Christmas in LA

[Truetoself]

My 17 year old DD and I will be in LA over Christmas, staying in the downtown area. We don’t know anyone in LA to spend Christmas with so will likely book a brunch or lunch somewhere. Anywhere magical we can spend Christmas Day?

Will you have a car?

Hoping not to

Lucky! How about the Beverly Wiltshire hotel, the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Coronado - used to have an ice rink, peninsula, fairmont, mission inn - also had ice rink.

You might struggle without a car! Nothing is walking distance so you’ll need taxis.

I have been to LA yonks ago when we did hire a car. Isn’t public transport good?

You may find some taxi or Uber drivers around on Christmas Day. Some hotels may
lay on a Christmas Day lunch. Best thing to do is to meticulously plan all aspects of lunch well in advance.

Id look around hotels and get something booked.. (from someone who didnt do this for thanksgiving in CA one year and ended up at a drive thru!) It depends where you are staying as LA is pretty spread out and public transport not already great, particularly on Christmas day so I'd look in the near vicinity. Enjoy!!

Thank you. We will be very near LA Live so worse case scenario we will hopefully be able to grab something there. I have also asked the hotel for recs and found a couple of cruises. I think things don’t close down for Christmas in LA

We spent Christmas (2024) in LA and would recommend checking out xmas dinner/ brunch at some of the bigger hotels. We stayed in Beverly Hills (travelled with a young child) and spent Christmas day at the hotel as they had a pool, santa and live music during dinner. I personally would not bank on things being open - we desperately needed to find some clothes (partner's suitcase ended up getting left behind at LAX) and found that nothing was open 😫.

Last Christmas "The Grove LA" had events on, although like most places at Christmas, it gets incredibly busy. I believe the parks (Disney + Universal) are open on Christmas Day but would highly recommend researching as again, they will likely be very busy. Would also suggest a car, especially for Disney.

You mentioned that you have visited LA before, so you will know that it is huge. IMO would recommend getting a car if you can as this will give you flexibility to get around and explore further afield e.g. Big Bear Lake . I have never personally taken public transport in LA as find it doesn't connect too well, also keep in mind they may run a reduced service on Christmas Day. Uber (if it runs) may be on a high surcharge.

Good luck 😊

@Sweetpea63thank you