After you have seen all you want of LA-take a cheap flight to Las Vegas. Don't even think of driving through Barstow.
The rental cars are a bit cheaper in LV than in CA.
If you don't want to stay on the Strip, stay at the Fiesta in Henderson or the Hacienda out near Hoover Dam.
The Hacienda did have helicopter tours to see Hoover Dam and Lake Meade. The helicopter took off from the edge of the parking lot.
Staying east of LV will get you to the GC that much earlier.

Sorry --but you are making a BIG mistake IMO.

here is what I posted on your other thread:

>>I'm sorry -- but dropping the car in Santa Barbara and taking the train is an awful idea. Los Angeles can be done w/o a car. And root canals can be done w/o anesthetic. Doesn't mean it is a good idea.

Messing about w/ the train and the (much) less than adequate public transport in the LA basin simply needlessly complicates your days in SoCal.

Plus it will force you to stay in places that would be fine for a business trip -- but NOT for a dream holiday in California.

Look --I just got back from driving 2100 miles in the UK and lived to tell the tale. You can drive here.<<

It will NOT be white knuckle time -- honest. Driving in LA is actually easier than some of the other places you seem OK with. From SF through the Peninsula, Carmel, Big Sur. After that LA will be easy peasy.

Since you don't want to drive, taking the train from Santa Barbara is a nice idea. But as far as your stay in Los Angeles, it depends on what you've decided that you want to see and do in Los Angeles. It's VERY wide and spread out, so you don't want to be on the bus all day. The metro (tube) only goes to limited locations, and it doesn't go to LAX airport.

90% of the tourists arriving into LAX or Union Station do not rent a car, and they seem to manage. Locals seem to forget that driving and parking is no fun for tourists, either. When you don't know your way around and you only have a few days, good planning is vital but a car is not. I'm not sure why locals would want MORE cars on their freeways, but the concept of a tourist taking a taxi anywhere doesn't seem to exist in L.A. Again, you'll be fine, I wish we could move on from that topic and thank you for stating above that YOUR MIND IS MADE UP AND YOU WON'T HAVE A CAR.

You might want to adjust your itinerary a bit , such as making your "beach time" in Santa Barbara instead of L.A.

As far as getting to Las Vegas, fares are highest on Fridays and early Saturday. You may want to wait until Sunday night or Monday to fly to Las Vegas. Rooms in Vegas also double and triple in price on Friday and Saturday nights.

It looks like you've cut your stay in Los Angeles to just two or three days. If your itinerary is still a movie studio, the Wild West Museum and a Starline Tour, then Burbank is your best bet. The Amtrak from Santa Barbara stops in Burbank. Burbank airport has many flights to Las Vegas (Southwest Airlines). The Wild West Museum is a 16 min ride on the city bus. WB studios is in Burbank or Universal is a 12 min city bus ride away. There is a 20 min bus down to Hollywood Walk of Fame or Starline Tours will pick up at your hotel. Easy Peasy. The bus schedules are at www.metro.net, just use the "trip planner" and put in a starting point such as "Burbank Holiday Inn" and an ending point such as "Gene Autry Museum". Within 2 or 3 blocks of the Holiday Inn you have 45+ choices for dining and pubs, access to 8 city bus lines as well as the metrolink train, 30 movie theatres and over 100 shops. The only think you'll not find is a place for high tea...the "Burbank naysayers" have got me there!

I can't think of anything more depressing than staying in Burbank (where I work)...except maybe the Burbank Holiday Inn, which has no character and is truly in the middle of nowhere.

For access to the attractions mentioned above, you'd be better off in Hollywood. See if you can get a deal on booking.com at The Hollywood Roosevelt - haven't seen the rooms recently but the public spaces are very cool, especially the lobby and roof deck.

