Los Angeles Sept 21-23, help!
Mar 25th, 2007, 02:44 PM
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Los Angeles Sept 21-23, help!
Hi, myself and my g-f are flying into LA from Canada on September 21 and we will be driving to Vegas on Sept 23 for a week. We are both in our late 20's and have never been in that area before.
Our flight lands in LA at around noon. We are going to rent a car. Some of the things we would like to do were hollywood (walk of fame, see the sign, walk aroun), beverly hill (rodeo drive/drive around), maybe spend saturday at a park (disney or universal??) and the Sunday go check out one of the beaches...monica pier??
Questions;
1- We will use priceline for hotel, based on the activities above, what are should I shoot for?
2- For Saturday, we were planning a park...any suggestions?? Disney? if so, which one of the 2....universal better? Any other parks out there??
3- Friday...will we have enough of an afternoon to take a quick peak at hollywood? Is everything there centralized, ie can we walk around?? What about beverly hills/rodeo drive is it in the same area?
4- Anything else I should consider going to see?
Our flight lands in LA at around noon. We are going to rent a car. Some of the things we would like to do were hollywood (walk of fame, see the sign, walk aroun), beverly hill (rodeo drive/drive around), maybe spend saturday at a park (disney or universal??) and the Sunday go check out one of the beaches...monica pier??
Questions;
1- We will use priceline for hotel, based on the activities above, what are should I shoot for?
2- For Saturday, we were planning a park...any suggestions?? Disney? if so, which one of the 2....universal better? Any other parks out there??
3- Friday...will we have enough of an afternoon to take a quick peak at hollywood? Is everything there centralized, ie can we walk around?? What about beverly hills/rodeo drive is it in the same area?
4- Anything else I should consider going to see?
Mar 25th, 2007, 03:59 PM
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Hi Alpinemccain,
1 - A lot of people are staying in Hollywood these days at the Renaissance or Orchid Suites. That puts you right next to the Hollywood landmarks. Other good hotel areas: Santa Monica (close to the airport), West Hollywood (Sunset Blvd.), and Beverly Hills (though there is NOTHING to do there).
2 - Depends on what you like. I used to be a tour guide at Universal and it's definitely fun if you're interested in the movies. But Disneyland & California Adventure are fun, too (I LOVED Soarin' Over California and the Tower of Terror, and I'm in my 30s). There's also Six Flag's Magic Mountain just north of LA which is a crazy roller-coaster-type theme park and Raging Waters east of here, which is a water park. Or there are the studio tours of Paramount and Warner Bros. Lots to do!
3 - If you stay in Hollywood, you can definitely do your poking around then. But Beverly Hills & Hollywood are about a 10-15-minute drive apart.
4 - I always recommend that people do the "Sunset Drive"... it's a drive from Sunset Blvd. at Highland all the way down to the beach. It takes over an hour, but you'll drive through the famous Sunset Strip, the mansions of Beverly Hills and the beach. From there, you can head south along Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica for the pier.
You might want to do that after checking into your hotel on Friday; then do the theme park on Saturday (it will take you ALL day), and then the Hollywood/BH exploring on Sunday morning.
Two things to keep in mind:
1) At noon on a Friday, it could take you an hour and a half to get to a hotel in Hollywood. Santa Monica will take you more like 30 minutes.
2) See if your rental car company can give you a Thomas Guide. It's an atlas-like map of LA that all locals use to find their way around. LA is GIGANTIC!
Have a great trip - September should be beautiful here!
1 - A lot of people are staying in Hollywood these days at the Renaissance or Orchid Suites. That puts you right next to the Hollywood landmarks. Other good hotel areas: Santa Monica (close to the airport), West Hollywood (Sunset Blvd.), and Beverly Hills (though there is NOTHING to do there).
2 - Depends on what you like. I used to be a tour guide at Universal and it's definitely fun if you're interested in the movies. But Disneyland & California Adventure are fun, too (I LOVED Soarin' Over California and the Tower of Terror, and I'm in my 30s). There's also Six Flag's Magic Mountain just north of LA which is a crazy roller-coaster-type theme park and Raging Waters east of here, which is a water park. Or there are the studio tours of Paramount and Warner Bros. Lots to do!
3 - If you stay in Hollywood, you can definitely do your poking around then. But Beverly Hills & Hollywood are about a 10-15-minute drive apart.
4 - I always recommend that people do the "Sunset Drive"... it's a drive from Sunset Blvd. at Highland all the way down to the beach. It takes over an hour, but you'll drive through the famous Sunset Strip, the mansions of Beverly Hills and the beach. From there, you can head south along Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica for the pier.
You might want to do that after checking into your hotel on Friday; then do the theme park on Saturday (it will take you ALL day), and then the Hollywood/BH exploring on Sunday morning.
Two things to keep in mind:
1) At noon on a Friday, it could take you an hour and a half to get to a hotel in Hollywood. Santa Monica will take you more like 30 minutes.
2) See if your rental car company can give you a Thomas Guide. It's an atlas-like map of LA that all locals use to find their way around. LA is GIGANTIC!
