That LA Feeling!
Los Angeles is not just a city in southern California–it’s the place where dreams come true i.e., in case you want to become a star. From being the home of glittering movie stars and the home of Hollywood, LA has it all. Beaches, architectural gems, film studios–this city is unlike what anybody has ever seen. LA is massive and if you are on a short stay, it is difficult to see it all. So here are 10 of the best places to visit in Los Angeles for you to have the ultimate experience.
- Downtown, Los Angeles
- Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood, Los Angeles
- Griffith Observatory,
- The Grove & the Original Farmers Market
- Hollywood Sign
- Universal Studios
- Beverly Hills
- Museums of Lacma, The Broad, Getty
- Venice Beach, Canals
- Santa Monica Pier, Pacific Park, Downtown Santa Monica
Downtown LA
Downtown is the business and residential district filled with interesting neighborhoods and attractions. The most beautiful part of downtown is the populated, diverse, and dynamic Financial district. With numerous restaurants, libations, and shopping options it is the epitome of pleasure. Being the center of the regional Metro rail system it has a good transport system for intercity travel.
Visit the Trinity church of Broadway to get a holistic experience and observe the Anglican tradition. To get a rich cultural experience visit Little Tokyo, Chinatown, or Arts District. If you love to witness the history of Los Angeles, visit Olvera Street located close to the 19th-century Los Angeles Plaza that reveals the oldest part of Los Angeles.
Feel your love for books at Grand Central Market, a 30,000 sq. ft. arcade that also offers a unique food emporium operating ever since it opened in 1917. If you claim to be a foodie, reveal your love of Greater Los Angeles which offers plenty of fantastic food options from all over the world. From fancy dining establishments to famous hot dogs or taco trucks you will get everything here.
Visit the Angels Flight outside the Grand Central Market to take the fun of a train ride with your children. It’s supposed to be the World’s shortest railway with 298 feet inclination. Give your eyes some relief with the greenery of Downtown L.A. at Pershing Square with fantastic views towards the skyscrapers, or lush Grand Park, located right in front of the iconic Los Angeles City Hall.
Walk around the historic Broadway theater district. Admire architectural marvels around Downtown like The Walt Disney Concert Hall designed by Frank Gehry or the neighboring contemporary art museum – The Broad.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Enjoy the endless entertainment of Hollywood across Hollywood Boulevard, a major street in the city and one of the must-see places to visit in Los Angeles. It is home to several famous attractions. Hollywood Walk of Fame features over 2,600 stars embedded in the sidewalks along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. The stars are permanent public monuments to achievements in the entertainment industry. Recognize some popular actors, directors, musicians, producers, and fictional characters from their name-bearing stars. Have fun with a long walk over the street.
There are many other things to do on Hollywood Boulevard like the Museum of Illusions, Madame Tussauds, Museum of Death and others. Surprise your eyes with the vision of funeral art and antique mortuary equipment, to serial killer memorabilia and images of real-life executions at the Museum of Death of Hollywood. The price to enter is about $17. Have some fun with your children spending an hour at the Museum of Illusions which offers two sections of illusions and youbare. Visit Madame Tussauds to see the wax sculptures and learn how they all were created and preserved for years.
Griffith Observatory
Griffith Observatory is Southern California’s gateway to the cosmos as it offers breathtaking views of Downtown Los Angeles and the Hollywood Sign. It features an extensive list of space and science-related displays, including a Tesla coil designed by inventor Nikola Tesla in 1891. Admission has been free ever since the observatory opened its doors to the public in 1935. The view of the city from Griffith Observatory can be even more fascinating in the evening.
Watch live shows in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium and visit the Los Angeles Zoo for half a day. Enjoy the Hollywood night tour with Griffith Observatory. Visit the observatory about an hour before sunset. The picturesque sites you see are out of this world, making it one of the places to visit in Los Angeles that you simply cannot miss.
The Grove
The Grove of Los Angeles is a world-famous original farmers market that originally started as a dairy farm, Gilmore Oil Company. The market now consists of over 100 gourmet groceries, trendy shops, and restaurants and has been a favorite place to shop and eat among locals and tourists since 1934.
Enjoy the scenic beauty at Sleeping Beauty Mountain Range Lookout Point and green Lendonwood Gardens, and explore Willie Smith’s Apple Museum. You can enjoy fishing, boating, tubing, swimming and many more activities at Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees.
If you love art, then you must visit Brush and Palette Gallery and gamers can spend wonderful days at Grand Lake Casino which offers 45,000 square feet of gaming and live entertainment. For antiques, furniture, collectibles, home decor, and crafts visit the Copeland Switch shop at Grove, Los Angeles. If you love shopping areas and are a foodie as well, don’t forget to visit The Grove – a shopping and dining complex that mixes retail, eateries, and entertainment, located on the former orchard and nursery complex.
HOLLYWOOD Sign
The Hollywood Sign is the next item on our best places to visit in Los Angeles list. Situated on Mount Lee in the Beachwood Canyon area of the Santa Monica Mountains, is one of the world’s most famous landmarks. “Hollywood ” is spelled out in 45-foot-tall white capital letters and is 352 feet long. The sign was created in 1923 as an advertisement for a local real estate agency and initially read as HOLLYWOODLAND. Later, due to increasing recognition, it was left in its current form.
The HOLLYWOOD sign is best viewed from Griffith Observatory and Hollywood & Highland. Enjoy hiking on the trails of mountains with amazing panoramic views of Los Angeles.
