California / Southern California
Los Angeles
LA is a chain of distant neighbourhoods, so pick one anchor — Santa Monica, Hollywood or West Hollywood — accept that a hire car saves hours, and book LAX and Universal before you fly.
Best length
4-5 nights (more if pairing Vegas or the coast)
Airport
Los Angeles International (LAX), ~30km from Hollywood
Airport to centre
Taxi/Uber ~45-60 min and £45-£70; FlyAway bus to Union Station £10
Best base
Santa Monica for beach, Hollywood for sights, West Hollywood for walking
In short
Los Angeles at a glance
Los Angeles is not one city but a chain of distant neighbourhoods linked by motorway, so the trip lives or dies on where you base and how you move. Pick one anchor (Santa Monica for beach, Hollywood for sights, West Hollywood for walkable evenings), accept that a hire car saves hours if you want Malibu, the canyons or a Vegas leg, and book LAX transfers and Universal Studios before you fly.
The short version
- Treat LA as a base-and-spokes trip: choose Santa Monica, Hollywood or West Hollywood and don't try to sleep 'centrally' because there is no centre.
- A hire car earns its keep if you want Malibu, Griffith, the canyons or to drive on to Vegas or up the coast; skip it if you'll stick to one walkable area plus the odd Uber.
- LAX is a slow, congested airport: budget 45-60 minutes to Hollywood or Santa Monica by car even though the map looks short.
- Book Universal Studios Hollywood ahead and go on a weekday off-peak date to dodge the higher dynamic-pricing tiers.
- Late April to early June and September-October give the warm, clear days; June mornings are often grey ('June Gloom') near the coast before they burn off.
Los Angeles confuses first-timers because it has no centre to base yourself in. It is a string of distinct neighbourhoods — Santa Monica on the coast, Hollywood and West Hollywood in the middle, Downtown to the east, Malibu and the canyons on the edges — strung together by motorway and separated by drives that the map makes look shorter than they are. The trip works when you accept that and plan around it: pick one anchor to sleep in, group your sights by area so you’re not crossing the city twice a day, and decide up front between a hire-car trip and an Uber-and-Metro one. The lazy middle, no car but constant surge rides, is the version that wastes both money and mornings.
A hire car genuinely changes what LA is. With one you get Malibu, the Griffith car park, the canyon roads, easy day trips and the option to drive on to Las Vegas (about 4-5 hours) or up the Pacific Coast Highway towards San Francisco. Without one, base in walkable Santa Monica or West Hollywood, lean on Uber and the expanding Metro rail, and treat Universal and Griffith as planned outings rather than spontaneous ones. Either is a good trip; trying to do both half-heartedly is not.
Four to five nights is the realistic minimum, because so much time goes on moving between areas. Below, the structured planning — where to stay, the car-or-not call, LAX transfers, a realistic budget in pounds, and the best months to go — picks up from here.
Plan your Los Angeles trip
Keep a first trip focused: book the big timed sights, then leave room for neighbourhoods and food.
Top things to do in Los Angeles
Universal Studios Hollywood
Buy a dated Universal Studios Hollywood ticket online and choose the cheapest-priced date you can stomach — pricing is dynamic, running from roughly $109 on a quiet off-peak weekday to about $154 on a peak Saturday (about £86–£122). It's a compact one-park day, so a single general-admission ticket is plenty for most people; only add the Universal Express Pass (often $100+ on top) if you're going on a busy date and won't accept hour-long queues. The two things to ride for are the studio backlot Studio Tour and Super Nintendo World; The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the lower-lot coasters fill the rest.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
Book the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood online before you fly — it's a timed, pre-booked tour on a working Burbank lot, not a turn-up-and-queue attraction, and weekend slots disappear days ahead. The standard tour is a cart-and-walk through real soundstages, backlot streets and the Central Perk and Batmobile sets, led by a guide rather than self-paced. Allow three hours, and pick an earlier weekday slot when more of the lot is actively filming, which is the whole point of choosing this over a theme park.
