Planning things in order in LA area

[soccer32]

We have a 10:00 Dodger stadium tour scheduled for our first full day. I am not familiar with Los Angeles area and don't want to backtrack. We will have 2other days to sightsee. I need help figuring out what sights to see that are around the stadium. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Disneylvrforever]

There are lots of things to see in the LA area. It just depends how far you want to travel in the area. In Downtown LA I reccomend The Pantry which is a restraunt icon for LA. It's right near the Staples Center and it can get pretty packed. You can also visit places like Chinatown, Koreatown, Japantown, and Olvera Street. There are also museums like the Science Center, Museum of Contemporary Art, Natural History Museum and are all in the LA district.
Then there's Burbank or Hollywood, but it just depends how far you want to go.

 

[tracys2cents]

Yours is a very good question because L.A. is so vast....planning to do things that are 90 minutes apart is a big waste of time.

What days of the week, and where in the city are you going to be staying? It might seem silly question, but itineraries really depend on the traffic hours around there. And what ages are the children if there are any with you?

 

[Tigger girl]

If you want two FREE fun things to do-- try Griffith Observatory or the Getty Center. Both are free to visit (you pay for parking) and very interesting.

If you are a AAA member, get a Southern California travel book. It will give you tons of fun things to do and usually show you on a map where they are located.

 

[soccer32]

The first day is a Sunday. We will also be sight seeing on Monday and Wedensday. Thanks for any ideas.

 

[soccer32]

Sorry, i forgot to put the ages of the kids. They are 11 and 10.

 

[tracys2cents]

L.A. is HUGE! What side of town are you staying on.

Generally, you want to do as much as you can on Sunday, as traffic is 50% lighter. Monday and Wednesday you should stay nearer your hotel base.

Not far from Dodger Stadium: L.A. Zoo, Hollywood sites; Universal Studios Tour, Griffith Park Observatory (nighttime)...Hollywood Bowl (nighttime)

DiscoverLosAngeles has lots of ideas, and some coupons to print out

 

[RudemanRB]

Stay away from the beach on the weekend. it will be a mad house of traffic, people, and parking will be a nightmare, if you want to do santa monica (3rd street prominade, or The Pier) do that during the week,

also search this forum for Olevera street, I posted a link, also search for the Farmers Market, if you've ever been to the mock up at Disney's studios in Orlando, then you must see the real Farmers Market, (3rd street and Fairfax bl)

Rudy

 

[soccer32]

Thanks for all of your ideas. We are staying in anaheim for the week and going to Disney Land for 2 of the days.

 

[tracys2cents]

Yikes, staying way down in Anaheim. Well, during traffic hours, Anaheim is MUCH further away from most of the L.A. attractions than you probably realize.

Try to do as much of your travelling as possible on Sat and Sun. Traffic is much much easier to handle, plus Disney will probably be more crowded on those days too.

For the beach, head from Anaheim down the 57 freeway and turn south on Pacific Coast Highway. The State Park just south of there is a nice beach area and not a bad drive from Disney area.

 

[MAH4546]

Thanks for all of your ideas. We are staying in anaheim for the week and going to Disney Land for 2 of the days.

Be prepared to leave your hotel very early to go to L.A. (leave by 6.30AM) unless you want to meet heavy traffic on the 5. Or, sleep-in and depart your hotel late (around 10AM) to avoid traffic.

Traffic between Anaheim and L.A. is horrendous, especially because a large stretch of I-5 is only three lanes.

 

[MK2thcleaner]

Be prepared to leave your hotel very early to go to L.A. (leave by 6.30AM) unless you want to meet heavy traffic on the 5. Or, sleep-in and depart your hotel late (around 10AM) to avoid traffic.

Is this true even on Saturday?

 

[tracys2cents]

No, Saturday traffic is probably worst from 9am to 11am and from 5:30pm to 6:30pm.
Sundays no traffic problems all morning, traffic picks up 5pm to 7pm but is not near as bad as weekdays.

An accident can slow traffic to less-than-a-crawl any day of the week on the freeways, however, so you should always have an alternate route printed out or a good map with you for detours.