Hi

I am travelling from San Diego to LA in July (about 4 weeks!) and was wondering on which places to stay. Anya areas, reccomendations on hotels? Anywhere to avoid? We are x3 25 year old lads so looking for few nights out aswell

cheers

DAN

You're leaving IN four weeks, or staying FOR four weeks?
If you're staying for four weeks, you'd be better off renting a temporary apartment. Look at the west side of LA, north of I-10, in the City of Santa Monica, or pretty much anywhere along the beach.
If you're leaving in four weeks, were you planning on renting a car? Do you plan on doing the tourist stuff (Hollywood Boulevard, Universal Studios, Venice Beach, etc.) or getting into the nightlife? What's your budget for a hotel? What star rating do you want?
Look into West Hollywood, along Sunset and Santa Monica Boulevards. Also in Santa Monica itself. Both are close to nightlife and tourist attractions.

Well, there's tons of places to stay both in San Diego and LA! What is your budget? You can visit my Los Angeles page and see hotel tip. I have listed various kinds of hotels and more or less the prices range.

In LA, for 3 young guys, I suggest Pasadena, Hungtington Beach, Universal City or Santa Monica.

Hope that helps!

Oh sorry yes was probabl bit vague with it all. Yeah we have got a car rented and looking to stay in La 2/3 days then upto San Francisco. Well we would like to stay sumwhere quite nice but dont want to pay over the odds really.

Thanks for the advice tho. Not sure on Universal and Disney - but will be up4 seeing some other toursit places. Def want to check out Hollywood(just to say we have been lol!).
I will def check out your pages. Any other advice would be much appreciated.

What will the weather be like about this time in LA? Probably be about July 23rd.

thanks

July 23rd should be hot in LA! Between 75-100 degrees F. Last year, I went to Hawaii around that time and when we were gone, LA had some rain showers a few days. That was bizzarre!

Definetly check out the La Jolla area of San Diego. The Gaslamp District in downtown is fun for nightlife.

When you drive to Los Angeles, get off I-5 and drive along the coast down to Huntington Beach and get back on the freeway and stay in Santa Monica. There's a lot of action in that area and is what most people think of Southern California. Hollywood will be a huge dissapointment, but it's worth visiting so you can say you've been there. Also check out Venice Beach during the day, awesome people watching, I saw the show Nexxt being taped live. It was a basketball game with a bunch of midgets.

When you drive to San Francisco, spend a night in Santa Barbara, nice college town. Then spend another night in Pismo Beach and rent ATV's and ride the massive dunes. Arnie's ATV Rental has a great prices. Angelos isn't bad either.

Then stay in the Union Square area of San Francisco and that is where you will find the best nightlife, restaurants etc in California.

If you are staying 4 weeks, you will have more than enough time to visit Las Vegas and that would be a MUST! Especially at your age. You don't need to gamble, the resorts, the pools, the shows, the nightlife, and THE WOMEN! OMG!!!

Thanks for all the info again people!

We are kinda going to stay where we feel is good and then leave when we want to. We are planning to head to Las Vegas after Sam Fran via Yosemite to probably stay a few nights. I heard this is a bit of a long drive?

Also we wanted to try and do some water rafting while over in the US. Are there any rivers around there anywhere which we could go to and look into some action?

Def going to stay in Santa Monica when in LA i think as my friends said that is a nice place to stay. We are only staying for 2 weeks so going to try and get as much done as possible.

thanks again for the info

dan

Dan,
There is a hostel in Hermosa Beach...if you can get a room try it since it is steps from the water. If not there are a few hotels straight up Pier Ave on PCH..a Hampton Inn and Hotel Hermoso a little further North. It's cheaper than Santa Monica. There are enough bars on the Promenade to keep you entertained for a night. You can rent bikes down there and head south on the strand to Redondo for a few beers an Naja's (A local drinking institution) or north to Manhattan Beach (more beach bars). There is also a place to rent a surf/boggie board a street north off Pier if you want to try that out. Hermosa is a 15 min cab ride to the Metro station on Marine Ave where you can catch a cheap ride to Hollywood and Pasadena (will take a few change of trains but it is cheaper than driving---there is also free parking if you have a car. Santa Monica is nice if you like other tourists (not that Hermosa is lacking it's share either) but the beers/hotels are cheaper and the women a bit better looking/friendlier.

Have a good trip

With so little time, I'd do Santa Monica(day/night) and Venice(during the day, mind you), and skip those other beach towns...they are a bit "college party" in Hermosa, Redondo, Manhattan Beach, which bores me...but, that said, might be what you're looking for.

Sunset Strip is quite impressive for nightlife, and a main/historic destination. Hotels can be pricey and most of the crowds are out of towners. Hollywood proper has become hipper than Sunset, overall, but is not as "pretty", and much more gritty. Oftentimes you can get a good advance rate at The Roosevelt, and Best Western Hollywood Hills(a ten minute walk to Cahuenga and it's bar hopping). Downtown LA is arguably the hippest hood for nightlife, now, but will likely scare the casual traveler. Just to be fair! Advance rates at The Downtown Standard, an uber hip hotel, can be fair.

Pasadena...ugh...I always disagree with Grace on this, but it's so suburban and "bro", that it makes me violent. I worked there for many years...boring.

Yes, in San Diego, best bets are Gaslamp(I got a great rate at the Wyndham Emerald City, under my SD tips), as well as La Jolla(wealthy), and Mission Beach(surf city).

A lot of my friends are promoters, and I work in liquor distribution, so I kinda know my stuff. But, research what you want and go from there. LA is quite vast.

Oh, and if you stay in Hollywood proper, I recommend a night at The Hollywood Bowl. Any concert will end early enough for bar hopping, and it's a hell of a time.

Feist and Dap Kings...7/20
Gnarls Barkley and Youssou N'Dour...7/27

Got my tix, today, $18/pp!

http://losangeles.citysearch.com/roundup/40055

http://losangeles.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/roundup/cahuenga-corridor-nightlife-guide/154539/content

www.thesunsetstrip.com

www.thehollywoodbowl.com

http://losangeles.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/roundup/downtown-nightlife-guide/123485/content


Welcome!

GC