This list of the best places to visit in Los Angeles It will help you prepare a trip to the city of dreams, making the most of your time.
This city, the second largest in the United States, is known as the mecca of the Hollywood film industry, and although it is not precisely a city that catches you at first sight like New York or San Francisco, we believe it is worth dedicating some days on a trip along the West Coast of the United States.
In addition, its wide range of leisure, culture and restaurants, combined with its extensive beaches washed by the Pacific, are perfect for spending a few days of relaxation and fun.
Based on the days we spent in the city during our trip to the Western United States, we have prepared a list of those we believe are the 10 essential places to see in Los Angeles. We start!
1. Walk of Fame
Find the star of your favorite actor or artist on the floor of the Hollywood Walk of Fame or Walk of fame It is one of the best things to do in Los Angeles.
One of the most popular places on this walk is in front of the Grauman Chinese Theater, where you can fit your hands or feet on the footprints of many of Hollywood's biggest stars and feel one of them for a few hours.
If you are lucky on the day of your visit, you may agree with a Hollywood star, since in this theater with a facade that represents a Chinese pagoda, movie premieres are performed, which are often attended by its protagonists.
Another of the places you can not miss on the Walk of Fame is the Kodak Theater, famous worldwide for being the place where the Oscar Awards are given each year.
This walk that is located on a piece of Hollywood Boulevard Avenue, is an area of the liveliest areas of the city throughout the day, in which it will be nothing unusual to meet people dressed as superheroes or impersonators of any star.
Hall of Fame
2. Santa Monica
Santa Monica is one of our favorite areas and one of the places to visit in Los Angeles more essential This neighborhood stands out for its great promenade facing the Pacific Ocean, its beaches and its fun and multicultural environment.
Located next to the Santa Monica pier, is one of the amusement parks that has been featured in more films, the old one Pacific Park.
The best time to approach the pier is at sunset, to watch the sunset or climb the big ferris wheel of the park to enjoy one of the best views of Los Angeles.
You can tour and enjoy the atmosphere of the promenade, Ocean Drive, starting with Santa Monica Beach, famous for going out in the legendary television series The Baywatch, until ending in Venice Beach, full of surfers, original shops and street performers.
In Venice Beach in addition to a pleasant canal area, you will find Muscle Beach, which has an outdoor gym where you can see bodybuilders train and Arnold Schwarzenegger was a regular.
If you want to go shopping or have a drink, you can go to the Third Street Promenade pedestrian street, with a multitude of branded clothing stores around the world.
A good option to get to the places farthest from the center like Santa Monica is to book the Los Angeles tourist bus that stops at all points of interest in the city or take this tour through the best beaches in California with a guide in Spanish.
Santa Monica
3. Tour of Hollywood movie studios
Another of the best things to do in Los Angeles is to take a tour of one of Hollywood's most famous studios like Warner Bros or Universal Studios.
One of the most recommended tours is the tour of the Warner Bros film studios in Spanish, as well as being one of the most popular in the world, in which for 3 hours you will be able to see the filming sets and sets of mythical series such as Friends or movies like Batman.
Another of the best excursions in Los Angeles is the tour of the famous movie sets and series of Universal Studios ... This tour takes place in one of the areas of the Universal Studios amusement park, in which in addition to watching the movie stages and series like Shark, Return to the future, Desperate women, Psychosisor War of the Worlds, you can enjoy the attractions and shows also inspired by movies like Fast and Furious, Jurassic Park, Waterworld, the Simpson, The walking dead or Transformers. You can book the entrance to Universal Studios Hollywood here in advance.
Universal Studios
Our recommended hotel in Los Angeles
Motel 6 Hollywood, has parking and is located 2 minutes walk from the Walk of Fame, one of the most tourist areas of the city. With spacious and clean rooms, free coffee and tea service at the reception and free Wi-Fi, it is one of the best accommodation options in Los Angeles if we consider quality / price ratio.
4. Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown, another of the places to visit in Los Angeles, is the financial area of Los Angeles where skyscrapers and activity on weekdays are the order of the day.
Its most emblematic building and another of the places to see in Los Angeles, is the City Hall, which has appeared in several films such as Spiderman and it was the first skyscraper in the city. Other places that are worthwhile are the spectacular building of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Los Angeles, the Grand Avenue, or the Plaza Olvera of Spanish heritage.
One of the best experiences of our trip through the United States was to go to see an NBA game of the legendary Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center, also located in the Downtown.
And if you decide to go to one, do not forget to get closer to the area and take the opportunity to visit one of the most fashionable areas of this neighborhood, the Fashion District, a maze of streets full of clothing stores and all kinds of items .
