American Dream Trip
Los Angeles, California

Road-trip guide · California

Los Angeles

A road-trip stop through California.

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Photo via Wikipedia — Los Angeles

The smell of sunscreen and salt hits you somewhere around Malibu, right when the Pacific Coast Highway opens up and the ocean fills the whole left side of your windshield. Most families passing through spend at least a day or two on the west side of the city. The stretch from Venice Beach to Santa Monica is where a lot of the action is — people walk the boardwalk, grab breakfast at Gjusta (get there early, the line moves but it's worth it), and let the kids run toward the water at Santa Monica Pier. If you have an afternoon free and older kids who can handle some quiet, the Getty Center is worth the drive up the hill — the views over the city are genuinely something, and the building itself is interesting to walk around even if no one in your family is big on art museums. For dinner, Grand Central Market downtown is a reliable stop if you're spending a night near that side of the city — it's a big indoor food hall where everyone can pick what they want, which tends to solve the "we can't agree on a restaurant" problem pretty well. Most travelers on these routes stay near Venice or Santa Monica, which puts you close to the water and makes the morning departure toward Santa Barbara or the coast a lot easier. If your trip takes you through LA, you'll have more than enough to fill the time between drives.

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What travelers do here

Things to do in Los Angeles

The Grove & Farmers Market
Sunset Strip Drive
The Getty Center
Rodeo Drive stroll
The Hollywood Museum
Griffith Observatory
Big Sur — McWay Falls Overlook & Bixby Bridge
Las Vegas Strip detour (optional — Area 51 route)

Overnight

Where travelers stay

Lodging 1

Hotel near Beverly Hills or West Hollywood

Lodging 2

Same hotel as Day 1

Lodging 3

Same hotel as Days 1–2

Lodging 4

Caesars Rewards Hotels — Paris Las Vegas or Bally's if doing the Vegas detour, else Trip.com for LA

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