Smart Los Angeles Tourist

Smart Los Angeles Tourist

In LA we see this all the time, Los Angeles tourist who's make mistakes.  They're stuck in traffic, complaining about parking fees or paying too much for their hotel room or paying for parking at the hotel. To help you be a smarter Los Angeles tourist, enjoy your trip more and spend less of your hard-earned money doing it, try these Los Angeles tourist tips:

Weather: Summer weather can be quite warm in Los Angeles. However, it always cools off at the beach in late afternoon, winter can be rainy and the "June gloom" marine layer often obscures the sun for weeks at a time

Be even smarter and check the forecast for the right spot: temperatures vary within just a few miles. When it's 72°F in Santa Monica, it might be 80°F downtown and even hotter in Pasadena or Anaheim.

Spend Smart: Discover some surprising ways to save money in Los Angeles like how to save on transportation, attractions, tours and hotels.  Ask Hotel front desk for tips to eat and see.

Pick the Best Hotel for Your Trip: LA is a sprawling city and the best place to stay depends on what you'll be doing.  Do research to find out about each LA metro area, with their pros and cons.

Keep in mind that tourist locations like Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice Beach,  Downtown LA and Airport (LAX) are usually very expensive and charge for parking.  

If you are looking for affordable and budget hotels then also look for convenient driving distance.  Some of these hotels may be 60-80 miles away from all tourist attractions.

Hotels or Motels like Sea Rock Inn (www.SeaRockLA.com) or Long Beach Inn (www.Hotellbinn.com)  are centrally located and are ideal for budget travelers.

Know the Geography: The Los Angeles metropolitan area is a big place, encompassing five counties and it can take almost all day to drive across it from north to south. You can attack it in two ways: (1) Figure out what you want to do while you're here, mark the locations on a map and visit them in groups, or (2) pick an area to stay where driving distance to all tourist attractions is about 30-45 mins (central location)

You Have Options for Airports: While Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is the best-known and busiest airport in the area, it's also prone to delays, busy and confusing. Consider flying into Burbank (BUR), Orange County's John Wayne Airport (SNA) or Long Beach (LGB) instead.

Hollywood and Beverly Hills: What you will find in Hollywood are museums featuring memorabilia from Hollywood's past, the Walk of Fame and the famous footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theater. Few movie stars live here, or in Beverly Hills, and most of the studios moved out years ago. Skip the overpriced movie star home tours and don't buy the maps you'll find sold on the roadside either. Frankly, they're mostly fiction. If you really want to see a star or two, the most reliable way to do it is to get tickets to be in a Los Angeles studio audience.

Go to the Beach: Beaches typify Los Angeles and Southern California in many people's minds. While the water's a little too cold for all the but the hardiest swimmers or surfers in wetsuits, it doesn't keep people from flocking to the sand. Join the locals to watch the beach volleyball games while you stroll along the beachside sidewalks in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach or Rendondo Beach, where you'll be joined by rollerbladers, bicyclists and runners; visit Venice Beach for a taste of the unusual, or head to Orange County's Newport Beach or Huntington Beach for surfing and sand castles.

Save Money on Admissions: If you're visiting several attractions with admission fees, look the companies offering multi-attraction discount packs. Offering fewer attractions (but ones that you are most likely to want to see) is Citypass. You can buy their Southern California Pass online before you go to save time later. The Go Los Angeles Card offers a lot of things to do.

Sea Rock Inn - LA (http://www.SeaRockLA.com)
Long Beach Inn, Long Beach CA (http://www.HotelLBinn.com)