).

It appears you are using the term L.A. to encompass a great deal of Southern California, not just the City of Los Angeles or even the wider County of Los Angeles (e.g., Disneyland is in Orange County). I am from L.A. and still agree that 11 days is a bit much unless you really have lots of places in mind and want to see it in depth. But it appears you haven't decided just what you want to see, even though you think you'll need 11 days. I would seriously suggest looking at a detailed guide book to the area. Considering the amount of time and money you're going to devote, it would be money well-spent. Do come back and ask detailed questions about what you've found. Only you know exactly what you'd find interesting. Also critical is whether you'll have a car.

I also agree that, offhand, you have plenty of time to see both San Francisco and Los Angeles. If you don't want to take the time to drive down the coast (a lovely drive, and quite enjoyable, depending on the season), you can get a quick and relatively inexpensive flight to L.A. (or Orange County airport if you want to see Disneyland first), or even take Amtrak's Coast Starlight train (which is on the coast only from about San Luis Obispo to Ventura). San Francisco is a relatively compact city and easy to get around by public transit. If you spent 3 days there and then went to LA, you'd have time to see many highlights of SF and the L.A. area. You could even, as suggested, see nearby coastal cities such as Santa Barbara (we spent our wedding night at the Santa Barbara Inn).

By the way, if you do an Internet search on shopping Los Angeles (and other cities you'll visit in the area) and variations of that, you'll get lots of info on shopping malls, outlet shopping, discount shopping areas such as the Fashion District in downtown L.A., etc. Just saying "shopping and restaurants" is way, way too broad without giving some details of your interests and budget (and specifying your mode of transport-- absolutely critical in making suggestions for the area).

If you have not already consulted the Los Angeles sub-forum, you should...

Especially the Consolidated Information threads like:

Los Angeles 101: What You Must Know When Visiting LA
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=823465

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++

I'd agree with my fellow LA folks...
What are you & your intended's interests?
What time of year are you visiting?
How wide is your notion of LA and how much driving are you interested in/willing to do?

11 days in LA may just be fine if you don't plan on much but mauling a mattress and occasional languid days by the pool/beach... Or you two may be bored stiff after a long weekend. :rolleyes: You might want to trip locally to Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, or San Diego... Or even take a few days to hit San Francisco or Las Vegas.

http://www.losangeles.com/shopping/

http://www.latourist.com/index.php?page=shopping-center-links

http://dailytrojan.com/2009/11/10/offbeat-bus-tours-uncover-the-esoteric-side-of-la/ (I haven't taken one of their tours, but they sound interesting)

I disagree completely that you have enough time to go to San Francisco. I would stick to the L.A. area, with maybe a couple days in San Diego. If you feel the need to venture out, a nice trip up the Coast through Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo (making sure to be there on a Thursday night for Farmer's Market) and maybe to Hearst Castle is another couple of days. You could do off-the-beaten path things in L.A. County and have a great time there for more than a week. PM me if you decide to go to the Central Coast (Santa Barbara to Monterey) and need ideas.

I would definitely recommend splitting the time between LA and San Francisco. What the OP has identified as "cities" in the LA area, while, technically cities, are, in reality, merely large neighborhoods. There's not that much in LA that I would consider "must see," or "unique." I do recommend making reservations for the studio tour at either Paramount or Burbank Studios for anyone with even a slight interest in how films are made. I don't recommend the Universal Studios, which has virtually nothing to do with how films are made, unless someone is really a theme park aficionado. For museum goers, I recommend that Getty Villa (for the location, not the collection) and LACMA, which is a wonderful, world-class museum.

Most tourists like to see Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and Mann's Chinese Theater (formerly Grauman's Chinese) in Hollywood. Note that there is nothing of the movie industry for tourists to see in Hollywood except for Paramount which has a studio tour that requires advance reservations. There are a few studios still in Hollywood, e.g. Sunset/Gower, but they're not open to the public and all you will see are large blank walls.

