Experience Los Angeles - Unveiling the City of Angels

Los Angeles, meaning 'the city of angels' in Spanish, is a renowned tourist destination in California and serves as a convenient starting point for West Coast road trips.

Los Angeles is an excellent entertainment hub in Southern California

Surrounded by mountains, with the ocean on one side and the desert on the other, Los Angeles boasts magnificent natural landscapes. Here, you can surf and ski on the same day, or traverse from the arid desert scenery in the morning to forest hikes in the afternoon. In Los Angeles, you'll experience endless summer, year-round mild climate, perfect for outdoor activities. Moreover, Los Angeles is a unique blend of architecture, diverse cultures, ethnicities, and the foremost entertainment industry. These reasons attract tourists to flock to this Southern California city.

1. Best Time to Visit Los Angeles?

traveling to Los Angeles

Los Angeles boasts a fantastic climate

exploring Los Angeles

Main Attractions in Los Angeles

Los Angeles offers countless things for you to explore. If you enjoy outdoor activities, you can go hiking, biking along the coast, horseback riding, golfing, kayaking, or surfing. For sports enthusiasts, there's basketball, soccer, baseball, and football. If you love the arts, you can visit theaters, famous film studios, museums, and art galleries.

Beaches

Malibu Beach

Los Angeles boasts 75 miles (equivalent to 120km) of coastline, including world-famous beaches in Malibu, Santa Monica, and Venice. You can't visit Los Angeles without hitting a beach. Malibu is home to some of the most picturesque and iconic coastal stretches in the world, especially El Matador Beach - known for its caves, rock formations, and stunning natural pools. There are also many other enticing beaches like Santa Barbara, Laguna, Newport, and Santa Monica.

Museum

As the cultural capital with a diverse population, Los Angeles is home to numerous museums such as the California Science Center, La Brea Tar Pits & Museum, Museum of Latin American Art, Natural History Museum, the Broad, ...However, if you're short on time, you can visit the following two museums:

Established in 1965, LACMA stands as the largest art museum in the American West, housing a collection of over 120,000 artifacts spanning from prehistoric to modern eras. It encompasses Latin American, Islamic, and Asian art, modernist masterpieces, monumental contemporary works, and notably, the famed Instagram hotspot Urban Light, crafted from 202 glowing lamps that dazzle in the evening.

Urban Light, comprised of 202 shimmering lamps, illuminates magnificently at night.

Getty is a world-renowned art museum boasting an extensive collection of Western art from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. Beyond being a museum, it stands as one of Southern California's finest public parks, offering stunning vistas of Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and the surrounding mountains. Additionally, Getty's modern architecture leaves a lasting impression.

Hollywood

- Walk of Fame: This renowned pedestrian walkway is the epitome of stardom, honoring the most iconic figures in the entertainment industry in Hollywood.

The Walk of Fame celebrates renowned stars.

- Chinese Theater: Adorned in the style of a Chinese temple, this theater has hosted countless blockbuster films globally, such as George Lucas's 1977 'Star Wars.' It's also famous for over 200 handprints and footprints of Hollywood's elite in its forecourt.

- Kodak Theater (Dolby Theater): The venue for the Oscar awards ceremony.

Griffith Observatory

Located south of the Hollywood Hills, Griffith Observatory offers panoramic views of Los Angeles. It not only showcases astronomical artifacts but also boasts stunning scenery. The observatory is open from noon to 10 pm Tuesday through Friday, with extended hours on weekends and closed on Mondays. Admission is free, but there's a fee of $3-7 for astronomy-related shows (equivalent to 70,000-165,000 VND). You can also hike to the famous white Hollywood sign from here. Griffith Observatory is also a fantastic spot for sunset viewing in Los Angeles.

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory also offers stunning sunset views in Los Angeles.

Universal and Warner Brother Studios

When traveling to Los Angeles, you'll notice brochures and advertising signs for guided tours to popular attractions like Universal Studios. Universal Studios is an entertainment complex and film studio where you can explore famous movie sets like Jurassic Park and Spider-Man, witness filmmaking special effects, and experience thrilling scenes firsthand.

Unlike Universal Studios, Warner Bros Studio offers visitors the chance to explore their historic film sets in Los Angeles. The Warner Bros Studio tour will take you to admire the scenes used in famous Warner Bros films and TV shows such as 'Casablanca' or 'Friends', especially to the exhibition area with over 400,000 props, costumes, and materials related to the two famous films Batman and Harry Potter. The streets with lifelike model houses are fully furnished like real homes, complete with furniture, water features, parks, churches, restaurants, and theaters inside.

