1trainer1

Hi,

im going to have 3 nights in Los angeles as a quick transfer in May and was wondering two things.

1, where is a good place to stay in Los angeles? it is going to be me and my father who is getting close to 60.

2, where are good places to go and good things to do for the three days?

Thanks

dogmom11

Definitely check out one of the world's most interesting airport bars--Encounter is actually across the street from LAX beside a parking structure. Here's a link to a recent blog piece I wrote w/photos. Have a great trip.

SkiAdcock

With all due respect to Encounter, there are better things you can do in 3 days in LA , although it might be worth stopping by for a drink before heading back to the UK.

To the OP, first, welcome to FT!

Second, I'd recommend doing a search on this forum (search upper right corner) or just pull up threads from the last several months (lower left, switch it from last 10 days to last several months & then click on show threads. A quick perusal of thread titles will show threads of people who had similar questions & which we provided info in those threads. That should give you a lot of info on possible things to do/see, and if you have additional questions you can then post those.

Third, provide a bit more info re: yourself/dad, what types of things you're interested in, budget range for hotel, if you'll have a car (necessary in LA), etc.

Enjoy your upcoming trip. Cheers.

mlshanks

While they are both good questions...

Let's counter with a few better ones....

What are you and your dad's passions?
What do you and he like to do?
Are you comfortable driving on the other side?

1trainer1

not going to be driving, we like visiting landmarks and taking lots of photos of interesting places, trying to create memories

trooper

From one foreigner to another..........LA might be difficult without driving.....

The good news is, with a bit of sensible timing/planning it isn't that bad to drive in anyway... IMO...

1trainer1

would you mind me asking how big is LA, where is somewhere central that I can stay so im not too far out of the centre near hollywood hills, also do they have a good bus service?

thanks in advance

UNITED959

L.A. is huge -- I mean it. And that's what makes a car so necessary -- there really isn't a true city center like London, NYC, Chicago, Hong Kong, etc. It's a collection of cities and neighborhoods all somehow covered by the name "Los Angeles."

Public transportation is horrible (it's really quite embarrassing, actually, given the importance of the city and being the second largest in the U.S.) -- although there are some train lines and buses.

1trainer1

what about the prices in taxis? how do people get around if they cant drive?

VA1379

There is some public transportation, but it is quite inconvenient. I recently returned from a trip to Los Angeles, and I have to say that a rental car is a lot cheaper than using cabs. A 3 day car rental for me came out to about $134, taxes included. I brought my own GPS to use and rented a Prius to save on gas. Cab fares will depend on traffic, and I am not too fond of sitting in traffic and watching the meter go up.

LA is not like Chicago and NYC where it is easy to hail a cab off the street. Almost everyone who can drive has a car, and those who cannot drive have to rely on public transportation and budget extra time for travel. This post has more info on why it is hard to get around metro LA by using public transportation. Metro LA is around 1700 square miles, which is an larger area than the state of Rhode Island (the smallest state in the United States).

I would recommend a visit to the Getty Center. It is closed on Mondays and open until 9 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is free, and parking costs $8. You could easily spend a day here taking in the art and strolling the grounds of the museum.

If you are not going to rent a car, you should stay a hotel near LAX that has a free shuttle to and from the airport. This will also make it easier for you to access public transportation. I stay at the Renaissance LAX when I visit LA because it is soundproof and the concierge lounge is open every day.

It should not be too hard to visit Santa Monica from an LAX hotel with public transit. That city is quite walkable, and there are a lot of restaurants, beaches, and shops to visit.

mlshanks

Compare it to London... Most of the London metropolitan area lies within a 15-20 mile circle centered upon Charing Cross. By contrast, the Los Angeles metropolitan area, measured from city hall downtown, sprawls 40- 50 miles SE to Newport Beach and Mission Viejo, wraps up the coast to Malibu & Thousand Oaks on the West (25-35 miles), fills the San Fernando Valley and pushes fingers into the mountians of Angeles Crest to the north up to Castaic & Sand Canyon (30-35 miles) and then expands east along the foothills & inland valleys to San Bernardino & Riverside to the East (nearly 60 miles).

To put it in persepctive, the greater LA area covers 3-4 times the area of the greater London area...with only a third more people living there (9.3 vs. 12.9 million)...moreover, it is much less focused on a specific urban center. Additionally, where the London area is nearly flat, with the Thames providing the only geographic complication to transit planning... Los Angeles area is divided by what would be major mountians in Britian... Heck, the Hollywood Hills soar to over 1600 feet elevation, over city hall and Hollywood Blvd which are about 300 feet above sea level.

**********************************************

Public transit in Los Angeles, while not *quite* as bad as suggested by the previous comments, is not up to the standards of anyone used to dealing with the urban centers of the EU. On the other hand, you might be suprised by the quite reasonable price... Airport "FlyAway" express busses to several key points around town (Van Nuys, UCLA, Union Station) cost a mere $4.00; a Metro day-pass allowing nearly unlimited use of Metro Busses & light rail trains cost only $5.00. While much of the outlying bus service is porvided by a scattering of independent municipalities and counties, each requiring a seperate fare, the cost is equally low... By contrast, Taxis are *NOT* reasonable..with fares from LAX to downtown a flat $42.00, and other rates including a $2.65 flag-drop + $2.45 per mile (+ $2.50 additional for airport pickup, w/ a $15.00 minimum) You should become familliar with the Metro website, which has a lot of good routing tools and tips avalible for your use.

If I were confining myself to public transit, and wanted to see Hollywood and a few highpoints of LA; I might think about making a hotel in Universal City or Hollywood my base for this trip. Universal City has both a Sheraton & Hilton a short distance from the Metro Red Line tube station w/ shuttle service, a more modest Holiday Inn is only a few blocks further w/o the shuttle.

UNITED959

They probably live in more urban areas like SF, NYC, and Chicago.

It's no joke when people say that residents of L.A. are married to their cars.

1trainer1

to say im dissapointed is an understatement, oh well if iv gotta hire a car then so be it, just hope that hotel parkin will be free or included in the price i pay for the hotel( another thing I havent found yet) Im not going to let anything put me off but maybe should have thought more about it.

as long as I have stellite navigation I will be fine

Thanks for all your tips

trooper

The statistic that gets the size of LA across best to Aussies is this..

The "greater LA area" has a larger population.... than Australia.

I have never tried to navigate LA except by car... sorry..

UNITED959

Most hotel websites indicate if they charge for parking.