Best location to stay: West Hollywood
Best places for shopping: Melrose place, Century City Westfield, The Grove, Rodeo drive (and the street just behind for affordable shops) and Beverly Centre
Instagram worthy visits: Glossier store on melrose place, Alfred tea room (a few streets back from melrose place) and Bumsan milk bar.
Must visit: Griffith observatory, LACMA lights, Sunset Boulevard
Tips:
- Do your research before booking an airbnb or hotel
LA is known as the car city since everything is spread out and very rarely within walking distance. When i first started walking around LA neighbourhoods i noticed how quickly the streets can go from okay to sketchy very quickly. For this reason i think its very important to make sure the neighbourhood is safe that you are choosing to stay in. Next time i visit LA i would definitely prefer to stay in West Hollywood, it is closer to Beverly Hills and the rest of the popular hotspots.
- Download the Lyft app!
Its great to have both the Uber and Lyft app on your phone to compare prices. If you are like me and didn't bother with the hassle of renting a car, you will need to be using a ride share company to get around.
- Disneyland and Universal studios
If you are not a ride kind of person like myself and can't decide between Disneyland or universal Studios, I would definitely suggest Universal. While i went to both and enjoyed them both. I must admit that universal was my favourite especially since i am a harry potter fan (butter beer is amazing by the way) The animal actors show is adorable and entertaining (major plus: you get to pat the animals at the end!) The Studio tour was also incredible and far exceeded my expectations.
Something else worth noting is that Disneyland is situated outside of LA in Anaheim which is about and hour and half uber ride from Hollywood (when traffic is good.) Universal studios is only a 15 minute drive from Hollywood so its a lot closer, which is handy if you are on a time limit.