Warner Bros Film Studio

Transportation and Getting Around

Airports

For most travelers, the gateway to Los Angeles is LAX - one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. Additionally, there's John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, Long Beach Airport, LA/Ontario International Airport in Ontario, and Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. None of these airports are located downtown, so you'll need to rent a car or take an Uber with prices ranging from 25 - 50 USD (equivalent to 588,000 - 1,175,000 VND). To find the cheapest flights to any airport, you should use ITASoftware, enter LAX and select all nearby airports (LAX + SNA, LGB, ONT, and BUR), although sometimes you'll fly into and out of Los Angeles from two different airports.

Getting Around Los Angeles

Los Angeles' public transportation system includes Metro bus, DASH bus, and subway, which are easy to use and serve most districts and major attractions. You should purchase a TAP card to use all 3 modes of transportation at subway stations or on buses, and loading money onto it is also extremely easy. One-way fare starts from 1.75 USD (equivalent to 41,000 VND), and there's also a 1-Day Pass for unlimited rides at 7 USD (equivalent to 165,000 VND) and a 7-Day Pass for 25 USD (equivalent to 588,000 VND).

Metro System in Los Angeles

Subway

There are 6 subway lines, including:

Bus

Los Angeles has nearly 200 bus routes serving major destinations, state parks, attractions in the area, and shopping districts. Most buses start running from 4-5 am and end around 7:30 pm to 2 am. Bus schedules and routes may vary on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Therefore, you need to check the information carefully before taking the bus.

Bus Transportation in Los Angeles

DASH Bus

Los Angeles also features the budget-friendly DASH bus system, which operates along 33 routes throughout the city. While the TAP card cannot be used for DASH buses, their fares are very affordable, costing only 0.5 USD (equivalent to 12,000 VND). Here are a few examples of routes:

Taxi

Taxi fares in Los Angeles are quite expensive (starting at 3 USD, equivalent to 70,000 VND, plus an additional 2.7 USD per mile). Especially because Los Angeles is very expansive, traveling by taxi can cost a lot of money. Taxis won't stop if you wave them down on the street, so you have to book in advance.

You can also call Uber or Lyft through the app on your phone, which will be cheaper.

Car Rental

The most convenient option is to rent a self-drive car. However, traffic is often congested during peak hours, so it's best to avoid driving in the morning or evening rush. You can rent a car at the airport or when you enter the city for around 40-60 USD per day (equivalent to 940,000-1,410,000 VND).

Recommended Itinerary

Los Angeles is a vast city with attractions quite far apart. You should try to spend 5-7 days here, but if you can't manage that, 3 days is just enough to visit the main places. Below is a suggested itinerary for 5 days:

You'll visit the Griffith Observatory, Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, Dolby Theater, Hollywood Museum, LACMA art museum, LA Farmers Market & Grove, and shop on Rodeo Drive.

Downtown Los Angeles

Explore the iconic Bradbury Building, The Last Bookstore, Grand Central Market & Angel’s Flight Railway, The Broad contemporary art museum, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Grammy Museum, and OUE SkySpace.

Visit UCLA campus with its beautiful grounds and stop by room 3420 Boelter Hall - where the internet was born, The Getty museum, Santa Monica Pier & Third Street Promenade, Abbot Kinney Boulevard, and Venice Beach.

Drive to Malibu Beach, then cruise along the famed Pacific Coast Highway, stretching from San Diego, through Los Angeles, all the way to San Francisco.

If you've covered all the places you wanted to see, you can venture further out of Los Angeles to explore other intriguing destinations such as:

Joshua Tree National Park

Los Angeles beaches are stunning

Accommodation in Los Angeles

Choosing where to stay in Los Angeles depends on various factors:

Iconic Palm Trees in Los Angeles

There's a wide range of accommodation options in Los Angeles, from budget to luxury hotels, resorts, cheap guesthouses, hostels, motels, Airbnb... Average prices start from $40 per night per person (equivalent to 940,000 VND). You can book directly on websites or apps like Booking, Mytour, Agoda, Hostelworld...

Cuisine - What to Eat in Los Angeles

Los Angeles boasts an incredibly diverse and rich culinary scene with numerous restaurants catering to all budgets, quaint outdoor cafes, and dishes from countries such as Mexico, China, Japan, Ethiopia, South Korea, Italy, Israel, and many more...

If you've never been to Southern California before, you must visit the In-N-Out Burger restaurant. It's a highly popular spot cherished by locals and tourists alike. While it may not be the fanciest dining experience, it's undoubtedly the most iconic spot in Los Angeles.

In-N-Out Burger stands as an iconic destination in Los Angeles.

Estimated expenses for traveling to Los Angeles

On average, the daily expenses in Los Angeles amount to approximately $100 - $160 per person per day (equivalent to 2,350,000 VND to 3,760,000 VND).

This article is a collaboration between Mytour and blogger Trần Hồng Ngọc.
All content and images in the article are owned by Mytour. Please do not copy or use in any form without the consent of Mytour.