How many days in Los Angeles? Plans for 3–7 days

Los Angeles is not a city you walk across. It is a region of many cities and neighbourhoods – Downtown, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice, Malibu – connected by freeways, and a single ride in traffic easily takes an hour. That is why the most important rule for planning is: one area per day. If you try to fit Hollywood and the beach into a morning, you spend the day in a car. The short answer: 3 days for Downtown, Hollywood and the coast, 4 to 5 days are ideal with the Getty Center, Malibu or a studio tour, and from 6 days there is time for Disneyland, San Diego or Joshua Tree.

How many days in Los Angeles? The overview

Worth knowing for planning: the Metro covers more than many visitors expect – the B line links Downtown with Hollywood, the E line runs from Downtown to Santa Monica. For places off the lines, buses, taxis and ride-hailing apps fill the gaps, and a hire car is mainly worth it for day trips. Avoid driving in the morning and evening rush hours. Museums such as The Broad and the Getty Center work with time slots, so reserve in advance. Direct flights from London take about 11 hours, and Los Angeles is 8 hours behind the UK.

Two days in Los Angeles: Hollywood and the beach

Two days are enough for the images everyone knows. The first day belongs to Hollywood. In the morning, the forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre with the stars' hand- and footprints in cement is still empty; then walk a stretch of the Walk of Fame. In the afternoon, go up to Griffith Observatory, where the terraces look over the whole city and onto the Hollywood Sign – stay for sunset.

The second day goes to the coast. Take the Metro E line to Santa Monica, walk onto the Santa Monica Pier with its Ferris wheel, and follow the beach path south to Venice Beach with Muscle Beach, the skatepark and the boardwalk. Downtown will have to wait.

Three days in Los Angeles: one area per day

Three days give you the three faces of the city. Our ready-made plan:

• Day 1 – Downtown Los Angeles: Union Station from 1939, Olvera Street with the oldest house in the city, lunch at Grand Central Market, the Bradbury Building, Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall and contemporary art at The Broad.
• Day 2 – Hollywood and Griffith Park: the TCL Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, lunch in Thai Town, Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Griffith Observatory at sunset.
• Day 3 – Santa Monica and Venice: the Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, the quiet Venice Canals, lunch on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, the Third Street Promenade and the palms of Palisades Park above the Pacific at sunset.

Each day stays in one area, so you take the Metro or a short taxi ride between the stops instead of crossing the city. If you plan several attractions, a pass such as the Go City Los Angeles Pass^* can pay off.

Four to five days: the Getty, Malibu and the studios

With four or five days you see the city beyond the classics. The Getty Center sits on a hill in Brentwood: a tram takes you up to the white buildings by Richard Meier, with European paintings, gardens and a view from the mountains to the sea. On Museum Row on Wilshire Boulevard are LACMA and the La Brea Tar Pits, where Ice Age fossils are still excavated today.

For the coast, drive along the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu: 54 km and about 50 minutes of pure driving time from Downtown – allow about a third more. Beaches such as El Matador lie below the cliffs. Film fans plan a day for a studio tour or Universal Studios Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley. Tickets for studio tours, museums and theme parks^* are on Tiqets.

Six days or more: Disneyland, San Diego and the desert

If you stay a week, Southern California opens up. Disneyland in Anaheim is 44 km and about 40 minutes' drive from Downtown without traffic, and it fills a whole day. San Diego, with its harbour, Balboa Park and beaches, is 193 km and about 2 hours 25 minutes away – better with a night there.

Inland lies the desert: Palm Springs is 172 km and about 2 hours away, Joshua Tree National Park with its strange trees and granite boulders 206 km and about 2 hours 35 minutes. In summer it gets very hot there, so go early in the day and carry plenty of water. Hire cars in Los Angeles^* can be compared at Economybookings. How Los Angeles fits into a trip with San Francisco, Yosemite and Las Vegas is in our USA West Coast road trip.

Base map: Natural Earth

Where to stay in Los Angeles

Because the city is so large, your base shapes the trip more than anywhere else:

• Santa Monica: by the sea, walkable and connected directly to Downtown by the Metro E line. Quieter in the evening than the centre.
• Hollywood: between Downtown and Griffith Park, well served by the Metro B line. Busy around Hollywood Boulevard in the evening.
• Downtown: short walks to museums, the market hall and Union Station. Away from the busy streets it empties out at night, so choose your block carefully.

From LAX, shuttle buses connect to trains and buses, and many people take a taxi or ride-hailing; depending on where you are going and on traffic, allow an hour or more. An airport transfer in Los Angeles^* can be booked with Kiwitaxi. Many visitors need an electronic travel authorisation (ESTA) before flying to the US – check the current rules in good time. For maps and ride-hailing without roaming charges, get an eSIM from Airalo.

Best time to visit Los Angeles

Averages 2015–2024 from the ERA5 reanalysis (via Open-Meteo), rounded. The values describe a grid cell of about 25 km around Downtown; on the coast in Santa Monica summers are several degrees cooler, in the valleys inland hotter.

Los Angeles works almost all year, but the most pleasant months are March to May and October to November, at 21 to 29 °C by day with little rain. In May and June a grey marine layer often hangs over the coast in the morning. July to September is hot inland, at 31 to 32 °C around Downtown, while the beaches stay cooler. Rain falls mainly from December to March, most in January with 92 mm, often on a few days in a row. The sea is cool all year.

How YesTrip helps you plan

YesTrip has a ready-made three-day plan for Los Angeles: Downtown, Hollywood with Griffith Park, and Santa Monica with Venice – one area per day, with the Metro lines noted. Each day has times and the stops are in a sensible order. With one tap you copy the plan into the app and add days for the Getty, Malibu, Disneyland or Joshua Tree; for those the AI creates a day plan for you. The app shows the weather for your travel days, the packing list thinks of sun protection, a layer for cool evenings and the right plug adapter, and with the offline package you have the map without a connection. YesTrip is free.

Los Angeles trip planDay by day, with map and tips

How to get from the airport to your neighbourhood is covered in LAX to downtown LA.

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