Los Angeles - Advice on place to stay for Shopping and Disneyland

Hi,

I will be visiting LA in early April (8~13 April) for 6 days with my mum.

Need an advice on area to stay wih good access to Disneyland and Shopping (eg. Macys, Marshalls or even outlet malls).

Cheers,
SL :)

Will you have a car?

No. Probably walking or by public transport.

Stay somewhere in the Orange County area.

6 days in LA without a car and relying on public transportation or walking means a lot of wasted time IMHO.

Here's a mall worth considering, see what bus lines serve it, they may also run near Disneyland.

http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=1236

Thanks for the suggestion.

I am from Singapore and never tried left-hand drive before.
Thus not sure and confident, if I can get used to driving in LA.

:confused:

There will be plenty of other cars going in the same direction, you should be fine :D.

6 days in LA is a little long without a car but possible. You have to be really careful where you stay if you want to rely on public transportation.

If your stay near Disneyland you won't be able to visit many other attractions in the LA area without a rental car because public transportation from Orange County is lacking.

Here is my suggestion... stay in Downtown LA or Hollywood area, which can be easily done without a rental car. You can get around with a combination of subway, bus, and the occasional taxi ride without any difficulty. And make a day trip to Disneyland, either by rental car or bus (Metro 460 takes you from Downtown LA to Disney front entrance).

http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/bus_overview/images/460.pdf

http://www.metro.net/around/maps

OP,

Consider getting over the don't want to drive thing. REALLY hard to get around S.Cal without your own car.

If you just can't do the driving then I agree with the stay in L.A. are and take a day trip to Disneyland (could stay over a night or two at the Disneyland Hotel which has a direct connection via monorail to the Park).

In L.A. area, consider staying in Beverly Hills which is more or less walkable. The Beverly Wilshire is very central. http://www.fourseasons.com/beverlywilshire/. Do not stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel without a car and do not consider staying in downtown L.A. which is a dump.

Santa Monica would also be a good choice if you get a place near the Third Street Promenade shopping area (Santa Monica Blvd and Third Street is the center of this shopping street).

...and do not consider staying in downtown L.A. which is a dump.

I gather that you have not been there is a while and are not familiar with L. A. Live (http://lalive.com/).

Since no one else has mentioned it, I will.

Disneyland is not in LA. It is in Anaheim, a city in Orange County that, on a good day, i.e. no traffic, is 45 minutes from LA. On a bad day, e.g. rush hour (which is from 6 am to 10 am, and 3 pm to 7 pm) it can take up to 3 hours. Add more time if there's an accident on the freeways. And that's by car.

There are a couple of malls very close to Disneyland, and the Citadel Outlets are on Interstate 5 roughly 2/3rds of the way to Los Angeles from Anaheim. However, without a car, your stay is going to be far, far more difficult.

Depnding on how much time you want to spend at DL I'd break your trip into two stays one, in LA and one at DL.

I gather that you have not been there is a while and are not familiar with L. A. Live (http://lalive.com/).

You gather wrong. I was there yesterday. Still a dump.

Compare downtown L.A. to S.F. Union Square, Chicago Michigan Ave. or Manhattan and it comes up real short. There are nice areas in L.A., downtown is not one of them. I feel sorry for the tourists I see wandering around the Bonaventure area at night looking for something to do.

By the way, L.A. Live is not really in downtown.

Citadel Outlets are on Interstate 5 roughly 2/3rds of the way to Los Angeles from Anaheim. However, without a car, your stay is going to be far, far more difficult.

I wouldn't even think about going to the Citadel area without a car. Not the best area, to say the least. With a car it is doable.

By the way, L.A. Live is not really in downtown.

Of course it is. Downtown Los Angeles is roughly bordered by the Santa Monica Freeway on the south, the Harbor Freeway on the west, the Cesar Chavez Avenue on the north and Alameda Street on the east (map (http://www.downtownla.com/0_0_dcbid_map.asp)).

I also would not consider the new Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels at the L.A. Live to be dumps.

The New York Times disagrees with you on the merits of spending time downtown.

36 Hours in Downtown Los Angeles (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/travel/20hours-los-angeles.html)
THE sprawl, the scale, all that freeway time — for many, Los Angeles is an acquired taste. But not downtown. New York-like in its density and mishmash, the long-blighted center has become an accessible, pedestrian-friendly destination in recent years; Angelenos walk around en masse, using their actual legs. The immense L.A. Live entertainment complex is largely responsible for this comeback, but the studiously vintage bars and imaginative restaurants that seem to open every other day are also part of the revival.

N. Y. Times map of recommendations (http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/02/20/travel/20hoursmap_sub.html)

Another site with suggestions for downtown activities is Downtownlawalks.com (http://www.downtownlawalks.com/index.php).

Hi,

Thanks for all the advice.

Will probably take a land tour from taketours.com to visit LA / LV / SFO,
and finally maybe just 4 days at Disneyland area for Disneyland visit.

Will get a car then, to go to malls and outlet.
I read about the Block at Orange so will probably drop by.

:)

Hi,

Thanks for all the advice.

Will probably take a land tour from taketours.com to visit LA / LV / SFO,
and finally maybe just 4 days at Disneyland area for Disneyland visit.

Will get a car then, to go to malls and outlet.
I read about the Block at Orange so will probably drop by.

:)I'm a little curious what you mean by, "land tour." Las Vegas is 270 miles from Los Angeles. By car, it takes about 4-1/2 hours to drive and, provided you don't go there on a Friday afternoon or evening, or return on a Sunday afternoon or evening, the drive can be reasonably pleasant through interesting scenery. Los Angeles to San Francisco is about a 7-hour drive and, if you go via the 1 or the 101, goes through some very pretty areas with interesting places to stop (never go via the 5). However, I couldn't imagine doing this by bus which, I think, would be more of an ordeal than a vacation.

Hi

I booked a local tour from www.taketours.com for 10 days from LAX.
Will visit SFO/LV/LA.

Thus the remaining days of 4 days, will just look around and visit Disneyland again and some more shopping.

Cheers

Stay somewhere in the Orange County area.

6 days in LA without a car and relying on public transportation or walking means a lot of wasted time IMHO.

Here's a mall worth considering, see what bus lines serve it, they may also run near Disneyland.

http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=1236

There are large malls just about everywhere in southern Calif. Unless you are looking for something like Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, I agree with the above that you should stay near Disneyland if you plan a couple of days there. We had a good stay at the Sheraton Anaheim - they have a shuttle to the park every 30 minutes.

The Block has pretty much broken down.

IMO, the two best malls in Orange County are Fashion Island in Newport Beach, possibly the most beautiful outdoor mall in the US with it's ocean views and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa which has more 'high end' stores than Rodeo Drive (if that's what you are looking for).

Both are about an easy 20 minute drive from Anaheim.

www.shopfashionisland.com
www.southcoastplaza.com

The Block has pretty much broken down.

IMO, the two best malls in Orange County are Fashion Island in Newport Beach, possibly the most beautiful outdoor mall in the US with it's ocean views and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa which has more 'high end' stores than Rodeo Drive (if that's what you are looking for).

Both are about an easy 20 minute drive from Anaheim.

www.shopfashionisland.com
www.southcoastplaza.comI agree with you. South Coast Plaza is the mecca for high-end shopping, and is a destination for many foreign tourists. Fashion Island, while still high-end, is a little less pricey. I would note that both are also home to some very good "fine dining" restaurants.

T
IMO, the two best malls in Orange County are Fashion Island in Newport Beach, possibly the most beautiful outdoor mall in the US with it's ocean views and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa which has more 'high end' stores than Rodeo Drive (if that's what you are looking for).



You may be correct that they have more 'high end' stores than rodeo drive, but if you count the other streets in Beverly Hills: Canon, Beverly, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Dayton, and Camden, there are definitely more high end places in Beverly Hills than the malls in Orange County

You may be correct that they have more 'high end' stores than rodeo drive, but if you count the other streets in Beverly Hills: Canon, Beverly, Wilshire, Santa Monica, Dayton, and Camden, there are definitely more high end places in Beverly Hills than the malls in Orange County

I spent 5 years working in Beverly Hills and, honestly, I loved it. Most of the locations you mention were within walking distance of my office and most days I walked to restaurants for lunch or dinner or shopped after work. It was then, and is still, a very nice area.

At that time, SC Plaza was growing it's location and, today, I still think that it has more 'high end stores' than Beverly Hills. Throw in Fashion Island and Orange County Malls have a very good cache.

If you want to consider Westminster Mall or the Stores at Mission Viejo, that's not what I was speaking about anymore than you were talking about Glendale Gallaria or the Pasadena Mall.