The 17 things to do in Los Angeles

Visit Los Angeles: What are the best things to do and see in the City of Angels?

Who has never dreamed of flying and flying to the United States to visit Los Angeles? Between the famous Ray-Ban glasses, Californian blondes who make rollerblading, surfers to the perfect fit with their pestling smiles, the Hollywood sign that shines a thousand lights from the highway, stars and their homes, Los Angeles doesn’t end up fascinating. After New York , it is simply the largest city in the United States and the tourist industry is very developed there.

But in the face of the gigantism of the "Cité des Anges", it is sometimes difficult to find itself there. So what do we do in Los Angeles? What are the city's must-see visits? To help you organize your stay in advance, you’ve been listed a wide range of options available to you if you’re visiting Los Angeles:

1. Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame

Of course, Los Angeles is the city of all the stars Hollywood : between villas and swimming pools, it is impossible not to take a minimum interest in this universe of strass and glitter. With his famous stars on his Walk of Fame , its museums (Guinness World Records , Madame Tussauds Hollywood, etc...), its cinemas, gigantic shopping malls or the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Boulevard is a must-see place to visit in Los Angeles! You will be amused, the nose laughed on the ground, to discover which star hides behind every star.

Located at the end of the famous Hollywood Boulevard, the Dolby Theatre (formerly Kodak Theatre) is now renowned for hosting the prestigious Oscars ceremony every year. Also walk on the red carpet, imagine the badauds bury each other to play the paparazzi one day.

2. Venice Beach

All along the ocean, on the promenade, you will be able to admire artists, culturist athletes or women in bikinis making rollerblers and that will make their show. Even with its "you saw me" side, Venice Beach is a spot to discover for its warmth, its friendliness, and to fall into the cliché to the neck.

3. Universal Studios Hollywood

Located in the San Fernando Valley, the Universal Studios Hollywood are cinema studios that include an amusement park and house unsuspected treasures for all film lovers with world-famous movie scenery like Back to the Future or Jurassic Park . More than a theme park, you should not forget that it is a working cinema studio where you can take a guided tour of the studios and explore the backstage of some of the most popular films in Universal. You can easily spend a day or two here, especially if the park is full and the waiting times are long. When you are tired of riding, you can go to CityWalk, a three-block entertainment venue, with shops, restaurants and cinemas.

Fan du cinéma? You can also visit the Paramount Pictures Studios, which have existed since the 1910s, or Warner Bros. Studio , close to Universal Studios.

4. Disneyland Park

Whether you are on holiday in families, in love or with friends, you should take a day to get to Anaheim, the city where you are Disneyland Park . It is the only Disney amusement park designed and seen by Walt Disney himself. Even if you have visited other Disney parks, nothing is worth the original.

5. The Hollywood Panel

Destined in 1923 to commercialize a new real estate program, the letters of the Hollywood sign or Hollywood sign, are wanted to disappear. But the Chamber of Commerce will save them in 1949, and the Hollywood sign becomes a historic-cultural monument in Los Angeles in 1973. The sign, located on the south side of Mont Lee at Griffith Park, is now a registered trademark. The best way to see the Hollywood panel is from the Griffith Observatory.

6. The Getty Center

Perched on a hill of Brentwood, the Getty Center is a vast complex designed by Richard Meier. The unique design building and beautiful gardens offer an ideal setting for this impressive museum. The collections include paintings, drawings, sculptures and European decorative arts, as well as photographs of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the Getty Center is part of the J. Paul Getty Museum (the other site is the Villa Getty), created by the oil magnate, J. Paul Getty.

7. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art boasts being the largest art museum in the west of the United States, with nearly 130,000 works ranging from antiquity to modern times. This museum also known as "LACMA" contains the Japanese art pavilion with works from Japan. Another wing of the building is dedicated to the American and Mexican collection with paintings by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera or José Orozco, and some pre-Columbian works. A new wing, designed by architect Renzo Piano, was inaugurated in 2008 under the name Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM).

8. Rodeo Drive

You all have in mind the film " Pretty Woman" where Julia Roberts devalues all luxury boutiques with Richard Gere? Here, it is the summum where to make its high-end shops in the heart of Beverly Hills: between Chanel, Cartier, Gucci, Christian Dior, Armani, Tiffany Approved or Burberry, you are sure to find the high-quality store that suits you. A very nice opportunity to make a lick-offer, beside rich people for a few minutes, be able to dream and warm his credit card.

9. Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills is probably the richest and best protected area in the whole city. Where many stars live, however, it is not a very interesting spot if you do not pay much attention to the celebrities of cinema. Each villa is protected by immense hedges or palissades that conceal and protect the privacy of “people”. However, don’t hesitate to ask for a map from the tourist office to make a small pilgrimage and who knows, you might fall nosey with your favorite actress?

10. Santa Monica

This neighborhood that is located around Santa Monica Pier is very lively with its small cafes, restaurants and street activities. The beaches of Santa Monica are more user-friendly than those of Venice Beach and you will have the opportunity to take part in some foraine attractions such as the famous great wheel. The ideal here is to rent a bike and walk along the Third Street Promenade, where street artists stage themselves.

11. The Broad

One of the most recent cultural attractions to visit in Los Angeles, The Broad opened in late 2015 and immediately had a resounding success. The ticket is free, but you usually have to book it a month in advance, and the queues for the emergency tickets that are issued on the day of the entrance can last hours, especially on the weekend. The museum focuses on contemporary and post-war art, with important and spectacular installations. More than 2000 works are exhibited in this unique building, based on two major components, “the veil and the vault” ("the veil and vault"), where the exhibition space and the storage of the collections are merged.

12. To eat: the Farmers’ Market

For those who have a little hunger, go to the original Farmer’s Market at the crossroads of Third Street and Fairfax: it’s a tradition of the Cité des Anges since 1934, where you can find everything you want, you can even discover a dog bakery. The Farmer’s Market is open every day.

Close to the Walt Disney Concert Hall is the Grand Central Market, another place for those who love food.

13. Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)

The Museum of Contemporary Art consists of three distinct installations and is dedicated to the works of the 1940s to today. The first is MOCA Grand On Grand Avenue. It is the main museum establishment, with the main galleries as well as the largest museum shop and a café. The second, the second MOCA Geffen , is located in Little Tokyo, in what was once a police car warehouse. I mean, MOCA Pacific Design Center is located in West Hollywood and offers temporary exhibitions.

14. Griffith Park and its observatory

This unique place is located on the south side of Mount Lee, where you can also find the Hollywood Sign, and offers a surprising view of the city of Los Angeles. This popular tourist attraction attracts many lovers of the stars for its gigantic planetarium and exhibition hall, a success especially due to its gratuity. The main attraction of the place is the Zeiss telescope, used to observe the moon and the planets. You can use the telescopes for free each evening (the park is open until 22h). There are also telescopes used to watch the sun on the site.

The Griffith Park is the largest state park in California in which there is a theatre, an equestrian centre created for the 1984 Olympic Games, golf courses, tennis courts, hiking trails and other attractions.

15. A NBA game

If you're a sports and basketball fan in particular, visiting Los Angeles without going to see a Lakers NBA game is a sacrilege. The Lakers games are played at the Staples Center, which also hosts the Los Angeles Clippers, the other NBA team in LA. So if you are in Los Angeles during the regular season, or better, during the playoffs, a game will necessarily play at the Staples Center.

16. Forest Lawn Memorial Park

Located on Hollywood Hills, there is a fascinating place to discover, namely the Forest Lawn Cemetery and its park. Here, all the big movie stars are mostly buried, like David Carradine, Ricky Nelson, Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton, Bette Davis or Liberace or Humphrey Bogart. Some people say that Michael Jackson would be buried there as well... An interesting place for those who want to tour celebrities as if they were at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris...

17. Experience of Angel Flight

The Angel Flight is an old funicular, probably one of the shortest in the world since for $50 ct, you will travel 90 meters aboard a strange orange and black car on an impressive slope. The site re-opened in 2017 following work.

How to get to Los Angeles?

Los Angeles International Airport is one of the most frequented in the world, and you will not find it hard to find direct flights from Paris to Europe. To book your flight tickets for Los Angeles at the best price, you should use the flight comparison Ulysses .

Where to stay in Los Angeles?

Los Angeles is a gigantic city, so we need to choose the neighborhood to stay on site. The best sleeping areas in Los Angeles are West Hollywood (very trendy) and the entire coast of Los Angeles, starting with Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Marina Del Rey, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach. To find a cheap hotel in Los Angeles, search this Compare hotels .