Must-see attractions in Los Angeles

  • Griffith in Blue

    Griffith Observatory

    Los Feliz & Griffith Park

    With eyes on both the galaxy above and palm-flanked boulevards below, the Griffith Observatory hovers above LA like a hulking spacecraft. This is one of…

  • VENICE BEACH, USA - SEPTEMBER 29, 2016: The crowded Venice Beach Boardwalk. Lots of people are strolling down the boardwalk. On the sides there are several shops and palm trees.

    Venice Boardwalk

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    Prepare for a sensory overload on Venice's Boardwalk, a one-of-a-kind experience. Buff bodybuilders brush elbows with street performers and sellers of…

  • Santa Monica Pier

    Santa Monica Pier

    Santa Monica

    Once the very end of the legendary Route 66 and still the object of a tourist love affair, this much-photographed pier dates back to 1908 and is the city…

  • The Broad Museum of Los Angeles.

    Broad

    Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

    From the instant it opened in September 2015, the Broad (rhymes with 'road') became a must-visit for contemporary-art fans. It houses the world-class…

  • Getty Center, exterior.

    Getty Center

    Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood

    In its billion-dollar, in-the-clouds perch, high above the city grit and grime, the Getty Center presents triple delights: a stellar art collection …

  • Universal Studios Hollywood

    San Fernando Valley

    Dodge dinosaurs, hang with Homer Simpson and morph into a Minion on the sometimes hair-raising, always entertaining attractions at Universal Studios…

  • Interior of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California.

    Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

    Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

    LA is unlike any other city, and this cathedral is unlike any other cathedral. Seat of the US's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese (some five million…

  • USA, California, Los Angeles, Miracle Mile District, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LACMA, BP entrance with Urban Light by Chris Burden

    Los Angeles County Museum of Art

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    The depth and wealth of the collection at the largest museum in the western US is stunning. LACMA holds all the major players – Rembrandt, Cézanne,…

  • LOS ANGELES, USA - DECEMBER 23 2015: The Getty Villa  is one of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum which is dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria.; Shutterstock ID 355379339; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    Getty Villa

    Malibu & Pacific Palisades

    Stunningly perched on an ocean-view hillside, this museum in a replica 1st-century Roman villa is an exquisite, 64-acre showcase for Greek, Roman and…

  • Watts Towers

    Watts Towers

    Los Angeles

    The three 'Gothic' spires of the fabulous Watts Towers rank among the world’s greatest monuments of folk art. In 1921 Italian immigrant Simon Rodia set…

  • LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 1, 2016: Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. The theater has hosted numerous premieres and events since it opened in 1927.; Shutterstock ID 384869545; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: 65050/Online Design/Josh Vogel/POIs

    TCL Chinese Theatre

    Hollywood

    Ever wondered what it’s like to be in George Clooney’s shoes? Find his foot- and handprints alongside dozens of other stars', forever set in the concrete…

  • USA, California, Los Angeles, Walt Disney Concert Hall

    Walt Disney Concert Hall

    Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

    A molten blend of steel, music and psychedelic architecture, this iconic concert venue is the home base of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but has also…

  • City Hall

    Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

    Until 1966 no LA building stood taller than the 1928 City Hall, which appeared in the Superman TV series and 1953 sci-fi thriller War of the Worlds. On…

  • Abbot Kinney Boulevard

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    Abbot Kinney, who founded Venice in the early 1900s, would probably be delighted to find that one of Venice’s best-loved streets bears his name. Sort of a…

  • Grammy Museum at L.A. Live.

    Grammy Museum

    Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

    The highlight of LA Live, this museum's interactive exhibits define, differentiate and link musical genres. Spanning three levels, the rotating…

  • Museum of Tolerance

    Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood

    Run by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, this powerful, deeply moving museum uses interactive technology to engage visitors in discussion and contemplation…

  • Petersen Automotive Museum

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    A four-story ode to the auto, the Petersen Automotive Museum is a treat even for those who can’t tell a piston from a carburetor. A headlights-to-brake…

  • Abalone Cove Shoreline Park

    South Bay Beaches

    The best place to hunt for starfish, anemones and other tide-pool critters is in and around this rock-strewn eco-preserve. The walk down to the beach gets…

  • Gamble House

    Pasadena & the San Gabriel Valley

    This mansion in northwest central Pasadena has been called one of the 10 most architecturally significant homes in America. The 1908 masterpiece of…

  • Hollywood Museum

    Hollywood

    For a taste of Old Hollywood, do not miss this musty temple to the stars, its four floors crammed with movie and TV costumes and props. The museum is…

