Known for
Hollywood's film and television industry and beach neighbourhoods
Must-see landmarks
Griffith Observatory, Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Sign
Best time to visit
March to May and September to November
Getting around
The Metro's B Line links Union Station to North Hollywood
Grand Park opened in 2012 as a 12-acre green corridor running from City Hall down to the Music Center, its restored Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain doubling as a wade-in splash pool. Entry is free, and the Event Lawn hosts a rotating calendar of concerts and festivals. Walt Disney Concert Hall is a 5 minute walk south.
Frank Gehry designed this curving stainless-steel concert hall, which opened in 2003 as one of two homes of the LA Phil alongside the Hollywood Bowl and seats 2,265. Its exterior gardens and terraces are free to explore even without a concert ticket. The Broad is a 9 minute walk south, just across Grand Avenue.
Eli and Edythe Broad opened this contemporary art museum in 2015 inside a 120,000 square foot building holding more than 2,000 works. Admission is always free, a timed ticket is recommended, and Yayoi Kusama's mirrored infinity room needs its own reservation. Angels Flight's platform is a short walk away, across Bunker Hill.
This funicular has climbed Bunker Hill since 1901 and reopened in August 2017 after a rehabilitation; its operator calls it the world's shortest railway, with more than 100 million rides given over its history. A small fare covers the ride down to Hill Street. Grand Central Market is a 4 minute walk from the lower platform.
A downtown landmark since 1917, Grand Central Market gathers dozens of food stalls under one soaring hall, open daily from 8:00 to 21:00 with free entry. Long-running stalls such as Tacos Tumbras a Tomas, serving carnitas for over 50 years, share the hall with newer arrivals. Olvera Street is a 21 minute walk north.
Los Angeles began here in 1781, when Spanish settlers founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora Reina de los Angeles; the surrounding historic monument now holds 27 standing buildings, including the 1818 Avila Adobe. Market stalls and restaurants along Olvera Street open daily from 10:00 to 19:00. Union Station is a 3 minute walk east.
Completed in 1939 to a design by John and Donald Parkinson blending Mission Revival and Art Deco into a style the operator calls Mission Moderne, Union Station is often described as the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States. Walking through its Grand Hall of vaulted ceilings and marble floors costs nothing, ticket or not.
Royale Lynn: The Royale Pain In The A$$ Tour plays The Moroccan Lounge on 1 September at 18:30.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals comes to UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium on 1 September at 19:10.
Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Touring) plays Hollywood Pantages Theatre on 1 September at 19:30.
J. Cole brings his Fall-Off Tour to Crypto.com Arena on 1 September at 20:00.
Noname plays The Fonda Theatre on 1 September at 20:00.
UFC 331: Van vs Pantoja brings a fight card to Crypto.com Arena on 19 September.
The building and its 60 exhibits cost nothing to visit, but only when it is open: it closes every Monday. Griffith Park's grounds and roads around it, by contrast, stay free every day from 05:00 to 22:30, Monday included; only the planetarium presentations and the parking nearest the door carry a charge.
This museum has never charged general admission since opening its doors, and walk-ups are welcome alongside visitors with a timed reservation; stepping into Yayoi Kusama's mirrored infinity room is the one experience here that needs its own booking.
Hancock Park charges nothing to walk its lawns or watch the tar seeps bubbling up around the grounds, and that free half is, for now, the whole visitor experience: the museum behind it is temporarily closed for construction.
There is no ticket, gate or closing time on the Hollywood Boulevard sidewalks carrying the stars; anyone can walk the whole stretch at any hour, free of charge.
No ticket is needed to wander among the grid of vintage lampposts standing outside LACMA's entrance, day or night; stepping past them into the museum behind is what starts charging admission.
Ocean Front Walk and the sand beside it never charge admission, and the Venice Canals a few blocks inland are public streets that anyone can walk at any hour, free of charge.
Wandering the market hall and watching the vendors at work costs nothing; visitors pay only when they order food or drink from an individual stall.
Walking through Union Station's Grand Hall and its patio gardens is free for anyone, ticket or not; a bill arrives only when sitting down at one of the restaurants inside.
Strolling El Pueblo's plaza and Olvera Street's market stalls costs nothing; a purchase from a vendor, or entry to a handful of small ticketed museum rooms, is what carries a cost.
The park's lawns, splash-pool fountain and Event Lawn calendar of concerts and festivals are free every day, with no ticket needed for most programming.
Admission to the Getty Center is free and always has been, but every visit requires a timed-entry reservation; the hillside car park charges its own fee, and the Center closes every Monday.
This Hollywood Hills park charges no entrance fee and keeps no gate hours; well-used trails climb from the Fuller Avenue entrance up toward skyline views and the Hollywood Sign in the distance.
Los Angeles began as El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora Reina de los Angeles, founded by Spanish settlers in 1781, and grew alongside the film industry that gave Hollywood its name worldwide. Angelenos, as locals call themselves, often just call the city LA, and the metropolis now stretches from the San Fernando Valley to the harbour, a sprawl so vast that many of its best-known neighbourhoods feel like towns of their own.
This itinerary stays within Downtown LA, where Civic Center towers meet Bunker Hill's museums and Olvera Street's 1781 origins. Hollywood, Venice and Griffith Park all sit inside the official city limits, while Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood are separate cities that only feel like LA neighbourhoods from the sidewalk. Universal Studios Hollywood, similarly, sits in the unincorporated community of Universal City, just outside the city.
March to May and September to November bring long stretches of clear skies, sitting between the winter rainy season and the coastal marine layer that clouds over mornings in early summer, a pattern known locally as June Gloom. Three to four days cover Downtown at the pace of this itinerary plus a Hollywood or Griffith Park excursion; a full week suits visitors adding the beaches or a day at the Getty Center.
LA is famously built for cars, and most neighbourhoods and the beaches are still easiest to reach that way. Downtown does connect to Hollywood and North Hollywood on the Metro's B Line, and to Wilshire/La Cienega on the D Line, both starting from Union Station, the stop that closes this itinerary.