Craft beer is as big in California as it is in the UK, particularly pale ales/IPAs. Saying it's just Coors and Miller is like saying GB is just Fosters and Carling. Supermarkets and bottle shops have a good range if you're on a budget, though their beers are a bit strong for me.
Regarding LA, I'd say Santa Monica as well. It's vaguely central to the airport and tourist places. I don't think Downtown is worth your limited time.
Reg downtown, we might indeed give it a miss.
Probably one full day checking out Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and Griffiths Observatory. The kids wants to go to Raging Waters (waterpark), not Disney, Universal of Six Flags. I can imagine a visit there will take most of the day out of the calendar as it’s about an hour from Santa Monica. On the day is arrival, we’ll probably just hang out by the pool/beach. Same for for the day we leave. We can leave our luggage at the hotel after checkout and not flying out before 10pm, so heading to airport around 6pm. Will probably just spend the day by the beach. And the kids keep going on about these fastfood joints called Raising Cane, Wingstop and Crumbl.
If your kids are on a fast food mission then chick-fil-a , then in-n-out were quite good and rated highly by my teens a year back
Nope, our flight back to NZ is via LA. On our way up, we have two days in Tokyo, so it’s sushi and sake on the way out and burgers and shit beers on the way home.
She Next time do 5 days in Tokyo and 0 in LA/California/USA.
Or go via Dubai on emirates, which we are doing in January.
As long as it's only a short transfer!
We looked at a couple of nights in a luxury tent in the desert, but decided to do the flight in one go instead.
Ours is 41/4 hours, we thought we take the opportunity to have a meal and a wander to stretch the very old legs. Shortest was around 11/2 hours layover.
Craft beer is as big in California as it is in the UK, particularly pale ales/IPAs. Saying it's just Coors and Miller is like saying GB is just Fosters and Carling. Supermarkets and bottle shops have a good range if you're on a budget, though their beers are a bit strong for me.
Regarding LA, I'd say Santa Monica as well. It's vaguely central to the airport and tourist places. I don't think Downtown is worth your limited time.
Reg downtown, we might indeed give it a miss.
Probably one full day checking out Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and Griffiths Observatory. The kids wants to go to Raging Waters (waterpark), not Disney, Universal of Six Flags. I can imagine a visit there will take most of the day out of the calendar as it’s about an hour from Santa Monica. On the day is arrival, we’ll probably just hang out by the pool/beach. Same for for the day we leave. We can leave our luggage at the hotel after checkout and not flying out before 10pm, so heading to airport around 6pm. Will probably just spend the day by the beach. And the kids keep going on about these fastfood joints called Raising Cane, Wingstop and Crumbl.
couple of craft beer places literally round the corner from the hotel....and if you do walk down the beach to Venice (20 mins or so), then you're going to go past the Venice Ale House, where you'll probably need a refresher before the journey back again...(fine with kids under the awning out front...)
Craft beer is as big in California as it is in the UK, particularly pale ales/IPAs. Saying it's just Coors and Miller is like saying GB is just Fosters and Carling. Supermarkets and bottle shops have a good range if you're on a budget, though their beers are a bit strong for me.
Regarding LA, I'd say Santa Monica as well. It's vaguely central to the airport and tourist places. I don't think Downtown is worth your limited time.
Reg downtown, we might indeed give it a miss.
Probably one full day checking out Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and Griffiths Observatory. The kids wants to go to Raging Waters (waterpark), not Disney, Universal of Six Flags. I can imagine a visit there will take most of the day out of the calendar as it’s about an hour from Santa Monica. On the day is arrival, we’ll probably just hang out by the pool/beach. Same for for the day we leave. We can leave our luggage at the hotel after checkout and not flying out before 10pm, so heading to airport around 6pm. Will probably just spend the day by the beach. And the kids keep going on about these fastfood joints called Raising Cane, Wingstop and Crumbl.
If your kids are on a fast food mission then chick-fil-a , then in-n-out were quite good and rated highly by my teens a year back
Oh yes, they mentioned Chick-fil-a as well. I had In and Out in June. Was lovely.
A while ago, out for dinner, I asked a colleagues wife who’s from California reg burger places, if she preferred Five Guys or In and Out?
Craft beer is as big in California as it is in the UK, particularly pale ales/IPAs. Saying it's just Coors and Miller is like saying GB is just Fosters and Carling. Supermarkets and bottle shops have a good range if you're on a budget, though their beers are a bit strong for me.
Regarding LA, I'd say Santa Monica as well. It's vaguely central to the airport and tourist places. I don't think Downtown is worth your limited time.
Reg downtown, we might indeed give it a miss.
Probably one full day checking out Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and Griffiths Observatory. The kids wants to go to Raging Waters (waterpark), not Disney, Universal of Six Flags. I can imagine a visit there will take most of the day out of the calendar as it’s about an hour from Santa Monica. On the day is arrival, we’ll probably just hang out by the pool/beach. Same for for the day we leave. We can leave our luggage at the hotel after checkout and not flying out before 10pm, so heading to airport around 6pm. Will probably just spend the day by the beach. And the kids keep going on about these fastfood joints called Raising Cane, Wingstop and Crumbl.
If your kids are on a fast food mission then chick-fil-a , then in-n-out were quite good and rated highly by my teens a year back
Oh yes, they mentioned Chick-fil-a as well. I had In and Out in June. Was lovely.
A while ago, out for dinner, I asked a colleagues wife who’s from California reg burger places, if she preferred Five Guys or In and Out?
Been several times and always stayed at The Shore in Santa Monica. Not cheap, but very good, Easy access from LAX...walk along the beach to Venice...uber to anywhere else you want to go...walkable to shops, restaurants, bars etc https://www.shorehotel.com/
it’s normally around US$1500 for three nights (still is through Expedia etc), but the hotel is running a special where we ended up paying US$815 and includes less than half price parking and also welcome drinks. Booked, done and dusted! Non refundable, but we won’t find anything better than that. And if flight gets cancelled, we’re covered by travel insurance.
And thanks to other posters for steering me away from Hollywood.
Got back this morning from LA.
Was incredible and once again thanks Charlton_Charlie reg. the hotel recommendation and everyone’s else inputs.
We managed to do the following:
Sunday: Picked up rental car in the afternoon. Then chilled by the pool, followed by a visit to Hi Ho Burgers (can recommend).
Monday: After an amazing breakfast (heart attack on a plate...) at Rae's Diner, we drove to Malibu for a swim. Then Beverly Hills and a visit to a Westfield nearby afterwards. Then followed by Hollywood (wasn't impressed) and then a trip to a mall in Glendale (one of my daughters had to visit a certain shop which was found in this mall). Raising Canes on the way back towards Santa Monica.
Tuesday: Drove out to La Verne for breakfast at Roberta's Diner. We then spent 5-6 hours at Raging Waters (water park) in San Dimas. Afterwards a visit to Crumble Cookie followed by a quick visit to the YouTuber Jimmy Tropicana's golf shop/barber in Glendora. Then a visit to Griffiths Observatory (to see the Hollywood sign) followed by a visit to a Walmart (the wife and kids really wanted to go), then Chick-fil-A for dinner.
Wednesday: Venice Beach, then Santa Monica Pier, before a self driving car (Waymo) took us up to a Trader Joe's. Then an hour at the pool, before we drove towards the airport to fly back to Auckland.
What a trip. And no more junk food for a very long time.
Comments
couple of craft beer places literally round the corner from the hotel....and if you do walk down the beach to Venice (20 mins or so), then you're going to go past the Venice Ale House, where you'll probably need a refresher before the journey back again...(fine with kids under the awning out front...)