Have a great trip - September should be beautiful here!
Mar 25th, 2007, 10:26 PM
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You could leave the airport and visit the Santa Monica pier on Friday before checking into your hotel. You should have time to visit some of the sights you mentioned, but keep in mind that traffic will be bad anyplace you travel because it's Los Angeles. The Hollywood sign is visible from various areas of the city, so you should be able to see that if you are staying in the Hollywood area.
If you plan on going to Disneyland, you could stay Friday night in the Hollywood area, and then move to someplace in Anaheim Saturday night and go to the beach near there Sunday morning before leaving for Las Vegas if you are just looking at spending time at the beach.
If you decide on Universal Studios, you could stay in the same hotel both nights.
Have you considered flying to Las Vegas? The drive between LA and LV is not very pretty, although if you have never seen the desert,you might find it interesting. It will take 4-5 hours to get there.
If you plan on going to Disneyland, you could stay Friday night in the Hollywood area, and then move to someplace in Anaheim Saturday night and go to the beach near there Sunday morning before leaving for Las Vegas if you are just looking at spending time at the beach.
If you decide on Universal Studios, you could stay in the same hotel both nights.
Have you considered flying to Las Vegas? The drive between LA and LV is not very pretty, although if you have never seen the desert,you might find it interesting. It will take 4-5 hours to get there.
Mar 25th, 2007, 11:20 PM
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ltr's SO right about the drive to Las Vegas... if you've ever seen the movie "Swingers", it sums it up nicely. Two characters start off with an excited - "VEGAS!" and then like 1,000 hours later, it becomes "vegas." That said, the windmills are nice, and Baker is sort of amusing.
Re: switching hotel rooms, Anaheim (Disneyland) is a hotel wasteland, with too many families and inflated prices. I'd stick with one hotel in LA. Even if you do decide to go to Disneyland on Saturday, there will be no traffic if you leave early (e.g. 8-9 am). Just take the 101 south to the 5 south to Disneyland and it'll take what... maybe 35-45 minutes / hour max?
Re: switching hotel rooms, Anaheim (Disneyland) is a hotel wasteland, with too many families and inflated prices. I'd stick with one hotel in LA. Even if you do decide to go to Disneyland on Saturday, there will be no traffic if you leave early (e.g. 8-9 am). Just take the 101 south to the 5 south to Disneyland and it'll take what... maybe 35-45 minutes / hour max?
Mar 26th, 2007, 02:27 AM
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I've considered flying into Las Vegas, however then I would not get to spend a weekend in LA....
I think I'm going to look into taking a hotel near Santa Monica based on the recommendation to avoid traffic on Friday....if I don't see anything I like, I might go with Hollywood....per priceline, I need to choose either West Hollywood or Hollywood..which one should I choose?
I think I'm going to look into taking a hotel near Santa Monica based on the recommendation to avoid traffic on Friday....if I don't see anything I like, I might go with Hollywood....per priceline, I need to choose either West Hollywood or Hollywood..which one should I choose?
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Mar 26th, 2007, 02:03 PM
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Just to clarify it further... Hollywood (e.g. Renaissance or Orchid Suites) puts you right next to the classic Hollywood tourist sites - the walk of fame, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, as well as Hollywood & Highland, a massive indoor/outdoor mall with all sorts of fascinating shops & restaurants.
West Hollywood puts you on the "Sunset Strip," which is great for its nightlife and people watching. It skews a bit younger... mid-20s, chic partiers, whereas that section of Hollywood is more of a melting pot.
Both areas are safe, and they're fairly close together.
Good luck with the hotels - I wish I could help you more with them!
West Hollywood puts you on the "Sunset Strip," which is great for its nightlife and people watching. It skews a bit younger... mid-20s, chic partiers, whereas that section of Hollywood is more of a melting pot.
Both areas are safe, and they're fairly close together.
Good luck with the hotels - I wish I could help you more with them!
Mar 26th, 2007, 07:24 PM
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Why not spend the weekend in LA area, then fly to LV from LAX? You can catch a round trip flight for under $100, and with the price of gas right now, on top of the rental car fee, you would probably break even on the cost.
Mar 28th, 2007, 04:46 PM
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Sept can be blazing hot in LA and in LV.(saw your question on another thread).
The drive is very tedious, and you'll have to wait for traffic to die out Monday morning, like 10am? flight probably won't cost you much more than the gasoline. Are you flying home to Canada from Las Vegas? Or driving back to LA first?
The drive is very tedious, and you'll have to wait for traffic to die out Monday morning, like 10am? flight probably won't cost you much more than the gasoline. Are you flying home to Canada from Las Vegas? Or driving back to LA first?
Mar 29th, 2007, 01:35 PM
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I am flying out of las vegas on the way back. I thought it would have been a nice experience to drive it since we never been in that area and we will rent a car either way....we were thinking on the sunday to spend the day at the beach and then maybe leave for las vegas at around 3h30 pm to get to vegas at around 9 sunday night at the latest....bad plan?
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