Universal Studios
Universal Studios Hollywood, Los Angeles is a film studio and a theme park as well. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. The park was initially created to offer tours of the entire Universal Studios set. Visit Universal Studios Hollywood to witness the movie-making madness.
Here you can experience rides and visit film sets of some of your favorite movies like Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future and many more. The ticket price to enter the set varies day by day. There are also other amusement parks in L.A. and its surroundings where you can spend half a day.
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills above Sunset Boulevard of Los Angeles was originally a Spanish ranch where lima beans were grown. It was incorporated in 1914 by a group of investors who had failed to find oil but found water. So later they decided to develop it into a town. Today it’s one of the world’s most famous upscale places to live and shop.
Enjoy shopping for beautiful designer clothes at Rodeo Drive, a famous shopping street with expensive designer stores and small private boutiques. It became famous for Julia Roberts’ “Pretty Woman” shopping spree. The area is popular with wealthy shoppers, sunglass-wearing celebrities, and tourists hoping to see fashion icons. Find out the most expensive store in the World “Bijan” here.
Museums
Los Angeles is home to over 800 museums and art galleries each of which can amuse you with their unique presentation. Visit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or LACMA to watch the famous urban light assemblage sculpture composed of 202 streetlamps.
Have a visit to the Broad Museum, a museum of contemporary art. It is home to nearly 2,000 works in the Broad collection by more than 200 artists and is one of the world’s leading art collections. Spend two hours visiting this large museum of postwar and contemporary art. Witness the amazing art of Barbara Kruger, 1989 (Your body is a battleground), Ed Ruscha, 2011 (DIDN’T DO NOTHING), Hank Willis Thomas, 2022 (We shall not be moved), Ellsworth Kelly, 1968 (Blue Red), Andy Warhol, 1962 and many more artists.
J. Paul Getty Museum, or The Getty, is an art museum with amazing views of Los Angeles. Visit Getty Villa, displaying art from Ancient Greece, Rome, and other eras. Los Angeles is also home and creative hub to numerous artists like Carmen Argote, Jonas Wood, and Candice Lin and small galleries like “Artspace Warehouse”, “7811 Gallery”, “The Box”, “Gallery 1988”, “Craft Contemporary” and “The Hive Gallery”.
Venice Beach
Venice is a residential, commercial, and recreational beach for the neighborhood. Starting as a seaside resort town it has been transformed into a free-spirited boardwalk and residential area over the years. It takes half an hour by car to reach Venice Beach from Los Angeles.
Explore the funky shops, imaginative street performers, and public art at VeniBeachach, or rent a bike or an electric scooter and go for a ride along the beach. Play some sports in one of many public areas, like Muscle Beach outdoor gym, or sit in the sand and enjoy the vibe of sea breeze and waves. Los Angeles is famous for its beautiful sandy beaches and piers. Enjoy surfing, sailing, or boating. There’s something enjoyable for everyone in Los Angeles so don’t forget to explore the surroundings.
You can also visit the Venice canals nearby which were created in the early 20th century to mimic the famous canals in Venice, Italy. If you love shopping visit the clothing stores, home goods stores, and gift shops at Abbot Kinney Boulevard.
Santa Monica Pier
Santa Monica Pier, regarded as one of the best places to visit in Los Angeles, is a large double-jointed and over 100 years old pier, located at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica. The iconic entrance made the pier popular with both residents and tourists. A sign on the pier marks the end of the legendary American highway Route 66, symbolizing that this road only ended at the seashore.
Enjoy sport fishing, boating, and a drink at cafes at Santa Monica Pier. Enjoy the amusement of Pacific Park with your family. It features a solar paneled Ferrie wheel also. Go for a long walk along 3rd Street Promenade, a pedestrian mall walkway which is a dining and entertainment complex in downtown Santa Monica. Observe nature and enjoy the amazing views during sunset at Tongva Pawhichhat is named after the indigenous Tongva people of Los Angeles.
Though it is lovely to visit the Santa Monica Pier, a problem with this place is the tourist crowd that you can not avoid but it is less at night. So the best time to visit here is at night with the nostalgic view of shimmering lights against the ocean backdrop. It takes at least two hours to visit the pier and surrounding area.
Explore Echo Park in Los Angeles if you love nature. It is home to beautiful Echo Park Lake wilushash vegetation, lotus flower beds, wild geese, and swans. You can also rent a swan boat and pedal around this beautiful lake, which offers amazing views of the park and downtown Los Angeles.
To sum it up…
Though there are many places in Los Angeles to visit, lifestyle, cost of living, transportation and accommodation facilities are not the same everywhere and for everyone.
The best way to get around in Los Angeles is by car. You can rent a car and travel around the city.Bus to travel from and To the Airport. You can also use shuttle service, Uber/Lyft, Shared Ride Shuttles, and taxis for the same purpose.
The weather is pleasant but the warmest months of Los Angeles are July-September with average temperature in August nearly 29°C. Winter months are wetter, especially February with the average high temperature and nearly 20°C and low temperature about 9°C during the day. Smog is a common phenomenon in L.A.
Koreatown (or Ktown), situated west of Downtown LA offers the best affordability and central location is Los Angeles. Five safe, affordable neighborhoods of Los Angeles are Encino, Los Feliz, Mar Vista, Playa Vista, and Porter Ranch.
Cheeseburgers and fries, Tacos, Chilli Cheese, Hot dogs, Pastrami sandwiches, Ice cream sandwiches, and California rolls are famous foods among locals.
