Los Angeles Travel Forum

Which area of LA should I look for Hotel booking for stay during 3-4 weekdays -leisure travel - Usual sights (Universal, Magic mountain, Hollywood) - safe for a family

thanks in advance for any tips

Nicest area to stay in Santa Monica - a little away from usual sights, but it's nicer out at the beach.

Just make sure before you book a hotel, you use Google maps and check the hotel is *actually* in Santa Monica. I have seen many hotels names "This or that - Santa Monica" - an they're really not in Santa Monica. You're by the beach and could also go down rent bikes and go to Venice Beach (not necessarily to bathe, but to ride around).

I also would recommend Santa Monica. Hotels are quite pricey there, so I would use hotwire.com and choose a hotel that is 3 stars or higher.

I typically stay at the Courtyard at LAX, or just south of LAX - $99 - 129

you can park free and its pretty close to the airport, the beach and most of the stuff - really nice if you fly out early the last day

there is a Courtyard in Sherman Oaks pretty close to Burbank and the UNiversal stuff

check the web based sellers - and get a deal

hard to beat Beverly Hills if there is a deal

I would let where you plan to visit pick where you should stay in the LA area. If you're mainly going to be doing Universal, MM, & Hollywood, I would suggest staying near Universal - this is a big tourist area so there are plenty of hotels.

Staying in Santa Monica is nice but if your focus is going to be the above mentioned areas you are going to be spending a LOT of time driving back and forth from your hotel. Santa Monica is a long way from all three of those tourist sites. If you plan on spending a lot of time at the beach, then SM would be great (albeit expensive)and definitely a safe area.

Places you wouldn't want to stay - Central LA, South LA - aren't really near any tourist sites so it shouldn't be a problem. Hollywood has a few okay areas but I wouldn't recommend staying there. Check into Burbank, Studio City, or North Hollywood - they should all be much closer to your three target sites and they are pretty safe neighborhoods. Even some place like Pasadena, which is a lovely area as well, wouldn't be too far away down the 134 from where you want to visit and closer than Santa Monica would be.

Thanks everyone. I did see quite a lot of recommendations for Santa Monica on other forums too, so makes sense. But as DueSer pointed out, my focus is indeed going to be MM, Universal and Hollywood - some amount of beach time would be there.

i agree that santa monica is a good location for a hotel. other options for the areas you mentioned is century city and beverly hills as they are much closer and commute time will be a factor on such a short trip. beware also that santa monica is a big city. there arent any really dangerous areas to speak of but you might want to check google maps street views when selecting your hotel because a lot of areas are not so pretty. if you select a business hotel quality or level you should be fine.

Traffic between the Universal City area and Pasadena can be downright painful, particularly if you're not familiar with side streets. Not sure I would recommend it for a stay. Universal City and Burbank are close and safe - albeit, boring. ;)

Well, travel from any one place to another in LA can be seriously frustrating *and* painful but that's if you go at rush hour. No matter where you stay, don't leave in the morning until at least 8:30am but 9 or later would be better and don't head back to your hotel until later in the evening - say, around 7 or 8pm - or you'll get to experience the real LA, gridlock and all;-)

Ummmm....okay. Not like some roads are worse than others, or anything...