YOUR LOS ANGELES VACATION
Los Angeles Vacation Information
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Getting To And Around The Los Angeles Area
There are four airports serving the Los Angeles area, and depending on where you want to make your base of operations, you'll probably want to fly into the closest one to that location. Los Angeles International Airport is the largest of the four. The other LA area airports are the John Wayne Airport in Orange County (Santa Ana); the Bob Hope Airport, serving Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena areas; and the Ontario Airport, located in Ontario and about 35 miles east of Los Angeles. If your intended destination is in a city near one of the alternate airports, consider flying into the closest one for better use of your time.
If you're flying in, you can rent a car, use a shuttle service, or public transportation. Freeway and road conditions are very congested throughout the LA area, so if you are not comfortable with this type of traffic, consider one of the alternate transportation sources for getting to your destination hotel, and while visiting the many tourist attractions here. Most hotels offer complimentary shuttles to and from the airport, and some offer rides to popular tourist attractions, too. More on those in the Hotel section. Public transportation in the form of bus and light rail is also available from the airport to downtown and surrounding areas. And of course there is always the taxi to take you wherever you want to go.
Setting Up Your Home Away From Base
If you're not staying with friends or relatives while visiting the LA area, you're going to need a base of operations. If you've planned the sights you want to see and the things you want to do, the best bet is probably to pick hotel accomodations in the general area of most of your activities. Getting around in Los Angeles can be a nightmare to someone who is not used to it. As we've noted in our other city vacations articles, if you're booking a flight here, you can often safe money on your hotel space by booking at the same time, especially if using a site like Travelocity or Orbitz. Another online hotel booking site is booking.com, which offers hotels at discount rates. Whether you're looking for a room in the downtown or Hollywood areas, you will probably find something that fits your tastes and pocketbook. Here are a few examples to choose from.
• Comfort Inn City Center starting rates are $94 per night. Near many restaurants, offers swimming pool and fitness center, $2 per day parking, business center, dry cleaning, free wireless internet.
• Wilshire Plaza Hotel rates start at $104.25 per night. Amenities include fitness center and outdoor swimming pool, room service, free wireless internet, fax and photocopying services, a gift shop, and more.
• Kyoto Grand Hotel and Gardens, starting at $139 per night, provides easy freeway access if you're driving, or if you aren't driving, within easy walking distance to shopping, dining, cultural and entertainment activities.
• Hollywood Celebrity Hotel
Has kind of a cheesy name, but if you plan on visiting a lot of Hollywood tourist spots such as Hollywood Boulevard, Chinese Theatre, etc., this puts you in a great location. Plus it's close to public transportation to other tourist attractions. Lowest price we saw was through Expedia.com at $130 per night.
LA Dining
With a city the size of Los Angeles, it's difficult to list all the good restaurants, so we'll just give you a few places to check.
• tripadvisor.com
This web site isn't limited just to restaurants, so you should check out the other topics as well while planning your trip. When we checked this site while writing this article, there were ratings for 3,412 Los Angeles-area restaurants. Information given includes the type of cuisine, price ranges, recommendations such as "romantic, family-friendly," etc., and reviews by patrons.
• foodieview.com
Contains food critic reviews, patron reviews, and "Best of" lists from LA area restaurants. Has a search engine that searches by cuisine, area and neighborhood.
• YourRestaurantConnection.com
You can do a search by area or cuisine here. Some listings will show you their menu, too.
Tourist Attractions
What can we say about tourist attractions in Los Angeles? We're all aware of the major ones, including motion picture studios, Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm. But there's plenty of other things to see and do while you're here, as well. You can buy a "GoLosAngeles" card that will get you discounts for the major tourist attractions. Buy a one-day card for $55 (adults) and see many attractions at a savings from $10 to $25 off buying an individual pass to each attraction. Here are a few things to see and do while you're in Los Angeles.
• Red Line's Hollywood-Behind The Scenes Tour
See many of Hollywood's historic sites through this tour. Includes inside tours of Disney's El Capitan and Grouman's Egyptian theaters, Stella Adler Acting Academy, and other movie locations.
• Hollywood Wax Museum
• Hollywood Museum
Movie and TV memorabilia on display include Marilyn Monroe's dresses, Indiana Jones' whip, Elvis Presley's favorite bathrobe, and more.
• Movie Stars Homes Tour
Take a two-hour bus tour by Starline Tours and see the homes of Ozzie Osbourne, Madonna, Nicolas Cage, Tom Cruise, and more.
There's more than we can list, so check out all the attractions from the GoLosAngeles site, whether you purchase one of their discount cards or not. You'll find good information about what's included for each of these attractions.