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 often overlooked. Still, decent rates buy stylish rooms with sea-blue accents and aromatherapy bath products, plus easy access to a nature trail to the beach for jogging off your jet lag.

Big malls across the street offer easy access to shopping and dining.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Manhattan Beach

1.41 MILES

If Manhattan Beach had its own magazine, it would surely be called Gorgeous Living. Classy beachside cottages, bougainvillea-lined walk streets, bustling…

3. Hermosa Beach

2.69 MILES

Strolling down Hermosa Beach’s Pier Ave on a summer weekend, you’re immediately struck by two things: everybody’s wearing flip-flops, tiny tees and a tan,…

4. Dockweiler State Beach

4.05 MILES

With jumbo jets soaring overhead, sailboats bobbing beyond the rolling surf, bonfires raging in the pit and a waxing moon rising high, summer nights on…

5. Redondo Beach Pier

4.22 MILES

Arching from the bottom of Torrance Blvd all the way to King Harbor, this classic 1960s multilevel beast is the Redondo hub, with plenty of pierside…

6. Veterans Park

4.45 MILES

Come here for the weekly farmers market, Thursdays 8am to 1pm.

7. Redondo & Torrance Beaches

4.77 MILES

Redondo Beach is a working-class beach town, the largest in the South Bay and the most ethnically diverse. As it wanders inland it bleeds into neighboring…

8. Ballona Wetlands

5.23 MILES

These last remaining wetlands in LA County are home to at least 200 migrating and resident bird species, including the great blue heron. Their habitat,…