Venice Beach is worth a visit if you'd like to see some of the weirder aspects of southern California culture. Griffith Park Observatory has a small but interesting science museum and a fantastic location that, on a clear day, encompasses the entire LA Basin vista, from downtown to the Pacific Ocean. There's also a hiking trail behind it that goes up into the Hollywood Hills.

One thing that might be fun is going to Sunset Ranch, renting horses, and riding the well-marked trail up and over the Hollywood Hills and into the San Fernando Valley. The trail ends at a Mexican restaurant where you can "park" your horse and have dinner. I've only done it once, many years ago (it's a well-known fact that horses are notoriously anti-semitic) but it was an interesting experience.

Assuming Days 1 and 11 are travel days for the most part...
Day 1: Santa Monica Pier
Day 2: Rodeo Drive and Hollywood etc.
Day 3: Venice Beach
Day 4: Disneyland
Day 5-7: Santa Barbara
Day 8-9: San Diego
Day 10: Downtown/Other
Day 11: Travel

Hope this helps. :)

Assuming Days 1 and 11 are travel days for the most part...
Day 1: Santa Monica Pier
Day 2: Rodeo Drive and Hollywood etc.
Day 3: Venice Beach
Day 4: Disneyland
Day 5-7: Santa Barbara
Day 8-9: San Diego
Day 10: Downtown/Other
Day 11: Travel


Is there a particular reason you suggested 2 additional and unnecessary trips across the LA basin? (Disneyland - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara - San Diego) Hint:

Day 1: Venice Beach/Santa Monica Pier
Day 2: Rodeo Drive & Getty Museum
Day 3-5: Santa Barbara (drive up via PCH to Ventura w/ stop off a Camarillo Outlets)(Day 4 = wine country tour)
Day 6 : Hollywood Blvd & (Studio tour or TV audience)
Day 7 : Downtown (ethnic enclaves like Little Tokyo, Chinatown, Koreatown)
Day 8: Disneyland
Day 9-10 San Diego
Day 11: return to LAX & travel

Is there a particular reason you suggested 2 additional and unnecessary trips across the LA basin? (Disneyland - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara - San Diego)

I would imagine that it is to insure that the OP receives an authentic L.A. experience - which one can not truly have without killing a substantial amount of time going nowhere stuck in traffic on the I-5 (or the 405, or the 10, or the 605, or the 101 etc., etc.)

What about the drive up along PCH through Malibu? The section between Santa Monica and Pepperdine is beautiful.

You can also add in a section to spend some time in Marina Del Rey. Watching the sailboats go in and out on a weekend is a very relaxing activity. While in that area, don't forget to try out the Kurobata Pork Belly sandwiches at Mendocino Farms! :)

Is there a particular reason you suggested 2 additional and unnecessary trips across the LA basin? (Disneyland - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara - San Diego) Hint:

I would imagine that it is to insure that the OP receives an authentic L.A. experience - which one can not truly have without killing a substantial amount of time going nowhere stuck in traffic on the I-5 (or the 405, or the 10, or the 605, or the 101 etc., etc.)

Honestly, I did not even realize that until it was pointed out! And yes, what's LA without being stuck in traffic? You mean to tell me that people try to avoid it? :D

Honestly, I did not even realize that until it was pointed out! And yes, what's LA without being stuck in traffic? You mean to tell me that people try to avoid it? :D

Bring on the traffic! Enjoy your fave radio station, and stare into eachothers eyes when you're sitting still for minutes at a time.

We just finished up an 11 day trip to LAX.. and 3 days we spent in San Fran..

Hearst Castle, San Francisco Deluxe city tour, Alcatraz (book 3 weeks in advance).. and Disneyland.. Highly recommended..

If you've got time, pick up a City Pass.. at Costco for $249, you get 3 days Disneyland, 1 day Universal, 1 day Sea World, and your choice of admission to the San Diego zoo..