Leaving the airport - when one has an International flight - is always a bit daunting for moi.

Also - when you get the car at 3:30 PM - that's the start of evening rush hour traffic and what might normally be an hour to get from LAX to Hollywood could take a lot longer.

Getting back to LAX should not be a real problem - leaving Hollywood around 7 PM/7:30 or so - to be safe.

Others who live in LA can comment further. When driving in LA LA land - which I/we have done a lot - I always make sure to tune into AM 1070 on the radio - where they give traffic reports every 6 minutes during the day. You might also try to get a good LA freeway map if you are venturing around - as if one freeway gets an accident or some such - you can try to plan around it a bit but it also does have an effect on the others.

You might alternatively consider getting up to the amazing Getty Museum - only a 20 minute drive (under normal conditions) from the airport. It has a view of downtown. http://www.getty.edu/

First thing is: will the airline allow you to check in baggage that early before flight time? I've run into airlines that won't store luggage for a later flight.

Secondly: will you have a GPS or a good map of LA? Although the streets in LA are pretty straightforward, you don't want to be taking too many wrong turns.

Thirdly, travel times will vary depending on what it is that you want to see in "Hollywood". If the airline allows early checkin, then you can give yourself some margin until 8:30pm, but no later as you still have to return the car.

Thank you so much for your replies!

Instead - (IF the airline will check the bags) why not go somewhere closer - and nicer - than Hollywood? Santa Monica or even nearer - Manhattan Beach.

I'd take a cab to Manhattan Beach myself. But if the airline won't pre-check the bags, you could rent a car, which would double duty as a 'luggage locker', and drive over to Santa Monica.

3:30 and after is the start of the heavy afternoon commute traffic so I wouldn't go much farther than the beaches. Driving back to the airport won't be too bad.

Unless you're on two separate tickets, your bags ought to be checked through all the way to Oz.

Since most cruises in Oz/NZ occur in the southern summer, i.e., northern winter, I'm assuming this will be during the fall/winter, in which case it will be getting dark pretty early. I too would opt for staying closer to the beach. Hollywood isn't that much to see anyway, but you could instead go to Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, or even drive the coast up to Malibu, watch the sunset, get a meal, and still get back to the airport in time to drop the car and check in.

See the sun set over the Pacific before you see it rise over the Pacific a couple of days later.

I did not think about Santa Monica. I could take my daughter to the pier! Cool!

I understand that Venice Beach is also near by?

Yes, but Venice Beach is south of the airport and Santa Monica is north.

If you don't go to Hollywood (and really it's just the name that makes it sound more attractive than it is) and just stay along the beach, driving along Sepulveda Blvd, you may be able to go to both provided that you don't spend too much time in either town. I'd suggest doing Santa Monica first and going as far as even Malibu. Or drive straight to Malibu on the freeway and then start southbound along the coast.

Venice Beach is not south of the airport, it's between the airport and Santa Monica.

sf7307 is correct. Venice Beach is practically walking distance from Santa Monica (but not walking distance during your short time frame 2.5/3-ish miles).

sf7307 is correct.

I was thinking of the "Beach" towns: Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo.

LA traffic can be unpredictable, and since you do not know your way around, I think you would be taking a risk to get a rental car (which can also take awhile) and drive yourself.

And I agree that Hollywood is overrated, also.

You could cab to Venice Beach and walk along the beachwalk to Santa Monica pier. Get a bite to eat, and cab back to LAX.

Excellent suggestion about taking a cab, provided the airline will allow you early checkin of your luggage. Taking a cab save you the time to pick up and drop off a rental car.

If the beach is what you want, cab straight up to Malibu and then walk down along the beach to Santa Monica and beyond. The attractive part of Santa Monica is along/close to the beach anyhow.

The further south you walk, the less it'll cost you to cab back to LAX, so overall, you wouldn't be spending that much more for cab fare vs rental car.

If it's not so much the beach, then just cab to Santa Monica.

Malibu is way too far north of Santa Monica to walk, and I would skip Venice, not what it used to be, now full of medical marijuara doctors and drug paraphernalia shops and will be few if any performers around that time on a weekday.

Stick to Santa Monica or Manhattan Beach

When I was in school in the East, Hans Bethe, a Nobel Prize winning physicist, returned from sabbatical at UCLA and claimed to have discovered a new law of physics. "Everything in LA is at least one hour away from everything else." After living there for 14 years, I think he understated the time interval.

I would take a cab to Manhattan Beach.

If you have only a few hours in LA, I'd suggest go to Santa Monica. Walk around on 3rd street Promenade where the street performers are, check out some of the interesting stores, go to the pier and maybe try the roller-coaster or some other fun stuff, walk by the ocean if it's not too cold, grab a bite to eat somewhere in Santa Monica, then get back to LAX in time.

And taking a cab would be a lot easier than renting a car, in my opinion - why deal with maps, traffic and parking if you're only there for a few hours? Manhattan beach sounds like a good option too.

Ditto to zatram! Definitely the most workable plan and easily done by taxi. IMO, do NOT rent a car.

I would make a more specific plan. Is there something in LA you particularly want to to see? Some reason you were thinking of Hollywood? With limited time, I wouldn't just take a cab and get dropped off to wander around, especially as it gets dark. I would avoid Venice Beach too and walking from Malibu to anywhere else is not an option.