If this is your first visit to the city, a highly recommended option is to book this guided tour in Spanish to learn about the history of this neighborhood and all the highlights of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Lakers
5. The Griffith Observatory
Climb at sunset to the Griffith Observatory to see the sunset and the city illuminated at night is one of the best experiences of Los Angeles. This observatory, located on a hill in the southern area of Hollywood, has a large park next to it, perfect for walking and disconnecting from the noise of the city.
In the observatory you can also visit the Samuel Oschin Planetarium, one of the most advanced in the world where you can observe stars and constellations.
For us the observatory is one of the most essential places to visit in Los Angeles and with the best views of the city.
Griffith Observatory, one of the places to see in Los Angeles
Book the best rated tours and excursions in Los Angeles in Spanish by travelers:
- Full Los Angeles Tour
- Tour of the best beaches in California
- Hollywood and Mulholland Drive tour
- Excursion to Las Vegas
- Excursion to San Diego- More excursions and tours here
6. Sunset Strip, one of the places to visit in Los Angeles
Sunset Strip, with a dangerous past related to the mafia and gangsters, is nowadays a place with a great leisure offer with its nightclubs, restaurants, shopping centers and shops. Located on a 2-mile stretch of Sunset Boulevard has several mythical places such as concert halls The Roxy Y Wiskie to Go Go in which they got to play Guns N 'Roses, Led Zeppelin and The Doors, in addition to famous clubs frequented by Hollywood stars like The Viper Room, in which the actor River Phoenix died.
You can also have fun with the monologues at The Comedy Store or go to the Hollywood Bowl, to enjoy an outdoor concert.
7. Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is famous for its large mansions, home of movie stars, music and millionaires. This city at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounded by Los Angeles, has become an exclusive area where one of its attractions is to tour the homes of movie stars and music that includes the hills of Hollywood and Mulholland Drive. On this tour you can see the mansions of stars like Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, David and Victoria Beckham or the old mansions of Michael Jackson, Richard Gere, Madonna, Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley.
Another of the most famous places in Beverly Hills and what to see in Los Angeles, is Rodeo Drive, an avenue full of luxury stores that the rich and famous are going to buy and where you can walk, feeling like a real star.
Beverly Hills houses
8. Chinatown
The Chinatown neighborhood, located near the Downtown, is another of the most interesting places what to visit in Los Angeles. The Chinese community was established in Los Angeles in the 19th century, first in the Union Station area and later moving to its current location, next to the historic district.
To discover the neighborhood, it is best to start at the central square, with great activity throughout the day and tour the Chung King street, full of art galleries and a hippie atmosphere. The visit to the Thien Hau temple, the most famous in the city, and the Chinese-American museum, will help you understand the religion, history and culture of this community.
9. Hollywood Poster
No one leaves Los Angeles without taking a picture of the legendary Hollywood sign or Hollywood Sign, located on Mount Lee Hill and another of the places to visit in Los Angeles. This huge sign, with the blank letters of the word Hollywood, which has appeared in a multitude of movies, we could say without fear of being wrong, that it is the great icon of Los Angeles.
Created in 1923 as part of an advertising campaign, it has suffered several damages due to vandalism, so it has restricted access and is protected by a fence that surrounds it.
Despite this you can take good photos from afar from Beachwood Drive, although if you want to get closer you can go up this same street to a sign that advertises tours with horses in Hollywood Hills. In an hour you will be behind the lyrics with incredible views of Los Angeles.
Hollywood sign, one of the places to see in Los Angeles
10. Little Tokyo
This neighborhood of the early twentieth century is a small paradise for culture and cuisine fans of the country of the rising sun, and our latest recommendation of places to visit in Los Angeles. During a walk through the neighborhood you can find shops with original items from Japan, the Koyasan Buddhist temple, the James Irvine garden with the typical beauty of Japanese gardens and especially restaurants with their delicious Japanese cuisine. As an anecdote we will tell you that they say that it is here, in this neighborhood, where the famous California Rolls were created.
Remember that in order not to pay commissions and always have the current change we recommend you use the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money at the ATMs. They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.
How to have internet in Los Angeles?If you want to have internet in the United States a good option is to buy one Holafly SIM card, with which you will have internet from the moment you land, several GB of data, keeping your WhatsApp number and support service in Spanish.
You can buy your Holafly prepaid SIM card here with a 5% discount for being our reader.
If you feel like helping us complete the list of 10 most essential places to visit in Los Angeles, add yours in the comments.
