Los Angeles (California)

Advantages: A World Class City
Disadvantages: Don't try walking, the bus, or light rail

Los Angeles: Bigger Than Life Let me state it right off at the start: I love Los Angeles. It is a great city to visit or to live in … IF you know how to get around, and how to put up with the eccentricities of the place. Getting Around L.A. Originally, Los Angeles was a much smaller city. Long Beach, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Fe Springs….those were all separate towns a long way from L.A. You reached those towns ...
...made a conscious decision: Los Angeles would be a megalopolis connected by a system of freeways…people living in the megalopolis would, of course, be wealthy and every person would own a car. So, during much of the 1950's the streetcar lines were ripped up and freeways laid down. All those small, independent, villages and towns became virtual vassals of Los Angeles. The towns and cities grew together until now, the entire Los Angeles basin is one ... Read review

Advantages: movie history, one of the best cities in the world, great beaches,
Disadvantages: so spread out - you NEED a car, smog at some times of the year

Any review of Los Angeles - unless contained within the covers of a City Guidebook - can realistically merely ‘prick the surface’ of what is to offer in this sprawling metropolis on the West Coast of America. I’ve tried to cover what I have personal experience of during two brief visits to the ‘City of Angels’ • HOLLYWOOD – MOVIE MAGIC On our first visit to L.A, we stayed at the Holiday Inn, right on HOLLYWOOD ...
...last year to make way for a huge development to include Cinemas, Shopping and a new home for the Oscar ceremonies. But it was pretty neat to stay there all the same and could almost literally step out onto the ‘WALK OF FAME’. You’ve seen it on TV, documentaries etc – all the way along Hollywood Boulevard there are golden ‘stars’ inserted in the paving slabs, with the names of all kinds of stars, from Film, TV and ... Read review

Advantages: You will see lots of pretty people
Disadvantages: Realization that you are not pretty

...Southern California and consists of Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego area. This is the area where I spend a great deal of my time when in California, especially the LA area. Getting There If you are flying from another destination in the US there is a myriad of airports to choose from. The largest airport is Los Angeles International Airport which is usually referred to as LAX. You can also fly into the Long Beach Airport or Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena ...
...are usually significantly cheaper than LAX. Long Beach Airport is always fun because it reminds me of the LA of old. It has not been updated since the 50’s and you still come down the rolling staircase onto the tarmac instead of using a jet-bridge like all modern airports. Lodging It does not matter where you stay in the city, each area has its advantages. I do not suggest you stay too close to LAX as the hotels are rather expensive and there is ... Read review

Advantages: speaks for itself
Disadvantages: you have to come home

Anyone who has read my Opinion on Las Vegas will undoubtedly already be aware of my fascination with America. My Husband and I have visited the country about 15 times over our 13 ½ years of marriage. Our first trip was with Premier Holidays (honeymoon) costing over £1,500 each for two weeks. I fully appreciate that this is quite a considerable sum of money and over the years we have learnt of ways to make the trip more cost effective. Last June we ...
...and it cost us under £3,000 (an extra week , an extra person and 12 years later) , the same cost as when we went on Honeymoon in 1998. What I would like to do in this Opinion is share some of the "trick of the trade" that we have used and if any of you are able to save money on a trip to America then this has clearly been worthwhile. TOURIST BOARDS One of the first things to do is research where you wish to go , just so that I can speak from a position ... Read review

Advantages: An Amazing place
Disadvantages: Can be a little daunting at first

...The City Of Angels - Los Angeles. This vibrant city has something to offer everyone, but beware, day becomes night, night becomes day and sleep becomes a thing of the past. We stayed at a Comfort Inn in Hermosa Beach during our time in LA, this was about a 1/2 hour drive away from the touristic centre, which includes such great sites as Mann's Chinese Theater (the place with the handprints in the concrete), Macy's, Bloomingdales and a whole lot ...
...of a tourist do not underestimate the acclimatisation that a guided tour around the stars homes can do - it really is quite interesting, and it gives you a good layout of the roads for when you jump into your hire car. This leads nicely onto driving in LA, or any big American city for that matter, rule of thumb - DON'T BE AFRAID. Americans are quite aggressive drivers, and you get nowhere by being nice. Don't go stupid, but remember to push your ... Read review

Advantages: fun
Disadvantages: crowded

...Disneyland is a once in a life time opportunity. Though now scattered across Europe, the orginal Disneyland is in Los Angeles California. The prices are very high in the gift shops, restaurants and cafes, and especially ticket prices. To see parades and/ or shows, you have to be ready more than a half hour in advance. The entire park is infested with people every single day during the summer, and almost always during the year as well. Even though the disadvantages to disneyland are overwhelming, there is still the magic that this park holds. Wonderful rides, your favorite characters walking around, and just a smile on your face is what you should expect. Though the pricing and crowds drive me crazy every time I go, I still think it worth at least one visit.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Totally out of this world experience, so much to see and do, great hotels and casinos
Disadvantages: Sleazy in places, a few days isn't long enough to see it all

...Las Vegas. As we have relatives living in California we flew to Los Angeles and stayed in California for a few days first then hired a car and drove to Las Vegas. As we knew we would need a hire car we started to shop around about a week before we were leaving, we carried out our research on the internet and found that with most Companies we were able to get an immediate online quote. Prices do vary quite considerably so it is worth shopping around, the best deal that we came up with was through Avis and cost us £376.00 for 15 days, including insurance, and that was for a Grand Pontiac, (size wise, this is comparable with to Ford Mondeo). The drive from Capistrano Beach, where we were staying, to Las Vegas took us approximately 5 hours, however, Capistrano Beach is about an hour away from LA Airport and if you were to drive... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: You might meet Tom Cruise, very cheap and delicious ice cream
Disadvantages: Needs more bars!

...When I decided, along with a friend, to go and live in LA for the summer, we started to search for an apartment (using craigslist.org) without really caring what area of LA we lived in. Finding an apartment in Westwood Village was totally random and amazingly lucky, and had it not been for that our trip might have been so different and perhaps not as enjoyable. Westwood is a very pretty area of LA, located close to Santa Monica. It's mainly a student area as UCLA (The University of California in Los Angeles) is situated there. It's very much like a proper village and seems to be completely apart from the city of Los Angeles. It's a very safe area and I felt completely fine walking around myself at night, although LA's huge homeless problem is still evident (but not as much as other areas). There's 1 necessity for living in LA - you... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful