Los Angeles Travel Tips?

I mentioned a couple of months ago in another thread that I’d booked flights to Los Angeles for a few days in June as part of my holiday to the US.

The plan was to stay with a friend who lives in LA. However, she travels a lot for work and her schedule can change at any time... and while she said she’s not sure if she’ll actually be in LA on the same dates I am, she also said I’d be welcome to stay in her apartment even if she’s not there.

However, turns out that her schedule for June is really up in the air as she’s just got a new project which could take her to the other side of the country (she’s freelance) and also it seems there might be a problem with her landlord allowing me to stay in her apartment without her being there.

So, my plan now is to book hotel(s) as a back-up plan, which I can cancel if it turns out she will be around after all... and if she isn’t, at least I’ll have somewhere to stay.

But my problem is that I’m not really sure where is best to stay and how easy it is to get around LA, especially as a single woman travelling alone. I have been to LA 3 times before, but I was a student travelling with friends then, and it’s been 11 years since I was last there.

I was hoping that some of you who know LA might be able to give me some advice?

I arrive into LAX at about 7:30pm on a Saturday evening, so I was thinking it might be easiest to stay near the airport that night, just in case it takes hours to get through immigration and it’s late when I finally get out of the airport.

Then I have 4 more nights in the city, before flying to Dallas on Thursday morning.

I was thinking of booking a hotel in Anaheim as
a) I love Disneyland (I could spend the entire week in the parks )
and
b) I’ve stayed in Anaheim before.

But my questions are:
- what’s the best/cheapest way to get from the airport to Anaheim? (I’ve read about a Disney shuttle bus that goes between LAX and various hotels?)
- if I were to stay in Anaheim for the rest of the trip, how easy is it to get to other parts of the city from there? (I’ve done a touristy guided Hollywood tour before but haven’t tried to get somewhere by myself)
- is there anywhere more central I could stay so that it’s easier to get to various places around the city (I.e. Disneyland, Universal Studios, Santa Monica etc.)
- what’s the safest way to see/travel around the city on my own?
- what kind of public transport options are available (I won’t have a car)?

Any suggestions or advice would be very much welcome .



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Hmmm. Public transportation is really spotty there - some areas well-served, some not at all.   I am at a loss as to how to tell you to get around in LA without a car, really. While you can probably eventually get to the touristy places by public transportation, it'll be really slow (as in hours) and although it'll give you a great view of daily life in LA, it'll eat up your time. So I'll let someone more familiar with LA give you tips there. This might help? https://www.tripsavvy.com/visiting-los-angeles-without-a-car-1586578

Here's info from Disney on how to get to them from LAX .https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/getting-here/by-plane/
and, for prices and options, https://www.tripsavvy.com/lax-to-disneyland-transportation-4136067

The weather should be nice in June (hopefully) although the area is prone to "June Gloom" - cloudy mornings and evenings, and clear afternoons. You'll need sunscreen no matter which it is, as the solar radiation makes it through the clouds. It is extremely unlikely that it will rain there in June.

The Sheraton Gateway has an airport shuttle and is close in to the airport. (West Century Blvd). They were nice when we used them a few years ago. They have an outdoor pool and a fitness center, which are nice after a long flight.  There are several of the "Big" chain hotels all in that one area - Holiday Inn Express, Hilton, etc., and my memory is that they all have some sort of free shuttle to and from the airport.

Good luck, hope you have fun!

We just spent a couple of weeks staying with our daughter in West Mid City and we were very impressed with the metro. I don’t think it is built out to the airport yet. Our daughter worked every other day and we got around great on the metro during the days she worked. Her house is a 10 minute walk from a station and we used it to go to Santa Monica and to the USC area museums. We also changed trains one day to go into Union Station and wander around downtown including an excellent free tour of the Disney Concert Hall (home of the LA Philharmonic)

Our daughter drove us to some other places including Universal Studios.

https://www.metro.net/riding/maps/

Here is the trip planner. It'll show you how to get from a to b. 

https://www.metro.net/riding/trip-planner/

I spent 2011 in southern Culver City (just off the east end of Hwy 90, near the 405), which was pretty well located for airport access (about 15 minutes by car!), quick trips to Santa Monica, not too far to Hollywood, etc.  However, I took my host's son and some of his friends to Disneyland once and was surprised by how long it took to get down to Anaheim from where I was living... and that was without much traffic (by LA standards).

