Los Angeles Travel Forum

after 10 years of traveling to Florida on my January vacation , I will be trying a few days in California next January
I will be staying 2 nights in Los Angeles ,drive to Vegas for a 3 night stay & drive back to L.A. for a night-flight to Miami where we will take a cruise
My first question is : what is the best ( safest & nicest ) area for a hotel in Los Angeles ?
secondly : is it , weatherwise , possible to drive to Las Vegas on a motorbike in January , or will it be to cold at that time of the year
We would drive from Los Angeles to Barstow and then take route 66 ( or what is left of it ) to Needles and then go up to Vegas passing by the hoover dam
We haven't decided wich road to take for driving back to L.A. , if anyone has a suggestion ....
Thanks in advance
Lesly

I'm travelling to the Los Angeles area for 5 nights Nov 4-9. Arriving late Wed. night (9:30pm), renting a car at LAX and will check into a hotel for that night. Will visit Hollywood area (landmarks, bus tour, etc.) Thursday before going to Long Beach for 3 nights (Queen Mary). Can anyone suggest a hotel to stay at our first night? Probably nothing too too fancy since we are getting in late, but still decent in a good location.

Will then be checking out of Queen Mary Sunday for more sightseeing (possibly Getty Museum, LaBrea Tar Pits, beach sunset). Will check into a hotel for that night, spend most of Monday doing more sightseeing (possibly a studio tour) before leaving L.A. late Monday night. Can anyone suggest a hotel for our last night on Sunday, maybe a beach hotel?

Thanks.

i'm travelling to l.a in late november with 2 other mates..
we're all 22 and are going to be there for around a week, and then heading to vegas for a couple of nights before returning..
i was wondering what would be the best mode of transport for us?
i've heard the public transport isnt very good so would hiring a car be best?
and is it possible if we're 22?
and one last question.. if we were to hire a car can we drive it to vegas??
thanks for your help in advance

I want to rent a Van in New York and drop it off in Los Angeles. Is it possible?
Please provide some suggestion about my question.

We'll on a 12-13hours international flight to LAX, and have 9hours before getting on the domestic flight.

May I know if there is any shower facilities cum lounge service at LAX? Any suggestion what else can we during this period, we'll have our baggage with us.

Hello,

I will be driving from Santa Barbara to San Diego. I was planning on taking the 101 to the 5 and heading south from there. It should be around 3 or 4, depending, but could be as late as 5pm, rush hour!

Is traffic on the 5 going to be awful or would it be better for me to cut over from the 101 to Highway 1 (coastal route) for the scenic route, then hop on the 10 to the 405, then picking up the 5 around Laguna Niguel? I am just looking for the quickest route that makes the most sense.

Thanks!

Can I ask what time people eat in restaurants in LA. We usually book for 9pm over here (London) but I seem to recall reading people eat earlier over there. Could you recommend what time I should go for in smart restaurants?

Many thanks

Emily

Are there still artists, performers, etc. out in full force on the Venice Beach Strand on the weekends in September and beyond? Any other days? Thank you - Alexis

Are there any venues in LAX area where under 18 can listen to live bands, in particular alternative or punk?

Hi everyone
Thanks for the great advice here!
I am thinking of visiting either Santa Monica or Long Beach aquarium. Any views on one of them over the other? Don't think I want to visit both in one trip!
Thanks in advance.

Hi
Coming from a place where we drive on the "other side" of the road, I didn't want to rent and drive a car in LA. So, I scanned through the Metro website but could not find any information on how to change from one bus service to another or between a bus service and a subway line. Do I use (tap) the same ticket again as I continue the next leg of the journey or do I buy a new ticket? Are transfers between buses or bus-subway line usually convenient?
Many thanks in advance!

Hi
We will be in LA late November and I would love to take my kids to see Mary Poppins, but I have done a web search and found out it will cost us $85 each way by taxi.
Does anyone know a cheaper way to get to the theatre with kids in tow?

Thanks in advance

Paul

Hi

We are planning a trip to Disneyland, universal studio Los Angeles this coming November 20, 2009 for 6 days we are 2 adults and 4 kids ages 13,11,9,7 .

I like to know please what are the best locations where there are good hotels ,restaurants ,malls or shopping centers so we could just walk from the hotel since that i am not driving and if you can suggest more places to visit.

thanks so much

We are traveling to Los Angeles with our 6 year old son and planning on visiting the Zoo and Natural History Museum the first day and the Aquarium of the Pacific the second day. All in all we are staying two nights and three days.

Where would be the best area to stay?

I will be travelling to LA at the end of August and need to know what the best way is to get around.

