Must-see hotels in Los Angeles

  • Sunset Tower Hotel

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    This 1929 art-deco marvel evokes the romance of Hollywood's Golden Age, when Errol Flynn, Truman Capote and Marilyn Monroe resided here. Recently…

  • Venice Breeze Suites

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    This 31-room beachfront property feels like home away from home. A cool wooden elevator takes you up to stylish studios and suites boasting wood floors,…

  • Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club

    South Bay Beaches

    This '60s property on its own peninsula north of the Redondo Pier blends urban sophistication with nautical lightheartedness. Get an ocean-side room with…

  • Beverly Wilshire

    Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood

    Now part of Four Seasons, the Beverly Wilshire has corked Rodeo Dr since 1928. Home to 395 elegantly appointed rooms and suites, it exudes a formal…

  • Farmer's Daughter Hotel

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    Gingham bedspreads, country-style throw pillows and down-home art lend this flirty motel a farmhouse vibe, mixed with big-city sophistication such as…

  • The M Malibu

    Malibu & Pacific Palisades

    This recently modernized, 18-room motel offers a minimalist cool vibe with comfy beds draped in crisp linen, slate floors in the bathrooms, plus coffee…

  • Banana Bungalow West Hollywood

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    This popular, well-run hostel occupies a converted nursing home. Translation: the Fairfax bubbies are gone and the global backpackers have moved in to…

  • Surf City Hostel

    South Bay Beaches

    Steps from the sand, the halls of this convivial hostel with a newly renovated kitchen offer mostly co-ed four- and six-person dorms. Even the private…

  • W Hollywood

    Hollywood

    The W's soaring, sparkly atrium makes quite an impression, as does the sceney, palm-fringed rooftop pool deck. In shades of grey, silver and white, rooms…

  • Hotel Shangri-La

    Santa Monica

    Stylish enough to be alluring, but not too stuck up or intimidating, this 70-room 1939 art deco classic, across the avenue from the bluffs, sports suites…

  • Figueroa Hotel

    Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

    What was originally a 1920s hostel for women is now one of Downtown's coolest slumber pads, recently revamped and adorned with specially commissioned…

  • Sportsmen's Lodge

    San Fernando Valley

    This valley classic (Clark Gable, Katharine Hepburn and other Hollywood stars once stayed here) had fallen on hard times but is back and swinging after a…

  • Venice Beach Suites & Hotel

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    Old Venice funky and old-sandal comfy, this place right on the Boardwalk scores big for bend-over-backwards staff. Take Betsy, the creaky 1913 elevator,…

  • Orlando

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    This independently owned, 95-room hotel is smack-dab in the W 3rd St shopping district and just a five-minute walk from the Beverly Center mall. Natural…

  • Hollywood Hills Hotel

    Hollywood

    Breathtaking city views, a curvaceous pool guarded by a 17th-century pagoda, and roomy digs with balcony and kitchen are among the assets at this older…

  • Millennium Biltmore Hotel

    Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

    Graced with chandeliers, Renaissance-inspired ceilings and legend (the Academy Awards were founded in the Crystal Ballroom in 1927), this grand dame has…

  • Best Western Sunset Plaza Hotel

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    Don't let the Best Western brand deceive you – this hotel packs plenty of charm in its Mediterranean-inspired shell. Around a pool deck strewn with palms,…

  • W Los Angeles - West Beverly Hills

    Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood

    Despite a $25-million renovation, wear and tear is evident in the W's lobby, an aquatically themed space with wave-shaped wooden panels, digital art and…

  • Hotel Wilshire

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    A sleek, fashionable, six-story hotel in the heart of the mid-Wilshire district, ideally located near some of LA's best museums and blessed with a…

  • Kimpton Hotel Palomar

    Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood

    Recently renovated, the Palomar mixes elegance and playfulness in the lounge, where handsome wooden panels, modernist-style furniture and sculptural…

  • Samesun

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    This hostel in a refurbished 1904 building has spectacular rooftop views of Venice Beach, bright, beachy swatches of color and four- to eight-person dorms…

  • Hotel Carmel

    Santa Monica

    Behind the charming historic facade, this older boutique hotel around the corner from the Promenade has just redone its rooms with craftsman-style…

  • JW Marriott LA Live

    Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

    This 878-room behemoth flanks the massive LA Live entertainment complex. Chef Ben Ford (son of Harrison) heads the Californian restaurant in the lofty,…

  • Belamar Hotel

    South Bay Beaches

    A mile from Manhattan Beach and 10 minutes' drive from the airport, the 127-room Belamar is a bit off the beaten track on busy Sepulveda Blvd, so it’s…

  • Loews Hollywood

    Hollywood

    Location, location, location! This tower hotel soars beside the Hollywood & Highland shopping center, right in the heart of Hollywood. Rooms are clean,…

  • Sea Shore Motel

    Santa Monica

    The friendly, family-run lodgings at this comfy 25-unit motel put you just a Frisbee toss from the beach on happening Main St (quadruple-pane windows help…

  • Georgian Hotel

    Santa Monica

    Across the street from Palisades Park and the Pacific beyond, this eye-catching, 1933 art deco landmark has a snug ocean-view veranda for breakfast (get…

  • Dockside Boat & Bed

    Long Beach & San Pedro

    Get rocked to sleep by the waves aboard your choice of five yachts sleeping three to five people. Each yacht is different, but all have galley kitchens…

  • Shore Hotel

    Santa Monica

    Modern with clean lines, lots of woods, whites with pops of orange and aqua, this is Santa Monica's only gold LEED-certified (low carbon footprint) hotel…

  • Avalon Hotel

    Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood

    Mid-century modern gets a 21st-century spin at this fashion-crowd fave, which was Marilyn Monroe’s old pad in its days as an apartment building. Funky…

  • Embassy Suites

    San Fernando Valley

    Ignore the oh-so-corporate moniker. This tower hotel with a frosted-glass facade has class and value around a soaring atrium lobby. All rooms are suites,…

  • Su Casa

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    Set in a string of boho studio and apartment hotels overlooking the Boardwalk, rooms here are fairly large with new wood floors, wall-mounted flat-screen…

  • USA Hostels Hollywood

    Hollywood

    This sociable hostel puts you within steps of the Hollywood party circuit. Private rooms are a bit cramped, but making new friends is easy during staff…

  • Ramada Plaza

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    With a prime Boys Town location, this large hotel has simple, clean, three-star rooms, guest laundry room and a palm-lined pool deck, plus lots of…

  • Inn at Playa del Rey

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    A rambling cottage turned impeccably run inn overlooks the state-protected Ballona Wetlands. It has 23 individually decorated rooms with a contemporary…

  • Hotel Amarano

    San Fernando Valley

    Close to Warner Bros, the 100 rooms at this boutique business hotel are inspired by Hollywood movie sets, from doors like those on actors' dressing rooms…

  • Beverly Terrace Hotel

    Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood

    It might be on the older side, but this Euro-style property offers good value. Rooms aren't huge but please with their mid-Century Modern accents, and the…

  • Malibu Country Inn

    Malibu & Pacific Palisades

    Perched above the highway and overlooking Westward Beach is this humble shingled inn with 16 fairly large rooms that are clean and white with subdued…

  • Magic Castle Hotel

    Hollywood

    Walls at this perennial pleaser are a bit thin, but otherwise it’s a charming base of operation with large, modern rooms, exceptional staff and a petite…

  • Westin

    Pasadena & the San Gabriel Valley

    Downtown Pasadena’s slickest sleep is a 350-room, modern, Spanish-style complex with comfortable, newly renovated rooms, large, well-equipped gym with…