  • Battleship Iowa

    Long Beach & San Pedro

    This WWII to Cold War–era battleship is now permanently moored in San Pedro Bay and open to visitors as a museum. It's massive – 887ft long (that's 5ft…

  • MOCA Grand

    Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

    MOCA's superlative art collection focuses mainly on works created from the 1940s to the present. There's no shortage of luminaries, among them Mark Rothko…

  • Autry Museum of the American West

    Los Feliz & Griffith Park

    Established by singing cowboy Gene Autry, this expansive, underrated museum offers contemporary perspectives on the history and people of the American…

  • Frederick R Weisman Art Foundation

    Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood

    The late entrepreneur and philanthropist Frederick R Weisman had an insatiable passion for art, a fact confirmed when touring his former Holmby Hills home…

  • Original Farmers Market

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    Long before the city was flooded with farmers markets, there was the farmers market. Fresh produce, roasted nuts, doughnuts, cheeses, blini – you’ll find…

  • Hauser & Wirth

    Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights

    The LA outpost of internationally acclaimed gallery Hauser & Wirth has art fiends in a flurry with its museum-standard exhibits of modern and contemporary…

  • Venice Canals

    Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey

    Even many Angelenos have no idea that just a couple of blocks from the Boardwalk madness is an idyllic neighborhood that preserves 3 miles of Abbot Kinney…

  • El Matador State Beach

    Malibu & Pacific Palisades

    Arguably Malibu’s most stunning beach, where you park on the bluffs and stroll down a trail to sandstone rock towers that rise from emerald coves. Topless…

  • Wayfarers Chapel

    South Bay Beaches

    The most stunning non-natural attraction on Palos Verdes was built by Lloyd Wright (son of Frank) in 1951, and no matter where you stand among the great…

  • Woman holding LP Los Angeles, San Diego and Southern California guidebook with Hollywood sign in background.

    Hollywood Sign

    Los Feliz & Griffith Park

    If you go to Los Angeles and don’t catch a glimpse of those nine letters looming large on a Hollywood hillside, did you really even visit Tinseltown? Just…

  • Aquarium of the Pacific

    Long Beach & San Pedro

    Long Beach’s most mesmerizing experience, the Aquarium of the Pacific is a vast, high-tech indoor ocean where sharks dart, jellyfish dance and sea lions…

  • Museum of Latin American Art

    Long Beach & San Pedro

    This gem of a museum is the only one in the US to present art created since 1945 in Latin America and in Latino communities in the US through important…

  • Overhead of 'Hypar' kinetic sculpture in California Science Center, Exposition Park.

    California Science Center

    Los Angeles

    Top billing at the Science Center goes to the Space Shuttle Endeavour, one of only four space shuttles nationwide, but there's plenty else to see at this…

  • The Queen Mary ocean liner, now a museum and major tourist attraction docked in Long Beach, California, with the Russian submarine  'Scorpion' in front.

    Queen Mary

    Long Beach & San Pedro

    Long Beach’s ‘flagship’ attraction is this grand – and supposedly haunted! – British luxury liner. Larger and more luxurious than even the Titanic…

  • LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 11:  A general exterior view of the La Brea Tar Pits is seen on May 11, 2016 in the Miracle Mile District of Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images)

    La Brea Tar Pits & Museum

    West Hollywood & Mid-City

    Mammoths, saber-toothed cats and dire wolves roamed LA's savanna in prehistoric times. We know this because of an archaeological trove of skulls and bones…

  • Tree lined Inspiration Point hiking trail in Will Rogers State Historic Park.

    Will Rogers State Historic Park

    Malibu & Pacific Palisades

    This park sprawls across ranch land once owned by Will Rogers (1875–1935), an Oklahoma-born cowboy turned humorist, radio-show host and movie star (in the…

  • Griffith Park

    Los Feliz & Griffith Park

    A gift to the city in 1896 by mining mogul Griffith J Griffith, and five times the size of New York’s Central Park, Griffith Park is one of the country’s…

  • Santa Monica Beach

    Santa Monica State Beach

    Santa Monica

    There are endless ways to enjoy this 3.5-mile stretch of sand, running from Venice Beach in the south to Will Rogers State Beach in the north. Sunbathing…

  • People walking on the Malibu Pier.

    Malibu Pier

    Malibu & Pacific Palisades

    The pier marks the beginning of Malibu’s commercial heart. It’s open for strolling and license-free fishing (note the brackets for your rod and reel) and…