I had my car, and I found most of what I wanted to see was accessible easily (Getty Center, beaches, shopping, restaurants, the airport -- I made a lot of trips to the airport to pick up and drop off!).  I don't know how easy it is to get around without a car... I have difficulty with walking and absolutely can't ride bicycle anymore, so a car was rather necessary for me.  But I did know someone who acquired a secondhand bicycle and would ride it from the condo to Santa Monica frequently.  But that probably wouldn't be the best way to get to touristy places.  Perhaps Uber is an option...?

Thanks, guys . This is all really helpful .

Here's info from Disney on how to get to them from LAX .https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/getting-here/by-plane/
and, for prices and options, https://www.tripsavvy.com/lax-to-disneyland-transportation-4136067

Looking into the various options, I think probably the SuperShuttle is the way to go to get to Anaheim as it’s only about $20 (seems to be about the same price for one way vs. round trip) and they run pretty much 24/7. I’ve used them in Dallas before and found they were fine.

The weather should be nice in June (hopefully) although the area is prone to "June Gloom" - cloudy mornings and evenings, and clear afternoons. You'll need sunscreen no matter which it is, as the solar radiation makes it through the clouds. It is extremely unlikely that it will rain there in June.

I’ve been experiencing snow and gale force winds this week, so anything higher than about 70 degrees is good with me . I’ll be in Texas and Arkansas a few days later, so the California weather will likely be the most bearable part of the holiday .

The Sheraton Gateway has an airport shuttle and is close in to the airport. (West Century Blvd). They were nice when we used them a few years ago. They have an outdoor pool and a fitness center, which are nice after a long flight.  There are several of the "Big" chain hotels all in that one area - Holiday Inn Express, Hilton, etc., and my memory is that they all have some sort of free shuttle to and from the airport.

Thanks - I booked a couple of hotels yesterday... I went with the Holiday Inn at LAX for the first night, as it was one of the cheapest that wasn’t a motel... though since booking it, I realised I probably would have time to get a SuperShuttle that evening after all, so I’ve also booked a hotel in Anaheim that night and may cancel the Holiday Inn. My current plan is to stay in Anaheim until Wednesday and then book somewhere near LAX for my last night, so I’m close to the airport for my flight to Dallas on Thursday (the flight leaves at 12pm)... though I may change that if I decide on doing things a bit differently.

The hotel prices are high though compared to a few years ago though!
The only places less than about $120-150/night are the cheap motels, and now that I’m no longer a student, I’d rather not stay in a rundown motel . I did go for a slightly cheaper hotel in Anaheim, but it’s only about 5 minutes walk to the Disney park entrances, whereas some of the nicer ones are 1-2 miles away.

We just spent a couple of weeks staying with our daughter in West Mid City and we were very impressed with the metro. I don’t think it is built out to the airport yet. Our daughter worked every other day and we got around great on the metro during the days she worked. Her house is a 10 minute walk from a station and we used it to go to Santa Monica and to the USC area museums. We also changed trains one day to go into Union Station and wander around downtown including an excellent free tour of the Disney Concert Hall (home of the LA Philharmonic)

Our daughter drove us to some other places including Universal Studios.

https://www.metro.net/riding/maps/

Thanks for the info and the maps link. I have a vague memory of there being a Metro, but I can’t remember if I ever used it.

Here is the trip planner. It'll show you how to get from a to b. 

https://www.metro.net/riding/trip-planner/

Awesome, thanks .

However, I took my host's son and some of his friends to Disneyland once and was surprised by how long it took to get down to Anaheim from where I was living... and that was without much traffic (by LA standards).

Yeah, last time I was in LA (which was only for a couple of days), I met up with a friend who was staying in a hostel in Venice Beach... we booked a shuttle bus from Venice Beach to Disneyland and it took 3 hours to get there! For some weird reason it went into Hollywood to pick more people up before going to Anaheim... so I’m not doing that again!

The first time we went to LA (for Spring Break 2004) we stayed in Anaheim and then booked trips to other places for the day. We did the tourist thing and took one of the Hollywood sightseeing tours, and also did a trip to Universal from there too, plus we spent 5 days in the Disney Parks (which was so much cheaper back then!).

Perhaps Uber is an option...?

I’ve never used Uber before, so I’m a little wary of it, just because I don’t really know how it works . Will have to do some investigating.



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