Advice Needed

[NANCYR2]

Four of us will be driving from San Diego for a 3 night stay in the LA area before boarding a ship in San Pedro. WE are looking for suggestions for a place to stay near the major attractions. Should we keep the car we have drive from SD or use public transportation?

 

Thanks

[Bruin Steve]

Four of us will be driving from San Diego for a 3 night stay in the LA area before boarding a ship in San Pedro. WE are looking for suggestions for a place to stay near the major attractions. Should we keep the car we have drive from SD or use public transportation?

 

Thanks

 

First, know that "the major attractions" are all over town...and that may be long distances from one another...there is no real central location...

 

The first question we'd have to ask is what you want to see or do?

 

I , personally, prefer Santa Monica...best weather, nicest area, most choices of restaurants and shopping and places to just take a stroll...It puts you near the Venice Beach Boardwalk, the Santa Monica Pier, the Third Street Promenade and Palisades Park...and not that far away from the Getty Center, the Getty Villa, UCLA or Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive...

 

Another choice would be the Universal City area--which would put you near Hollywood (Walk of Fame, Grauman's Chinese, etc.), Universal Studios and the various Burbank Studios (Warner Bros., NBC, etc.)...

 

If you wanted to visit Disney, for example, that is WAY in another direction--down in the heart of Orange County...Southeast of LA...

 

Having a car in LA is usually a good idea...

 

Another question would be what is your budget like? LA can be an expensive hotel town...

 

Give us some more info and we can give you some more specifc ideas...

[Cruisin' Chick]

I would add to Steve's post that public transportation in LA isn't what it is in many cities. (I'm sure some will chime in that they use the bus system, but for non-locals -- and for many of us locals -- it's not a practical way to get where you want to go)

 

Having a rental car and a really good map along with specific directions will be so much better.

[CaseyJr]

I would add to Steve's post that public transportation in LA isn't what it is in many cities. (I'm sure some will chime in that they use the bus system' date=' but for non-locals -- and for many of us locals -- it's not a practical way to get where you want to go)

 

Having a rental car and a really good map along with specific directions will be so much better.[/quote']

 

Better yet, bring your GPS. It will make life much easier when trying to navigate around Los Angeles.

[Fattony]

Yes, L.A. is a huge area, and to many includes not just the City of Los Angeles, but the larger County of Los Angeles, and even adjoining counties (e.g., Orange County, where Disneyland is located). It is important that you do some research and decide what you want to see, before deciding where to stay. Some will think "I want to see Hollywood" and think they should stay there, but entertainment industry-related attractions are, like other attractions, spread out. The best movie studio tours, for example, are probably Warner Brothers in Burbank and Sony Studios (formerly MGM) in Culver City. Universal Studios has a smaller studio tour but is, I believe, more of an amusement park. When you start looking at hotels, be sure to ask about parking fees. They can be high. Public transportation would likely be feasible only if you were going to tour within a limited area (e.g., downtown L.A., Hollywood, Universal City) and/or rely on a guided tour to take you to different places.

 

With four people, I think a car would be even more attractive, assuming you can contend with L.A's traffic, finding parking, etc. IF you take public transportation I'd go to L.A. by train. You can find info on L.A. County public transportation at http://www.metro.net/

[Immisspriss]

You could also opt to stay in Orange County if Disneyland or Knotts Berry Farm are on your agenda, and take the train into LA. Union Station is right across from Olvera St (El Pueblo de Los Angeles).

[PekingeseLady]

Four of us will be driving from San Diego for a 3 night stay in the LA area before boarding a ship in San Pedro. WE are looking for suggestions for a place to stay near the major attractions. Should we keep the car we have drive from SD or use public transportation?

 

Thanks

I would keep my car and use maps or gps as suggested. But I would stay at the Crowne Plaza in San Pedro. They offer a free shuttle to the ship when it's time, and have a nice pool for the kids.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Better yet, bring your GPS. It will make life much easier when trying to navigate around Los Angeles.

 

You could also opt to stay in Orange County if Disneyland or Knotts Berry Farm are on your agenda, and take the train into LA. Union Station is right across from Olvera St (El Pueblo de Los Angeles).

 

I don't have a GPS, but whatever mapping system it uses isn't 100 per cent accurate, so I would doublecheck your destinations against a good map anyway. We have to plea with any service people or visitors to write down the directions to our house and NOT use their GPS as it puts our house about a good half mile or so away from our house. I know that Mapquest does the same thing so maybe they use the same system. I have also put in addresses or street names every once in a while into mapquest and get the wrong result too. It may be okay for some or all of your wanted locations, but I still am giving that caveat.

 

I also suggest driving to Hollywood or San Pedro or whatever your destination from Orange County and not bother with Amtrak. There's really not much to see in Downtown LA unless you want to see Olvera Street or see what Staples or Disney Hall looks like. But the time involved in getting there, and getting around downtown LA (especially w/o a car or even with one as it has a lot of traffic just about all the time -- my hubby works at City Hall and even working on his hours which are Sun to Wed. afternoons/evenings is a pain to get to) really will eat into your time here.

[Bruin Steve]

We have to plea with any service people or visitors to write down the directions to our house and NOT use their GPS as it puts our house about a good half mile or so away from our house...

 

Patty...

Are you sure you just aren't living in the wrong house? :) :) :)

 

Actually, I have been using one GPS system or another for several years now...and they are surprisingly accurate...We just brought ours to England with us and relied upon it for our 9 day pre-cruise in Cornwall, Devon and Dorset...Some of the worst roads we've ever seen--narrow, single lane (if barely that), but two directions...Roads that were likely just horse trails left over from Medeival times...and the GPS never let us down...

 

The one area that we've found them to have a few issues is OUR area...because of all of the guard-gated communities...Sometimes the maps don't recognize the closed gates (like our community's emergency only back gate out to Mulholland)...

 

But, for most of the tourist sites and urbanized areas that any visitor might need to go through, they're more accurate than paper maps...Paper maps are often out of date...

 

And, if one makes a wrong turn, the things will "recalculate" and take you to the right place anyway...even if by an alternate route...

 

What really makes them desirable is that there is no need to pull the car over and unfold a large map...and a tourist using a paper map might not be able to even know exactly where they are...the GPS will always tell you...

 

As confusing as Los Angeles can be to an outsider, a GPS system is virtually indispensable...

 

And I love maps...I was a Geography major at UCLA...

I also loved my old film-based SLR camera...

...and my VCR...

...and my record collection...

...and my typewriter...

 

I've learned to move on... ;)