From there you can walk to the Hollywood tourist spots, take the metro to Universal or a taxi to the Autry Museum. I believe the metro will also take you downtown to MOCA (the Museum of Contemporary Art), Walt Disney Concert Hall (a must see, wander through the gardens), Little Tokyo and the the new arts/gallery district. And a concert at the Hollywood Bowl is a must do.

After one or two nights in Hollywood, I suggest you move to the Embassy Hotel Apts in Santa Monica http://www.embassyhotelapts.com/ (not to be confused with the Embassy Suites). Very reasonable, oozing with old world charm, fantastic walkable location. You'll be a block away from the Third St. Promenade (shopping/street musicians/people watching), Ocean Avenue (stunning palm-lined park fronting the Pacific) and a short distance from Pier (arcade/rides) and the SM beach. You can rent bikes or stroll up the beach to Back on the Beach, where you can eat right on the sand - very nice for breakfast ...all locals. The Getty Villa, Getty Museum, Bergamot Station (great art galleries), Venice Beach and Abbot Kinney Blvd (cutting edge shopping/dining) are also shortish taxi rides away. If you do go to Venice, be sure to have a drink on the roof deck of the Hotel Erwin.

To get a sense of iconic LA, on your way to Santa Monica from Hollywood, ask your taxi driver to take you up Sunset Strip and through Beverly Hills.

After your brief stay in Santa Monica, you'll be 25 minutes from LAX by cab or shuttle, ready for Vegas. The summer is off season there and you should be able to get some great deals.

Hope this helps - Happy to recommend restaurants once you figure out what you're doing.

BTW - You'll be driving down the coast on Highway 1. PCH is name for the section of the 1 that runs through LA County.

And...janisj - nice root canal analogy.

Yo cross: PCH also runs through San Diego.

Good advice - and if you want to drop the car in Santa Barbars and take the train into LA - fine - and you can get around and see enough in LA without a car - but that was a good suggestion to perhaps spend another day (or two) in Santa Barbara for your beach time (less crowded than LA) - and maybe try to find a place closer to the beach in SB.

Once in LA - in addition to Pasadena - which has some lovely areas - especially by the Rose bowl - I also think West Hollywood is a good "central" base - and you could use the Metro to go downtown - or it's a fairly easy bus ride or taxi ride to the Getty Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, etc.

Once you get to Vegas (aka -"Lost Wages" ) - you could take a one day van tour - leaving the driving to them - of the Grand Canyon - and there are other options - such as a plane ride, etc.

BTW - google away - and find a very reasonably priced place to stay on the main Strip. Henderson is very nice - but it's just really a suburb - 20 minutes or more from the Strip - and you want to stay where all the sights/shows are, which is on DA Strip.

On the upper end - our favorites are the Bellagio (don't miss the incredible fountains and the Arborteum) - or the Wynn, and even the new City Center/Aria, etc - is having some good deals - adn the Venetian is also top drawer - but staying at one of the other "name" hotels (Ballys, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Flamingo, MGM, NYNY, Excalibur, Tropicana, Mirage, Treasure Island etc - for a great deal - is just fine.

Even the Rio - just off the strip - is fine - as they have big rooms - and have a bus that goes the mile or so back to the Sript.

Just double check the offers - as they like to slip in an extra $20 "resort fee" even if you don't use the facilities.

Thanks, Tom for the PCH correction. Also, before everyone gets mad at me for dissing Burbank, I wanted to clarify that there are some lovely areas, including an equestrian residential neighborhood. But the hotels are generic, the restaurants are not exceptional and not where I'd want to stay without a car.

West Hollywood is a good idea, not sure where the metro is there, and as previously mentioned, the buses suck. If you're sticking to budget hotels, I like the Farmers Daughter Motel on Fairfax near CBS/Farmers Market and the Grove, which is technically in Hollywood, not West Hollywood. But you'd have more transportation issues there than in Hollywood.

