Los Angeles trip and onward ideas

[Fibonaccithesequel]

We’re going to LA in July 28 for the Olympics. Our tickets are over 5 days. Any must dos in LA, where did people stay that worked well, and where would you go before and after? We have 2-3 weeks. I’m think July will be too hot for Palm Springs and Grand Canyon, don’t fancy Vegas.

We have our kids (boys) but they are early 20s - they will enjoy a combination of film, vintage stuff, iconic sights and beach time.

We’ve been to San Francisco and down to Big Sur on the Coastal Highway , Yosemite, Sequioa before.

Any input/ideas/experiences would be amazing - thanks.

Beaches around Santa Monica. It will be hot everywhere! Santa Barbara is good too. Anywhere in the desert is horribly hot! We liked the Getty Centre in LA (amazing building!) and driving Mulholland Drive where you end up near the Hollywood sign. Paramount studios might be of interest and we found the Hollywood Museum interesting. Check opening times. It was in the old Max Factor factory and had make up booths from the 30s. Have not been recently though.

San Diego, the zoo is amazing, you could consider staying also around either San Clemente or La Jolla,
lovely beach towns. We have also been up to big bear lake that time of year which is lovely.

San Diego is ok but roasting in the summer. La Jolla has very smelly seals and does a 20 plus young man want a zoo?

The other option is flying somewhere like Seattle and going into the Olympic national park and Washington state. Or go further to Vancouver and explore Vancouver island. Both maybe nicer than LA and California in August.

@MeetMeOnTheCornerour 21 year old loved the zoo

Thanks - that all sounds great! Temperature wise I’ve been looking at the coast (both LA and San Diego) and it’s saying 25C ish currently (dropping to 19 at night) so pretty manageable. I’m not sure if that’s normal or not this time of year. It was 27C in Edinburgh today 🤪 Joshua Tree is saying 36C!

Lots of time to plan at least! A studio tour sounds fab, so does Santa Monica. I’ll look into the Getty. I also read about a fossil place in LA that sounds very cool. We probably won’t do the zoo to be honest. They are more into popular culture, vintage shopping, people watching,sports and the beach. I’d love to do something outdoorsy so I’ll look into those recommendations-thanks.

I am really tempted by Vancouver island but maybe another trip. If we had three weeks we could maybe do it….

@jeaux90 thanks, I will look into the zoo 😊

San Diego? Over the border to Mexico for a few days?

I think that’s cool for August around Southern California. Temps are normally 30 plus.

Melrose Avenue has many vintage shops and a Sunday vintage market. Could be fun.

Channel Islands NP for whale watching and sea kayaking. Cute liitle foxes in the campground.

The Getty is really good. The Tar Pits are worth a look. We just drove through Hollywood for a look see, Chinese Theatre and Walk of Fame.

We’ve done Death Valley / Joshua Tree / Palm Springs in July, and it is very hot (but manageable - and we were coming from cold rainy Scotland). We flew into San Diego to meet up with friends, it doesn’t get stupidly hot (max summer temps are around 25C) and the zoo was great (although it pissed down). There are some good museums, the USS Midway is interesting, Coronado Island, and you could take in a baseball game too.

You could fly to somewhere else for a few days? Hawaii?

Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm would be top of our DC list (granted a bit younger than yours but I can’t see it being different in a few years.)

The Warner Bros studio tour is very good if you’ve not done it before.

Where to stay totally depends on what and where you’re going. LA is so sprawling that there’s no one good location.

id probably fly up to Vancouver and do an Alaskan cruise this time of year.

Hawaii? Only 5-6 hours from LA

Thanks! Hawaii is a thought. Not sure I can face the journey home from there though!

The tickets we’ve got are beach volleyball (Long Beach), athletics (LA memorial coliseum).

I would head up to Canada, if you fly via Vancouver on the way you can have one or two nights in the city to get over jet lag before heading south to La - accommodation will be tight there then head back pick up a rental car and go out to Vancouver island or do a round trip do Seattle, Olympic peninsula Vancouver island then back to Vancouver. We rented from enterprise but used a desk at a hotel (where we also stayed) to avoid high airport surcharges, excellent metro to airport

The temp is quite variable. Right on the coast/beach it tends to be bearable, because you always get a sea breeze and first thing you often get 'the marine layer' of cloud, which keeps things cool. But go inland even a few miles and the temp rises quickly. Burbank, for instance, which is in the north part of LA and where the film/tv studios are, is always boiling in summer. We've been to LA several times and are going back next week, because it's a great city to visit and has loads to do. Last time we stayed in Beverly Centre, which is a convenient location, but not particularly lovely. If you can afford to stay on the beach, do that, although it's not so convenient for sightseeing, because LA is a big, sprawling place with pretty awful traffic.

Stuff we did that I'd recommend:

• La Brea Tar Pits and Museum
• Griffith Observatory (go up at night you get a fabulous view over LA)
• Hollywood Walk of Fame/Graumann's Chinese Theatre for the stars' handprints (beware this area is dirty and full of homeless/drug addicted people that are frequently passed out on the pavement and/or stumbling about and can be quite scary)
• a kitschy bus tour of star's homes that took us all round the Hollywood Hills, along Mulholland Drive, Beverly Hills, etc
• Original LA Farmers Market/The Grove shopping centre
• Santa Monica
• Warner Bros Studio Tour (good if you're a Friends fan)
• Universal Studios (more of a theme park than a studio tour)
• Disneyland/Disney California Adventure, if you are so inclined. I'm not a Disney fan and IMO they let far too many people in so they're hideously overcrowded and they're very hot, but I know a lot of people love them!

