4 Days in Los Angeles

Recently, Rishi and I had the opportunity to book a flight deal that was from Buffalo to Los Angeles round trip for $110 per person flying with JetBlue. It was our first time in beautiful Los Angeles. We were lucky enough to see how Christmas was in California. We tried to pack in as much as possible and had a blast. We rented a car from LAX for a total of $98 CAD for the 4 days.

Here was our itinerary:

Day 1

  • Head towards Downtown LA during the weekend. We went on a Sunday where parking was free everywhere. We checked out the following in the area:
  1. Walt Disney Concert Hall. Beautiful silver building to explore even just from the outside
  2. The Broad. Great museum with neat exhibitions, also a great looking building from the outside.
  3. Grand Central Market for some lunch.
  4. Bradbury building across the street for some photo ops. It’s got some great architecture inside.
  5. The Last Bookstore. One of the most unique stores we’ve seen. Don’t forget to go upstairs! There was also a Farmer’s Market on the street.
  6. Pershing Square. Nice little park in the middle of downtown. Offers Ice Skating in December!
  7. Little Tokyo. Check out Blooming Art Store to buy some neat Japanese items
  8. Los Angeles River View. Park underneath 4th or 6th St and walk up on the bridge. Great views of DTLA and River.
  9. Angels City Brewery. Have a cold beer at this unique brewery. You can walk around with your beer and shop local vendors
  • Drive to Hermosa Beach & Pier to catch the sunset. (Tip. L.A sunsets a truly breathtaking. Always plan out where you will be during sunset so you can watch it!)
  • Drive to Santa Monica Pier at night is amazing with Christmas lights and shopping.

Day 2

  • Check out the La Brea Tar Pits and go see “Levitated Mass” (an art installament which is a huge rock above a trench)
  • Drive on Angeles Crest Highway. Breathtaking views with lots of areas to park and take pictures. Take a look at the 100 inch Hooker telescope
  • Drive to Mt. Wilson Peak and Observatory. If it’s cloudy in LA, this is a way to get above the clouds and into the California sun
  • Head back to the city and go for a quick hike up Runyon Canyon. If you want to go for the view and limited with time, you can park on the north end. From there it’s only a 5 min walk to the peak. There are excellent views of the Hollywood sign and of Los Angeles.
  • Watch the L.A Sunset – drive to Griffith Observatory. One of the most spectacular sunsets you will ever see.

Day 3

  • Get Free tickets for Conan O’Brien
    • Get to Warner Brothers Gate 8 at around 1pm to pre-checkin and get your tickets and hold your seats. You can then leave and will have to come back for 3:15pm
  • Check out Universal City and City Walk. Cheapest parking is the Jurassic Valet parking for $2/first 2 hours with validation of any restaurant. Cheapest place to get it validated was Starbucks.

 

Day 4

  • Hike up to the Hollywood sign and back of the Hollywood sign. Park at 3500
    Dr.
    There are 2 trails halfway through, one to get in front of the Hollywood sign and another to get to the back. Hike takes about 2 to 2 ½ hours.
  • Drive the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu.and back to Santa Monica Pier during the daytime. Check out the Point Dume Park from some views. Lots of places to stop and enjoy the beach and views

  • Sunset at Venice Beach (Save the Best for Last!)
  1. Check out Venice Skatepark
  2. Shop along the boardwalk
  3. Admire the muscles at Muscle Beach
  4. Grab a delicious coffee at Menotti’s Coffee Stop

 

 

If you are looking for help to plan out your next trip to L.A, we hope this blog can help you. Otherwise, feel free to ask me any questions: farah@nextdeparture.ca

 

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