I'm staying in Hollywood, and need to get to The Forum in Inglewood and then back again. I will be travelling at night so I would rather not catch public transport into any dodgy areas.

Can anyone please help? I was told that a taxi might cost me about $50. Is this true? Thanks

Hi everyone...just wanted to find out what traffic is normally like on Sunday afternoons? We're going to be travelling from Anaheim to LAX to catch an evening flight (11:00pm), and wanted to find out how much in advance we need to leave the hotel to be at the airport 3 hours prior to the flight leaving at 11pm. We will be travelling by shuttle bus if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance for any info anyone can provide.

I am looking for a hotel in a safe area not far from LAX. The intent is to spend 3 nights and be in a position to take sightseeing tours from or close to the hotel. I will not have a car. Don't bother suggesting that I rent one. it appears that many tours leave from the hotels around here but I have read some of the hotels are not in good areas. It would be nice to be able to walk around the area at night safely even though the day would be spent sightseeing. Anybody have experience or knowledge they can share? Thank you.

Hi

We are mixing 2 of our favourite things from the 9th to 17th December, Los Angeles & Christmas - mainly for some Xmas retail therapy! (We have been to NYC most years but have decided to try LA this year)

Can anybody give us any pointers on where we can go to get us in the festive mood - this includes shopping, attractions and shows?

Thanks in advance

Is there a cab that we could get from LAX to Santa Monica Beach? If so, about how much would it cost?

Hey everyone,

I am going to visit USA for the first time in October. I will be landing at the LAX and from there i need to go to Carlsbad (Oleander Street). So if you people can guide me for the same it'll be great. I would prefer to travel by train. So basically 1)how do i get to the train station (where i can board a train to Carlsbad) from LAX?
2)Which train do i need to catch?
3)What station in Carlsbad do i need to get down for Oleander street?

Hi everyone-
My husband and I will have about 10 hours between disembarking from our cruise and our flight out of LAX. We'd like to go see some sights but I heard that there is no place to store your luggage at the airport. Can anyone confirm this?
If so, do you know of any place near LAX that will?

Apparently the airline will not let us check our luggage that far in advance of the flight...so we're stuck with lugging 4 large suitcases around LA if we don't find somewhere.

Thank you!

ok so, i know that there is an amtrak or metrolink train that takes you straight to angel stadium from riverside and back after the game. but my brother is a huge dodger fan so i'm trying to find out if anyone knows if there is anything like that to dodger stadium. whether is a train or whatever...thanks

>megan

Can anyone be kind to advice :

What is the best budget accomodation outside disney ?

What is the distance and time to reach universal studio from disney ?

I don't have car so what is the best budget option to reach universal from disney ?

I am traveling with my family of 4 adults.

We are off to LA as part of a 2 week California trip this September and would love some good restaurant recommendations. We are staying in Santa Monica for 2 nights then West Hollywood (Best Western) for 2 nights. We'd like to go to a swish restaurant one night in LA and were thinking about Koi, would you recommend here? Any other recommendations at all prices in either area are welcome!

Thanks
x

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

I notice that most of the hotels along Century Blvd. charge a lot of money for parking while staying at the hotels. Are there any side streets/residential areas where one could park nearby and walk to the hotel?
txs

What would the best transportation and route be to see the following:
Hollywood Blvd
Rodeo Drive
Pink's
Warner Bros Studio

We will fly into LAX early on a Wednesday morning, and will be leaving around 7pm that evening.
Thanks!

Hi
I am planning a holiday in California in August and want to rent a car when I arrive at LAX airport.
However browsing the usual car hire companies (Hertz, Budget,...) I got confused.
A quote from Hertz for 3 weeks with pick-up at the airport will cost me around $900. When I change the pickup location to a hotel branch in the city (Century City), the price drops to $570 for the same car and same period.
The difference is a "Hotel concession fee recovery" for the hotel and "airport concession fee recovery" for LAX. And there is a "Customer facility charge" included at LAX and not at the hotel. Could this make such a big difference?
Are there some other hidden charges that I am missing and will be charged later?
Any information and advice on this is more than welcome.

Can anyone be kind to advice the best way to reach Irvine station from LAX airport ?

How much will metro cost ?

How much will cab cost ?

What is the best way for 4 adults with 4 luggage ?

Where is a good place to find Santa Monica visitor information? I'm going on a Santa Monica beach vacation so I would like to find a Santa Monica visitor guide that will help me find cool Santa Monica visitor attractions and other kinds of Santa Monica visitor information like hotels and places to shop. Can anyone recommend a place to find Santa Monica visitor information for Santa Monica beach travel.