Travel Guides > United States > California > Los Angeles

It's possible that Los Angeles is a figment of its own imagination. No other city studies itself so intently - on film, television and in glossy magazines. LA is where the American Dream is manufactured, and if you're not prepared to embrace the dream, you'll doubtless find it filthy, irritating, frightening or just plain dumb. But if you long to stand in the footsteps of stars and breathe their hallowed air, you've come to the right place. In this town, even chefs are household names and nobodies erect billboard shrines to themselves.

Events

Angelenos love to show off, and the city has no shortage of opportunities for them to do so. Every New Year's Day the Tournament of Roses Parade - marching bands, celebrities and flower-coated floats - makes its way down Pasadena's Colorado Blvd. The Rose Bowl college football championship is played later the same day. A parody of the Tournament of Roses - the Doo Dah Parade - makes its way down Colorado Blvd in November.

February is African American History Month, with films, lectures, exhibits and performances across the county. LA's night of nights, the Academy Awards, is held in March. Cinco de Mayo, marking Mexico's victory over the French army at the Battle of Puebla, is celebrated on 5 May with plenty of south-of-the-border style festivities.

In June, Gay Pride Week is marked with a flamboyant parade down Santa Monica Blvd. The Summer Pops Festival runs from July through September at the Hollywood Bowl, and the International Surf Festival hits the waves of Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo Beaches in August.

Los Angeles County Fair, held in Pomona in September, is the largest county fair in the world, with music, sideshows, rides and other country-style delights. For those who prefer not to get their glad rags grubby, October's AFI-LA International Film Festival is one of the country's biggest, with more than 75 features from around the world.

For a bit of contrast, check out the Hollywood Christmas Parade, where movie and TV stars join Santa in a typically flashy parade, then join in Las Posadas, candle-lit processions that relive Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem and honor the Christ child Latin-style.

When to Go

Despite its desert climate, most of Los Angeles is protected from extremes of temperature and humidity by the mountain ranges to its north and east. August and September are the hottest months, January and February the coolest and wettest. Offshore breezes keep the beach communities cooler in summer and warmer in winter than those further inland, particularly the San Fernando Valley, which is the hottest area in summer and the coldest in winter. The average LA temperature is around 70°F (21°C), though smog-shrouded summer days can get well over 90°F (32°C), while winter temperatures around 55°F (12°C) are not uncommon.

There really aren't any seasonal restrictions on a visit to LA. If you go in summer, you'll see the beaches at their liveliest, with all the Baywatch types flexing their pecs and displaying their implants. If the thought of wall-to-wall toned bodies makes you a tad uneasy, try spring (April to May) or fall (September to November), when the crowds are smaller and the prices lower.

Activities

If skimpy bikinis and fast-food picnics aren't to your taste, the northern end of Santa Monica Bay is a welcome sanctuary from LA's babewatch scene. Beach-lovers can indulge in coastal hikes, tide-pool gazing, swimming, surfing, diving, fishing and (clothing optional) sunbathing. Rock climbers test themselves on the cliffs at Point Dume, while Escondido Beach has the best diving in the bay.

There's a whale-watching platform at nearby Westward Beach and a nature trail that leads to Zuma Beach County Park, a couple of miles to the north. Zuma is the largest and sandiest of LA's county-owned beaches, with rough surf and plenty of oily hardbodies.

LA's southern beaches include Manhattan Beach, jampacked on summer days with surfers, volleyball players and the American-as-apple-pie local residents - it's arguably the nearest thing you'll find to the 'California Dream'. Just south of Manhattan Beach, Redondo is one of LA's more intriguing beaches. At its northern end is King Harbor, a small-boat marina and fishermen's haven. Huntington Beach, just southeast of Long Beach and northwest of Newport, is favorite of the surfer set.

If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: LA is a city where you can surf at the beach in the morning and ski in the snowfields in the afternoon - as long as you get up early and have a warm wetsuit. The main area for downhill skiing is Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains, a 90-minute drive east of LA. The season lasts from mid-December until March or April and, contrary to the cliché, the skiing is generally only good in the morning. Groomed runs and moguls are excellent, but don't expect much powder. The best part about Big Bear is the weather - sunshine 90% of the time and T-shirt temperatures in spring.

Shopping, star-spotting and rollercoaster screaming are LA's prime activities, but if you're keen for something a little more outdoorsy, LA has plenty to offer. Urban hiking is your best bet, but if you need to get space and a bit of greenery, LA's surrounding mountains are good day-hike destinations. Try the rugged Santa Monica Mountains or the Topanga State Park, both inland from Malibu, or Griffith Park, a few miles northwest of downtown.

Although smoggy LA is not particularly inviting to cyclists, the county has more than 200 miles (320km) of bike trails. Best of the bunch is the South Bay Bicycle Trail, stretching 20 miles (35km) from Santa Monica to Torrance Beach.

