LA 4 days - top things to see and best area to stay?

[mrswobblebottom]

Doing road trip with family from San Francisco to LA. Have booked accomodation in most places, Yosemite, Monterey (narrowing choice down!) and Pismo. Unsure whether to stay 4 nights in one place in LA area or do 2 and 2 in Santa Monica and Newport Beach or similar. Have been to Florida parks so not intending to go to Disney etc at all. (Unless we've seen everything else and have free day!) Any advice/suggestions please!

I can't recommend as we've not been yet but we're doing similar.
SF-Yosemite-Monterey-pismo beach
Then splitting LA time as 2 nights Santa Monica 2 nights Anaheim then 7 nights at Huntington Beach to chill out at the end.
For Santa Monica we've booked the doubletree suites as its the only place I could get that would accommodate 5.

No recommendations as we haven't been yet either, booked for beginning September. When are you going mrswobble, god Im so excited - cant wait!

We are doing 4 nights SF, 1 Monterey, 1 Santa Barbara, 4 LA then 4 Laguna Beach. I would say it all depends what you want - we want to see as much as we can but I didnt fancy packing up too often which is why we have 4 nights LA - more than enough for DH to see all the film stuff he wants to plus go to Universal Studios. No interest or time for Disney Universal appeals because of the film studio tour and if we have time we may go to Knotts Berry Farm. Probably drive up to Santa Monica 1 day to when we stay in LA.

Like you rednats I wanted some chill out time at the end as it will be a full on holiday so I chose 4 nights in Laguna beach here specifically because the hotel is right on the beach.

We are going end July for 2 weeks - booked SF (4nights) and Yosemite (2) through VRBO so have properties to stay in rather than hotels which we hope will be better for 5 of us, works out much cheaper too. Back to hotel/motels for rest of it though.

Read on another thread about booking Alcatraz trip in advance as you cant just turn up and do it?? So much to read about each place and plan what to see. Still to book LA and Monterey hotels then can relax a bit!

Personally I'd favour the Santa Monica x 2 and Newport Beach x 2 option. Once spent 14 days in LA and the best bits were when we escaped the city (which took ages in the car!)
Also consider Huntingdon Beach. Recommend the SUPs ( Stand Up Paddles at Huntington Beach harbour) for a slight 'off the wall' activity in a surreal celebrity vacation home location. Then head to the classic American diner across the road.

Santa Monica is lovely and it's so easy to get into Hollywood from there. We also loved Santa Barbara.

For our honeymoon we did Vegas,Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Napa, SF, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Barbara and Santa Monica. It was amazing. Definitely book Alcatraz if you want to go. We went at night which was quite a spooky experience!

For alcatraz, go through the 'official' site so you don't get stung for booking fees:
www.alcatrazcruises.com/

The sunset one is very good, but gets booked up so you need to get tickets well in advance.

You can apply for tickets to go and see the Tonight Show being filmed (for free). It's just luck who the guests are, but you may get to see some pretty cool people:

www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/tickets/

What sort of things do you want to go and see? Are you interested in film stuff or not?

2 DS's are 18 and 19 so they would be interested in film stuff/film locations,
enjoyed Universal in Orlando and Warner Bros Studios here. Will defo look at the nbc link that would be great. Have DD age 11 too so probably wouldnt be allowed in audience!

You are doing the same road trip as us!! We are using LA as a base for 5 days and staying at the hilton double tree which takes the 5 of us.

Still looking for accomodation for LA. Trying to decide between beach areas like marina del rey/ santa Monica apartments/hotels OR Hollywood/Beverly Hills apartments/hotels. Narrowed it down but still can't decide where is best to be based?!?! Hope we choose wisely in the end!

Style - What's your itinerary for your road trip??

Just been reading up on Laguna Beach and found this website sweetestcup.

www.lagunabeachinfo.com/things-to-do/100-things-to-do/

Your accommodation looks fab. We're all taking shortie wetsuits with us although not sure I will wear mine...

Ooh thanks for that breakfast, will check that out! Have just had some Californian wine to celebrate the last payment on the holiday made

Yeah stay near the coast. Hollywood and bev hills is too hot in the summer...it is ten degrees cooler in Santa Monica often and it is a walkable area....Hollywood is kind of ugly really, sticky, sweaty and dirty in the summer months. Laguna beach is nicer than Newport although Balboa is quite sweet and has holiday rentals...I would stay up in the hills above Laguna via vrbo.com...great places.
Have a fun trip. It is great.

Universal is really good value because it includes the studio tour which is a lot of fun. Get straight on that tour as soon as you get in there as it gets busier as the day goes on. The transformers ride is pretty amazing.....also ask for single rider passes.......if you do not mind riding alone you often go straight up the side and onto the ride....as it is pretty busy in the summer months. Take lots of cold drinks in as you will be amazed how thirsty you get......fine as long as no glass. I love universal studios.......totally Americana.