Top 10 Things to Do in Los Angeles

Using this list

Ten of Los Angeles's landmark experiences as a checklist — Hollywood, the beaches, the museums, and the viewpoints. LA is less a city than a collection of them, and planning around that is the whole trick.

Group by region or spend the trip in traffic

Santa Monica and Venice together. Hollywood and Griffith Park together. Downtown together. Distances that look modest on a map become an hour each way at the wrong time — traffic peaks roughly 7–10am and 3–7pm, and a fifteen-mile trip can genuinely take ninety minutes.

Plan two areas a day, and do the driving between them outside those windows.

Griffith Observatory is the best free thing in the city

Views over the basin, the Hollywood sign, and a genuinely good science museum, at no cost. Parking is the constraint — go early, or take the bus up. Sunset is spectacular and correspondingly busy.

Adjust expectations for Hollywood Boulevard

The Walk of Fame is a fairly ordinary street with stars in the pavement and costumed performers who charge for photographs. Most visitors find it underwhelming. The Griffith view, the museums, and a studio tour deliver far more of what people come for.

The museums are underrated

The Getty Center — free entry, paid parking — and LACMA are world-class and quieter than the Hollywood sights.

Practicalities

A car is close to essential for this list. Beach weather can be cooler and cloudier than inland, especially mornings in May and June.

Timing

Run it plain, or add due dates from your arrival date.