Prefer sitting on your butt and watching other people exert themselves? The LA Dodgers baseball team plays from April to October at Dodger Stadium, just north of downtown. To check out basketball greats the LA Lakers, head to the Great Western Forum in Inglewood on the southern fringe of downtown during the winter months. UCLA's college basketball team, the Bruins, is one of the best in the country and well worth a look.

Getting There and Away

A major travel hub for the Pacific Rim region, Los Angeles International Airport - usually called by its three-letter code, LAX - is the third busiest airport in the world. It's located about 20 miles (30km) southwest of downtown LA. If you can, try to avoid LAX gridlock by flying into one of the region's domestic airports: Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (BUR) is about 15 miles (25km) northwest of downtown, Long Beach Airport is about 25 miles (40km) south, John Wayne Airport/Orange County (SNA) is about 40 miles (65km) southeast in Santa Ana, and Ontario International Airport (ONT) is about 40 miles (65km) east. With all these options, finding a flight or connection to just about anywhere on the continent is never a problem.

Greyhound bus lines serve Los Angeles from cities all over North America. The main LA depot is in a seedy district east of downtown, south of Little Tokyo. The area is rough, but the station itself is safe inside. Other LA-area stations are found in Hollywood, Santa Monica and Anaheim. The alternative to Greyhound for West Coast travelers harks back to the 'Magic Bus' of the 1960s: Green Tortoise Adventure Travel. Weekly Tortoise trips cruise up and down the West Coast, and there are summer jaunts to Alaska and the East Coast, winter tours to Mexico and Baja California and a Mardi Gras road trip between LA and New Orleans. Buses stop at several LA-area destinations.

Amtrak, the national rail system, operates up and down the California coast. In Los Angeles, trains arrive and depart from Union Station, an impressive Art Deco depot one block from El Pueblo in downtown LA. From Seattle and San Francisco, the Coast Starlight operates several times weekly in each direction, running inland as far as San Luis Obispo, where it follows US 101 down the coast. There is also regular service from Los Angeles to Phoenix, New Orleans and points beyond, as well as several trains daily to and from San Diego.

The LA area is a web of highways and byways, so if you have your own wheels, there are always several routes to choose from. From the San Francisco Bay Area, Interstate 5 runs south through the scenic void of the San Joaquin Valley. A somewhat curvier and far more picturesque alternative, US 101 follows the coast much of the way down and joins I-5 in the LA city center. For travelers with time to kill, the prettiest choice is the Pacific Coast Hwy (PCH), or Hwy 1, which clings to the cliffs in the Big Sur area and follows the coast down to San Luis Obispo, where it joins US 101. While the views are spectacular, curvy PCH is subject to fog, landslides and other potential delays. From San Francisco, plan on 6 hours to drive I-5, 8 hours via US 101 and at least 12 via Hwy 1.

Driving from San Diego and Mexico, I-5 is the obvious choice. At Irvine, I-405 (San Diego Fwy) branches off I-5 and heads west to Long Beach and Santa Monica, avoiding downtown LA entirely and rejoining I-5 near San Fernando. If you're coming from Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon, take I-15, which veers south at Riverside and continues on to San Diego; it hits I-10 near Ontario, which connects to downtown LA and Santa Monica.

Freeway speed limits are normally 55mph (90kph) in greater LA, 65mph (105kph) on the open road. Most drivers push their speed 10mph (15kph) higher than the posted limits; more than that, they can expect to be pulled over by the ever-vigilant officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). As in the rest of the US, driving is done on the right.

Getting Around

Public transport from LAX can be unbearably slow, but at least it's cheap. A free bus runs between the terminals and deposits you at the LAX Transit Center, where you can swap to a city bus. Free shuttles also run to the Metro Green Line Aviation Station, where you can catch a train headed in the direction of Redondo or Norwalk.

If you're not the public transport type, private shuttle buses will drop you at your hotel door: it's quicker than the bus and cheaper than a taxi. You can also try one of the many car rental agencies at the airport, where rates are the most competitive in town. Taxis are convenient but expensive. Shuttles, limos and taxis serve the area's other airports. In addition, the Burbank Airport has Metro and Amtrak connections. You can find several major car rental agencies at all the region's airports.

Although LA is definitely built for cars, it is possible to get around on public transport. The city has four public bus operators: MTA, which goes most places; Big Blue Bus, which serves the West Los Angeles area; Culver City Bus, which does Culver City and the Westside; and DASH, a minibus system that runs four routes through downtown. Metro Rail trains run between downtown and Long Beach, Union Station and Western Ave, and Norwalk and Redondo Beach.

The city of LA sprawls over such a huge area that, unless time is no factor or money is extremely tight, you're going to want to spend some time behind the wheel of your own car. Despite the sheer volume of traffic, the city isn't hard to navigate if you stick as much as possible to the major arterials. If you want to get down to the nitty-gritty LA streets, grab a copy of the Thomas Guides map books.

Other Attractions

Downtown Los Angeles
Hollywood
Disneyland and Universal City
Beverly Hills