Your First Trip to Los Angeles


Here’s your guide: the best tourist to-do list for your first visit to LA.

Venice Beach Boardwalk

Crazy stores, crazy street performers, a lot of legal marijuana, great beach views, muscle beach, all of these things are here. The absolute people watching event of a lifetime

Hollywood Sign Views

Two spots are exceptional — Just east of Lake Hollywood Park (3200 Canyon Lake Dr. Los Angeles, CA 90027) or the Griffith Park Observatory (2800 East Observatory Road, Los Angeles, CA 90027) which is a huge tourist attraction, on top of having such beautiful views it has of LA.

Hollywood Walk of Fame & Hollywood and Highland

The best parts of the walk of fame are at the intersection of hollywood and highland. Two to three blocks east and west on Hollywood blvd are the furthest you need to go to experience it. The mall there is called hollywood and Highland, which is also a huge draw, this is where the Oscars take place. This is also where Graumans Chinese theater is, which is where the hand and footprints in the concrete are. The nearby wax museum is also weirdly entertaining, though also absurdly expensive.

Famous Film Locations

Use google. Type in your favorite movie and then type the words “actual filming location” to see where it was shot. If it was shot in LA, why not stop by and grab a shot where one of your favorite films was shot. Or poop on them if that’s what you’re in to. A couple suggestions for good sites to find film locations: Tripline & Discover Los Angeles

This is what’s left of the mash set at Malibu Creek State Park. And it’s like an hour hike if you’re a semi slow hiker like me. Your best bet is to just skip this one, as the picture above has just shown you everything you could possibly see there. But definitely go to Malibu Creek for a hike, it’s one of the more beaufitul landscapes in the LA area. Unless you don’t like hiking, then nevermind.

Sunset Strip

Where do celebrities die a lot? Partying on the sunset strip. Starts around crescent heights and sunset blvd near the chateau marmont, and goes all the way west to Doheny Drive. Famous spots are the whisky a go go, the viper room (many deaths here), rainbow room, and other celebrity spots like the Sunset Plaza restaurants and the Sunset Tower hotel.

I don’t know why I put a picture of the beverly hills sign here, definitely didn’t need it, but it just felt right

Beverly Hills Shopping

The famous rodeo drive is here. All pretty self explanatory on what’s happening here. This is a shopping district where everything is insanely expensive for the purpose of being expensive. Lots of celebrities, etc. It’s fun to walk around and look at the prices to laugh at how much money rich people spend on things. It’s so ridiculous and they’re stupid enough to pay these prices because they have no purpose in their lives except to spend money frivolously.

A Fun & Scary Drive

Mullholland drive is an incredible driving experience. Particularly for those who have never driven it before. It’s super winding, scary and exhilirating. There are overlooks on both the north and south sides of the road, stop and get pics of the great views during the day and at night. One more amazing drive to do is the the pacific coast highway, aka the PCH; the views of the ocean are incredible.

Nature Stuff

Not sure if you’re into nature or how many days you’ll be in LA, but there are a lot of amazing hikes and natural rock formations in and around LA. Here’s a few: Vazquez Rocks, Sage Ranch Park, Red Rocks, Joshua Tree, palm springs and Malibu Creek State Park.

This is the most famous rock at Vazquez Rocks. It’s also a famous film location, and it’s surprisingly easy to climb

Vazquez is definitely breathtaking, it’s been in a ton of TV shows and movies, including Bill and Ted’s bogus Journey and almost every version of Star Trek.

Joshua Tree and palm springs are also both worth the trip. Joshua Tree has amazing trees, rock formations and exploration; Palm Springs has the best relaxation sitting poolside that you can find. Both can be stopped at on the way to LA from vegas if you take the right highway.

Theme Parks & Tours

There are a couple obvious ones, Disneyland and Universal Studios. Definitely take the studio tour at universal if you can. Warner brother also has a good studio tour if you still want to do another, but it’s more of an adult studio tour compared to universal. You might also consider taking one of those bus tours that drives you around to the sites, I’ve never done one but I hear they can be quite fun.

Downtown LA

Honestly, most other major cities have a way better downtown than LA. LA’s downtown isn’t very walkable, you should really see if there is anything specific you want to see down there before making the trip. There are some really wonderful things to do and see down here, including some obvious famous film locations, but I would only recommend coming down and exploring more on a second or third trip to Los Angeles.

Santa Monica Pier and Third Street Promenade

The pier is like a carnival, on a pier, on the ocean. It’s really fun for kids. Third street promenade is an outdoor shopping district in Santa Monica, similar to the Beverly Hills shopping district, but a bit newer, cooler and cheaper. It actually gets quite cold on the beach a lot, so bring a jacket. I’m kind of a wuss though, from having lived here a while, if you’re from somewhere where it snows, you probably don’t need a jacket.