Sadly, very few beachfront hotels in SB.

cc: Maybe West Hollywood has a broader definition than what I am using. Anyhow - we stayed in Hollywood (close to Hollywood and Vine was it - see this map http://travel.yahoo.com/p-map-474283-map_of_hollywood_ca-i ) - and the ladies were off with the car on a day trip with my niece looking at colleges - so I walked to the Metro and took it downtown to the Union Station (the main train station) and from there - walked up to Dodger Stadium.

Here is the info for the Redline:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Line_(Los_Angeles_Metro)

And here are some bus connections from Hollywood. Getting to the Getty Center does require a transfer - but it looks doable from Hollywood.

http://www.getty.edu/visit/hours/public_transport.html

Just to be sure - here are the directions for taking the bus from Hollywood to UCLA/Westwood - a cute area - you could also walk around - find a hip college cafe/restaurant - and then transferring to a bus to get to the Getty Center.

From Hollywood
From Sunset Blvd., take Metro Rapid Bus 2 (direction PCH) to Hilgard Ave./Westholme Ave. at UCLA, (approximately 35 minutes). Cross to southeast corner and take Metro Rapid Bus 761 (direction Pacoima) to the Getty Center stop (approximately 12 minutes).

And here is the way to take the bus to the Getty Villa - and it takes directly you all the way to the Ocean - in an hour, and then you transfer.


From Hollywood
From Sunset Blvd., take Metro Rapid Bus 2 (direction PCH) to Pacific Coast Highway (approximately 1 hour). Cross Pacific Coast Highway and take Metro Express Bus 534 (direction Malibu) to the Getty Villa/Coastline Drive stop (approximately 5 minutes).

Again, here is the webpage:

http://www.getty.edu/visit/hours/public_transport.html

Well crosscheck, just as u could think of nothing more depressing than staying in Burbank, someone suggests staying in Henderson rather than Las Vegas! We all have an opinion!

Hollywood would be my 2nd choice for Lyn, and I should add that I generally don't recommend Hwd or Bbank for tourists, this is based on their itinerary. And Santa Monica is out because they asked for lower-priced accomodations and SM is out of control in August. Plus we're talking about a 2 night stay here....really, Santa Monica when they want to see a movie studio and Gene Autry and go on a Hollywood tour? When exactly would they have time to see Santa Monica, they'd be on the bus or in a taxi for hours at a time.

Reviews (by TOURISTS) of Burbank Holiday Inn, and Residence Inn next door and even the little Tangerine Hotel and Safari Inn are pretty good regarding access to tourist attractions. I would add that locals are used to Hollywood, but reviews from tourists often find it grimey and other than a couple of hotels there, kinda creepy at night.

I would highly recommend renting a car and staying overnight at the Grand Canyon. It's about 5 hours from Vegas. You could go with a tour but they are expensive (compared to a rental car) and don't give you much flexibility.

Tom, I asked the OP to start a new thread because her 1st was filled with superfluous, confusing info and I couldn't imagine how she was sifting through it all.
She has the info on how to plan a metro trip. She hasn't said that she'll be staying in Hollywood or going to the Getty, so why a long post about how to get there?
And Tracy, you're posting mostly info that you already gave her previously.
Lynn...try to imagine helping a tourist who has only 2 days in London. Please post a final decision on what you want to see and do so that you can get helpful tips instead of speculation. Obviously you can't see much of what L.A. has to offer, you'll have to pick and choose.
One thing I'll agree with is that Burbank airport is your best bet if you are flying to Las Vegas from Hollywood or downtown L.A. or Pasadena or of course Burbank.

I was also wondering why the Getty keeps getting mentioned since the OP never said she was interested in the Getty. Here's what she said her interests were in the first thread:

I love the beach but my son is not a beach person. I have told him that I want to "peoplewatch" at Venice and at least dip my toes in the Pacific and he seems to be fine with that. We are also not theme park types. I would love to do a studio tour but without the rides. I also love anything to do with Native American History. We were also thinking of taking in the Tolerance Museum, Manns and Walk of fame.

