Things to do
Ranked by what's actually worth your time.
Free admission to the building and grounds, with free public telescope viewing on clear nights, including the historic 12-inch Zeiss refractor on the roof. It's the best free vantage for the Hollywood Sign and a full-city sunset.
Free to enter (you pay only for parking) and reached by a hillside tram. Worth it for the Richard Meier travertine architecture and Robert Irwin's Central Garden as much as the Van Goghs.
Free admission (you only pay to park), reached by a hilltop tram that makes arrival feel like ascending a modernist city. Richard Meier's travertine architecture, the Central Garden, European painting up to 1900, and 360-degree views of the basin make it worth half a day.
Free general admission to a heavyweight contemporary collection, and home to two of Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Rooms, which you enter for one minute at a time. Book ahead; the Kusama rooms draw lines.
Open since 1917, this is the edible autobiography of LA. Legacy stalls like Roast to Go (1952) and China Cafe (1959) share a historic roof with 40-plus vendors and some of the city's most exciting newer chefs.
One of North America's largest urban parks at over 4,000 acres, holding the observatory, the LA Zoo, the Greek Theatre, pony rides, and dozens of trails. A whole day's worth of city and nature in one spread.
The pier sits where Ocean Ave meets Colorado at the end of Route 66, and Pacific Park is the West Coast's only amusement park on a pier. A solar-powered Ferris wheel over the Pacific is peak LA postcard, reachable car-free via the Metro E Line.
The city's newest big-ticket museum in a Renzo Piano building, dedicated entirely to the art and history of movies. Current shows include Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon, running through Feb 2027.
The quintessential LA hike, right off Hollywood Blvd. Loop options run roughly 1.9 to 3.5 miles with 500 to 900 feet of climbing, city-and-ocean views, and a very dog-friendly, very LA people-watching scene. Packed on weekends.
Part of Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach, its dramatic bluffs, sea caves, and towering sea stacks make it the most photogenic beach in LA County. The parking lot is tiny, so go early or off-peak.
The classic Pacific-edge combo: the pier's Ferris wheel and arcade, then a walk south along the boardwalk to Venice's skate park, canals, and Muscle Beach.
The boardwalk, Muscle Beach, skate park, and canals combine into something loud, weird, and essential. It's also the launchpad for the Abbot Kinney Festival.
Simon Rodia's folk-art masterpiece anchors the Watts Towers Arts Center Campus, which hosts free festivals including the Day of the Drum and the Simon Rodia Watts Towers Jazz Festival. Admission and parking are free.
The iconic outdoor amphitheater and summer home of the LA Phil, whose 'Forever Summer' season includes the beloved Tchaikovsky Spectacular with Fireworks, closing on the 1812 Overture backed by the USC marching band and full pyrotechnics.