One note: if you are taking a cab, you will want to call and order one to meet you in advance, because cabs can be hard to find in L.A. Not at the airport, but most everywhere else.

thank you so much for all the feedback! We are actually going to be in LA next Tuesday! I had thought to take my daughter to Hollywood to walk along and see the stars but I think the beach may be a better idea.

My problem with a cab is that we will all (4 of us) have a carry on bag that we will have to lug everywhere we go. If we have a rental car, we'd have a place to stow it!

Shame that there are no longer lockers at the Airport!

My problem with a cab is that we will all (4 of us) have a carry on bag that we will have to lug everywhere we go. If we have a rental car, we'd have a place to stow it!

Exactly, plus (again assuming this is during the winter months) it can actually get quite chilly in the beach towns in LA (I grew up in Manhattan Beach) and the car will also provide shelter and warmth in the evening hours.

Regarding a destination, on second thought I'd probably skip Malibu; if your flight arrives at 2:35 it's unlikely you'd be able to be on the road in a rental car before around 3:30, and you'll need to be back at the airport by 8:30 at the latest, so counting time to gas up the car and return it (all the rental car offices are off-airport at LAX, with shuttles) you'd probably want to wrap up the excursion around 7:30.

3:30 to 7:30 pretty well brackets the rush hours in southern California, so I'd be concerned that picking someplace like Malibu or even downtown Santa Monica might involve a lot of traffic time and looking for parking places (with lots of tow-away zones and other urban nuisances.) And if you're not familiar with the lay of the land, you could also waste time navigating.

So I'd opt for a drive down to Manhattan Beach. Park at the foot of Manhattan Beach Blvd. and walk out the pier. There might be some surfers visible (winter is often the time for good surfing conditions) but you'll enjoy the walk. Back on land, you can stroll along the "Strand" - the beachfront pedestrian/bike street, with the beach and surf on one side and houses you'd need to rob a bank to buy on the other. (Warning, you'll be casing some B of A branch once you've done this.)

Get a meal in downtown MB, maybe drive around some of the neighborhoods for a bit around sunset, then back to the airport. It's an easy and oxygen-filled evening that will help you survive the long - that's long - flight.

If you want to walk along Manhattan Beach, just drive for Manhattan Pier. I remember there being public parking on the street there. That portion of the beach should be public beach.

http://californiacoastaltrail.info/hikers/hikers_main.php?DisplayAction=DisplayCounty&CountyId=18

If you opt for Santa Monica and want beach access, then drive to Santa Monica Pier. Here's a map of available parking garages for Santa Monica.

http://www.smgov.net/departments/transportation/google_parking_mapsv2.aspx?map=downtown

If you want to park near the Third Street Promenade (cross street: Broadway) then the beach is down from a cliff, so, if anyone has mobility issues, that may be a problem. Santa Monica has more dining options and more interesting shops to browse in. Wherever you decide to park, just remember to lock your car and have little/nothing showing through the windows, especially not luggage!

Gardyloo is correct in the peak traffic hours, so avoid returning to the airport on the freeways. Try the surface roads instead. If returning from Manhattan Beach, Pacific Coast Highway (State Highway 1) is a nice straight shot. If returning from Santa Monica, take Highway 1 also, here it's also called "Lincoln Blvd".

Enjoy your trip! Sounds like fun!

Both Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach are [distance-wise] really close to the airport -- 9 miles and 5 miles respectively, so even if traffic is horrendous, if you leave yourself enough time, it's doable. I'd personally opt for a taxi if that's feasible, but it's doable with a car rental (keep in mind that that adds time - shuttle to pick up, paperwork, return, shuttle back to airport).

The mileage LAX-SM and LAX-MB may sound close, but the drive times are quite different. MB (where I live) is 15 minutes or less from LAX. The drive LAX to SM is easily 30 minutes and at 3:00p would probably take 40-45 minutes. If you drive, navigating and parking in much-smaller MB is infinitely easier than in SM.

BTW, we see travelers/tourists in MB walking around with luggage so I wouldn't make that the deciding factor on the question of taxi v. rental car. The costs for the two options are probably similar, but the time involved in renting and returning the car would be the deal-breaker for me. The rental offices are a shuttle ride from the airport and heading away from the beach. You could easily lose 30 minutes at both ends just dealing with the car.

You are arriving the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and could run into some traffic getting back to the airport even at 7:30 at night as well as delays in getting through security for an international flight.

It is a risk to leave the airport, but if you plan it right, you should be good. But, again, LA traffic is unpredictable.

Santa Monica is probably too far, but Manhattan Beach is an excellent suggestion. It is a gorgeous place, great little restaurants and shops, nice long beach promenade.

I wonder if you could hire a driver for the few hours. It could be as reasonable as renting a car and dealing with that hassle (PS Do NOT rent from Fox). You would have an LA-experienced person behind the wheel, and a trunk to lock your valuables in.

Your question gets asked here quite frequently. Maybe it's a new business opportunity for someone with a nice car. Hmmmmm.

I know it's a hassle to haul your carry-ons, but I have rented a car from LAX and the shuttle ride and the time waiting in the office took forever.

I don't think Santa Monica is too far btw.

There is a Groupon special listed in LA right now for a 4 hour limo service for $199. Not sure of the details but it would take care of the luggage and the driving issues.