Have you been to LA? Can your recommend things to do?

I'm off to Los Angeles for a 2 day seminar at the end of September. Because it's so far I've decided to make a holiday of it and explore the West Coast. Has anyone been around the area, can you recommend how to get through airports quickly, car rentals, hotels etc? Knowing what not to do in a country is always a good advice. I've never been to the US.

Thank you in advance

My recommendation would be to get the hell outta LA ASAP after your seminar.

We did a West coast tour 10 years ago when we lived in the states. We visited LA but I found it to be awful. Congested, dirty and at times scary if you stray into the wrong area. Maybe worth visiting Hollywood just as a "must do thing"

I would hire a car, book into budget hotels and make a loop, suggestion:

Head up to San Francisco along the coast road, maybe stopping a night along the way. It's a much cooler place to be. Worth a 3 day stay to see Fisherman's wharf, China town, ride the trolley bus, drive over the Golden Gate etc. From SF you can drive to Yosemite which is stunning. Then you can go across into death valley and on to Las Vegas. If you don't gamble LV is dead cheap as everything's subsidised to get the gamblers in. Worth visiting just to see the ridiculous theme hotels!! From there you can drive accross the Mohave desert back to LA.

For car rentals and hotels I would just search the usual budget hotels and car rental firms via the internet.

Cheers Keith

[skeetly]

Get a rental that you can pick up at the airport is easy and best
Drivings easy over there.
I've been to LA a few times and apart from taking the kids to disneyworld I've got out of the city as soon as possible.
2 hours east is Joshua tree national park, fantastic
Or head up the coast on 101
Rough guide to california is probably worth splashing out on IMO.

Lucky beggar...

edit: If you feel like camping head out to the mojave desert, places called midhills and hole in the wall; might still be a bit crispy though...

Got to agree with above did a west coast tour a few years ago started in la didn't like it much but rest of tour was superb.
Las Vegas is an experience not to be missed as was our one night stay at the grand canyon also spent time in Scottsdale and on to Dan Diego all in all a fantastic holiday just did not rate LA.

Hollywood Boulevard is a great place for a punch up, I managed 2 in one night, but the second one was really because I had to run from the first one. Cheap too! First bout of defending myself cost me a watch and the second my wallet, unlucky for them I'd already emptied the wallet from drinking... Getting back to my hotel after this I threw up on Morgan Freeman's star...

same as everyone else, get out of la asap, do not do venice beach, do not do disneyland, do not do mann chinese theatre or the star walk. get yourself to sanfran kick back and relax. I might even be tempted not to car hire just jump back on a plane to sf then public transport there is fantastic.

[L3nny]

I went to LA in June and wasn't that impressed with the city. There isn't much for "regular" people to do, everything is very exclusive and if your not in the know then your not allowed in.

The 2 good things I did when I was there though was a tour of the Warner Brothers studios and then went to the Griffiths observatory, both are in Burbank.

I drove up highway 1 and was planning to go to San Francisco but got as far as Monteray and liked it so much I didn't bother going any further.

If your into wildlife the place is amazing, sea lions, sea ottors and seals are scattered around the beaches and piers. You can also take a whale watching boat tour where we saw dolphins and humpbacks.

If you dont have enough time to drive highway 1 you can go up the freeway but the 1 is a brilliant drive.

There are reasonably priced motels in every town on the way up and the cheap chain restaurants and even fast food are of much better quality than the ones over here.

[TEC]

Originally Posted by laMon

... can you recommend how to get through airports quickly...

Don't know LA itself but immigration is the same no matter which one you enter the USA via.

But as you asked; Ensure you have done the visa waver (supposed to be done before getting tickets now-a-days), obey anyone who is a Homeland Security bod, they can really make your day a bad one, don't expect the bod dealing with your passport to be into small talk, don't think it would be a good idea to start using your mobile/camera the wrong side of the immigration line.

Get out of LA as soon as you can

Originally Posted by vannus

Got to agree with above did a west coast tour a few years ago started in la didn't like it much but rest of tour was superb.
Las Vegas is an experience not to be missed as was our one night stay at the grand canyon also spent time in Scottsdale and on to Dan Diego all in all a fantastic holiday just did not rate LA.

+1 of all the places we went la was the worst. i suppose you got to do all the usual tourist places venice beach, universal studios, etc

i did a holiday last year - flew to LAX so disneyworld, hollywood, grand canyon, palm springs, vegas, lake something or other, some national park thingy, and flew back from san Francisco.

hollywood is dirty and nothing like you expect it would be like, but im glad i went cos its something i always wanted to do - my parents made me do a bus tour so we went to lots of famous places and stuff. you can also do tours of the universal studios etc. disneyworld was a bit of a let down to be honest - i tihnk a lot of the "magic" is watching your kids love it there, whereas when your 20 its just queues for not incredibly exciting rides.

grand canyon was quite nice, i personally loved palm springs and vegas and sanfran was lovely - even if the weather was a like england (i had to wear a jumper !!!)

mandolay bay hotel is amazing, i recommend it. cant really recommend other hotels cos i cant remember what they were called (we slept in 9 in the end )

definately get a car with air con, and we had a Chrysler and it was really nice actually, even if my dad did call it the drug dealer car.