This time we're staying outside LA and will go to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and the Petersen Automotive Museum, both of which are supposed to be great.

Where to go before/after: Santa Barbara is nice, but my personal favourite is southern California. There are lots of lovely beach towns where you could stay and enjoy the laid back vibe and San Diego probably my favourite west coast city. Plenty of stuff to do, beautiful city with lots of lovely neighbourhoods and you can easily drive back up to LA for your flight home.

Vegas to Grand Canyon! I have done that in July before.

There is a lot in Vegas that isn't gambling, and its all air conditioned. The Formula 1 pit lane has an attraction and you can race go karts through the pit buildings and start / finish straight. The sphere is great, the amazing shows in many theatres, the bodyworks exhibition, plus the out there architecture of the casinos and internal shopping malls. I think the NBA summer league will be just before the Olympics. You pay about $70 and get to watch multiple games from 3:30 to 9:30. Random shout out for the Atomic Museum, especially if you watched and enjoyed Oppenheimer.

In the summer the Grand Canyon doesn't let people down into the canyon itself to hike because it's hot, dry and little shade. But the south rim is gorgeous, sunrise and sunset are beautiful, and it's higher and not as stifling hot, usually has a breeze too due to the Canyon. They run shuttle buses to various viewpoints.

You can link LA, Vegas and Grand Canyon via some of route 66. Highlights for me are the Oatman highway and Seligman. Then the Wigwam hotel in San Bernadino (LA) or Holbrook (after the Grand Canyon). You'll be in an air-conditioned car so a largely look out the window holiday for a couple of days. But the landscape changes quite a lot.

For LA: I agree with a previous poster that the immediate mile in from the coast is way cooler than even a little more inland.

Whilst everyone goes to Santa Monica, I found the Pier underwhelming and tacky.

I love the Venice Beach vibe though, especially in the early evening (Skateboarding, pickup basketball, muscle beach and the rollerskating crowd). Lots of homeless but they didn't seem threatening to me. I wouldn't hang around after dark though, and there aren't many hotels in that area.

I think you might be best looking around Long Beach for a hotel and driving for the tourist things. The shopping centre at the Chinese Theater is set up well - lots of parking underneath and a clear view of the Hollywood sign (it's quite a way away and smaller than you might think). Access to the theatre and the main bit of the walk of fame.
I've done Universal and loved the actual filming lot (back to the future, Jurassic park, TED, the theme park is fun too, especially the Simpson's land. I've not done the others which are studios only

Hire a car for LA - it's such a car city.

Santa Monica / Venice beaches are big and flat, great for a beach cruiser cycle ride! But I'd be tempted to try some more interesting beaches to the south (that I've not been to) like Crystal Cove, Laguna. Santa Barbara is lovely, clean very middle class and walkable with a pedestrianised high street. Personally I'd go to South LA beaches for a change because I've been to Santa Barbara!

Ohh, reading with interest as we also want to come for the LA Olympics in 2028! My daughter will be 18 by then, so we are definitely planning on renting a car and going to Vegas! Also on the tentative plan are Hollywood/Beverly Hills, Warner Brothers Studios and Santa Barbara (I have very fond memories of Santa Barbara from a childhood holiday and also an old TV show I used to love). Very open to hearing all suggestions.

Vegas is just horrible! I guess @Fibonaccithesequel you have to know what sort of person you are. My dc are not remotely interested in Vegas. The Grand Canyon is fantastic but not in August! Why not go to places that are great in the summer? Vegas is hot, sweaty and overcrowded - it’s awful. But if you like tacky it’s for you. If you like awsome countryside and wildlife there’s much better places - the whales are amazing.

Thanks so much everyone! I really appreciate all the input. I think we’re probably more into Southern California than Vegas, although I’m sure the boys would love the f1 stuff. I’ll not get my husband to Vegas though. I would love to do the GC but I’ll wait until we can hike it. So many fab options! Canada sounds amazing too, but I think is another trip.

Vegas and Grand Canyon are better out of the summer months - Vegas was 42 degrees when we were there two years ago, which is absolutely unbearable. There is interesting stuff there though, even if gambling is the last thing you'd be interested in. I recommend the Valley of Fire State Park, Red Rock Canyon, the Mob Museum, and the shows in Vegas are amazing. But I'd go in spring or autumn, when it's cooler. The GC gets snow in winter.

I've been to Vegas about 5 times now, only once as a destination in itself, otherwise very much on my way elsewhere. And I'm not that fussed - it's fun for a couple of days ..

San Diego is a lovely city - it's quite walkable in a way that LA really isn't. Temperature is nice, there's some great beaches near by.

The Griffiths Observatory in LA is great.

Depending on what dates you’ll be out there - at the end of July San Diego hosts ComiCon - even if you can’t tickets to it, there is usually lots going on around the city which might interest you DC?

LA to Hawaii, the extra hours can be curtailed a little by flying back via San Fran.

Def worth it IMO.