Griffith Observatory
Entry to the Griffith Observatory building, the grounds and the public telescopes is free — you only pay for parking and the planetarium show. The point of the trip is the view: the LA basin laid out below, the Hollywood Sign on the next hill, and a copper-domed Art Deco building on the front lawn. Arrive about 90 minutes before sunset to get the city in daylight and then watch it light up. It's closed Mondays, and the $10-an-hour car park fills fast — take the 50-cent DASH shuttle or walk up instead.
Hollywood Sign and Walk of Fame
Both are free, and both reward a plan. You cannot walk up to the Hollywood Sign — it's fenced, camera-watched and guarded around the clock — so pick your view: Lake Hollywood Park or the top of Canyon Lake Drive for a close head-on photo by car, Griffith Observatory for the classic skyline-and-sign shot, or the Brush Canyon Trail (about 6.4 miles return, three hours) to stand behind the letters. The Walk of Fame and the TCL Chinese Theatre forecourt are an hour of orientation, not an afternoon: see the stars and the handprints, take the photo, then move on to Griffith.
Where to stay first
The areas that make a first visit easier — not an exhaustive directory.
Santa Monica
£££ premiumThe easiest beach base: ocean, the pier, walkable shopping on Third Street Promenade and the Metro E Line into Downtown if you want to skip the car. Cool, breezy evenings and the cleanest first-timer experience, but the priciest hotels and a 45-60 minute haul to Universal.
Best for: First-timers, beach-first trips, families
Hollywood
££ mid-rangeThe most central base for sightseeing: walking distance to the Walk of Fame, on the B Line subway, and the obvious choice for Universal and Griffith. The boulevard is gritty after dark, so pick a hotel a few blocks off it rather than directly on it.
Best for: Sights-first trips, no-car visitors
West Hollywood
££ mid-rangeSmall, dense and genuinely walkable by LA standards, with the best concentration of restaurants and nightlife. A good middle-ground base if you want evenings on foot and a short drive to most things, though it has no beach and no rail.
Best for: Food and nightlife, couples, repeat visitors
Downtown LA (DTLA)
£ valueOften the best hotel value, with the most rail connections and walkable arts and food districts. Quieter at night than it looks and a long way from the beach, so it suits a budget-led or sports/concert-led trip more than a classic first visit.
Best for: Value, rail access, events at Crypto.com Arena
Airport to city centre
| Option | Time | Cost | Book ahead? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxi or Uber/Lyft to Hollywood or Santa Monica | ~45-60 min | about £45-£70 ($60-$90) | Simplest with luggage; rideshare pickup is at the LAX-it lot |
| FlyAway bus to Union Station (DTLA) | ~40-50 min | $12.75 (~£10) | Cheapest fixed option; connect to Metro rail from there |
| Metro C/K Line via LAX/Metro Transit Center | ~50-70 min with shuttle/people-mover transfer | $1.75 (~£1.40) per ride plus TAP card | Cheapest but slow and multi-step; not ideal jet-lagged |
| Pre-booked private transfer | ~45-60 min | from about £70+ | Worth it for families or late arrivals |
When to go
Sweet spot: Late April to early June and September into October are the sweet spot: warm, mostly clear days, beach weather without peak-summer crowds or prices, and good light for Griffith and the coast.
May and June bring 'May Gray' and 'June Gloom' near the coast, grey mornings that usually burn off to sun by lunch, so don't write off a foggy 9am. High summer is hot inland, busy and expensive; winter is mild, cheaper and fine for sightseeing but not a reliable beach trip. Note 2026 brings extra crowds and price spikes around World Cup matches at SoFi Stadium.
What it costs
UK return flights to Los Angeles are typically £450-£700 in the shoulder seasons when booked a few months ahead; school holidays, summer and last-minute booking push fares to £800-£1,100+. Indirect flights via the US East Coast or a hub can undercut directs but add hours.
Daily budget per person
The hidden LA costs are hotel parking ($15-$40/night), tipping, and surge rideshare pricing at peak times. The free wins are real: Griffith Observatory, the Getty, the beach path and most of Santa Monica cost nothing to enjoy.
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Where to stay
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Airport transfers
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