Los Angeles

Ruggedly good looking, deeply creative, with a sunny disposition to boot…if LA were on Tinder, the app would crash.

Natural Beauty

Envy is an ugly thing, New York. While your denizens spend their time sniffling and throwing shade in the snow, Angelenos are busy riding waves, tying up their hiking boots and counting their copious blessings. Think about it: in how many megalopolises can you gallop across rugged mountains just nine miles from City Hall? Despite its heaving head count, LA is a city indelibly tied to mighty Mother Nature. Here, dense, vibrant neighborhoods back onto golden beaches, city streets lead up to flower-carpeted hillsides, and huge, deep-blue skies are an IMAX screen for lingering sunsets made to pierce your heart.

Creative Overload

Dreams are serious business in La La Land. Home to Hollywood, this is a city where fantastical thoughts are encouraged; a place gleefully wrapped in endless layers of modern legend and mythology. Every year countless small-town dreamers pour onto its streets, itching to share their tales with LA and the world – on screen and stage, in lyrics, or on the whitewashed walls of galleries. The end result is an electrifying whirlpool of creativity: edgy art spaces, cult-status rock venues, acclaimed concert halls and thought-provoking stages, all fueling a city addicted to the weird, the wonderful and the downright scandalous.

Architectural Riches

LA's obsession with creative expression extends to its stucco and mortar. After all, this is where movie palaces look like Chinese temples and ancient Egyptian tombs, where concerts halls twist and curve like steely cartoon characters, and where soda bottling plants look like landlocked ocean liners. Indeed, LA celebrates architectural diversity with astounding gusto. From storybook Hollywood abodes and Silver Lake modernist prototypes, to downtown theaters channeling the Palace of Versailles, no other American city delivers such a thrilling mash-up of architectural styles, statements and role models…often on the very same palm-studded street.

Food & Drink

So which really has the better food scene: LA or SF? While the latter may claim more Michelin stars, LA packs one heck of a culinary punch. It's here that you'll find California's best tacos, the country's most authentic Korean and one of the nation's biggest concentrations of vegan restaurants. And when it comes to imbibing, SF best take a cable car home. From dirty martinis in a basement power station, to craft brews in a steampunk bowling alley, LA has a knack for turning humble drinking sessions into otherworldly adventures worthy of a toast or three.

Explore Los Angeles

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Featured Story

Best beaches in Los Angeles

8 min read — Published February 19th, 2021

Lonely Planet EditorsWriter

Los Angeles is really just a surf town at heart. With beaches stretching from Malibu to Laguna, there are plenty of stretches of sand to see and be seen.

Latest Stories from Los Angeles

Planning Toolkit

  • Discover some of the most unique and fulfilling experiences your next destination has to offer.

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Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Los Angeles.

  • Museum

    Broad

    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…

  • Museum

    Getty Center

    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 …

  • Museum

    Griffith Observatory

    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…

  • Cathedral

    Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

    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…

  • Landmark

    City Hall

    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…

  • Area

    Abbot Kinney Boulevard

    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…

  • Museum

    Los Angeles County Museum of Art

    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,…

  • Museum

    Museum of Tolerance

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

  • Museum

    Petersen Automotive Museum

    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…

  • Museum

    Getty Villa

    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…

  • Landmark

    Watts Towers

    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…

  • Landmark

    TCL Chinese Theatre

    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…

  • Notable Building

    Walt Disney Concert Hall

    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…

  • Architecture

    Gamble House

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

  • Museum

    Hollywood Museum

    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…

  • Museum

    Battleship Iowa

    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…

  • Museum

    MOCA Grand

    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…

  • Viewpoint

    OUE Skyspace LA

    Perched atop the city's tallest building to roof level, this is LA's loftiest observation deck, offering knockout views of LA, its hills, ocean and…

  • Waterfront

    Venice Boardwalk

    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…

Top experiences

Whether it’s a guided tour of a historic landmark, private tasting of local delicacies, or an off-road adventure — explore the best experiences in Los Angeles.

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