Sorry, I brought up the Getty because I skimmed the long thread where it was mentioned.

I now think Farmer's Daughter on Fairfax (Hollywood) would be a fine place to stay, affordable, walking distance to Farmer's Market, shopping at the Grove and you can walk to a t.v. taping at CBS (book online)

Day 1 - Paramount Studio tour, then Hollywood walk of fame, possible Hollywood Bowl concert/picnic (short cab ride, or ask hotel for bus info)
Day 2 - TV taping at CBS? Gene Autry museum. Dinner at Farmer's Market or the Grove.
Day 3 - Splurge on cab to Venice Beach. Dinner on Melrose.
Day 4 - Hotel probably has shuttle to LAX

I like the FDaughter and the neighborhood. But hotels in the area do not have shuttles to LAX. So you have that expense (or to Burbank airport, same shuttle price, easier airport)...and the expense of getting from Burbank Amtrak or Downtown Amtrak over to the FDaughter (taxi). Will need a taxi to the Autry Western, and two busses or a taxi to WB or Paramount Studios, added expense. And if they decide to stay an extra day and see Venice Beach, another $100 roundtrip taxi is recommended. (though I'd take the express bus myself. It's 10 min from the hotel down to Venice Blvd, then a 10 min wait and a 30 min express bus out to Venice Beach. Savings: $94 round trip for 2!)

I think it's nice to be in a better neighborhood, cool hotel, but a 2 or 3 day stay is mostly going to be filled with the few attractions that you pick, not fine dining or hanging out at the hotel/neighborhood. So, I think it depends on whether or not Lynn wants to spend an extra $150 on the hotel and an extra $200+ in transpo costs to stay in a livelier neighborhood and see Venice.

Hi everyone. I am really sorry, I seem to have started lotsa bust ups on here. I do appreciate all of your help.

Just to clarify - I deffo want to ditch the car in SB. I would like to stay in a reasonably priced hotel in a safe neighbourhood that is fairly easy to get to from Union Station and is served by the hop on/off Starline bus the routes of which seem to cover most of what we would like to do. If we can't get round to all of them then so be it. Just being in LA will be great and everything we get to see is a bonus.

Thank you for the tips on the best way to get to LV and where to stay when we get there.

<<<I can't think of anything more depressing than staying in Burbank (where I work)...except maybe the Burbank Holiday Inn, which has no character and is truly in the middle of nowhere.>>>

FWIW, we stayed there by default last summer -- everything within miles of Magic Mountain was booked and it was midnight -- the room was perfectly comfortable, but the whole place looked like it was built around (and hadn't been redecorated since) 1955!

If you are going to use the Hop on Hop off bus, look for a hotel along that route. Select a website such as Expedia or Orbitz that has good search function. I think downtown is a good choice, often some good deals especially if no conventions. The Holiday Inn Express is not bad in Hollywood.

West Hollywood is probably not a good fit unless you are into nightlife "scene" and works better with a car.

I'd advise checking "Sea Shore Motel" in Santa Monica ... it's a budget motel in a great great area ... and the reviews on TripAdviser are good.

Or Seaview Hotel, Santa Monica.

If you want to stay in Hollywood near the metro and the hop on bus, The Loew's hotel (formerly Renaissance) has a rate of $195 per night that weekend, lower than the Holiday Inn Express, bookable on www.kayak.com
You can also walk to the Hollywood Bowl from here, that weekend's offering is "Pixar in Concert".

For Hollywood, you might want to exit Amtrak at the Burbank Airport stop and take a taxi, about $25 (as long as you're not arriving at 5 to 8pm Hollywood Bowl traffic time). There's a bus down to Hollywood from that airport, too, $1.50, but tough with luggage. (Otherwise you can exit Amtrak 15 min later at Union Station and switch to the Red Line subway up to Loew's Hotel (get off at Highland).