My husband and I will be visiting the LA area next week with our 2 boys (6 and 8). We will have a car and are staying in the W.Hollywood/Beverly Hills area, but I wondered if you would recommend that we do a hop on/hop off bus tour of the city? If so, which one? These types of tours are great in some cities because you can see a lot of things and learn about the various parts of the city. However, since LA is so spread out, is a tour like this a good idea?
Thanks!!!
Los Angeles--take a bus tour?
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The W Hollywood is in the heart of "old" Hollywood towards the east, maybe you are staying at the W Westwood which is closer to Beverly Hills?
Everyone seems to give good reviews to the Hop On Bus, but you need to research beforehand to decide just where you want to "hop off" for a while and explore.
With kids that age, some of the things not to miss in L.A. would be La Brea Tar Pits/Fossil Museum, Petersen Auto Museum, Natural History Museum and The Science Center nearby, Santa Monica Pier/Playland, Griffith Observatory and nearby L.A. Zoo, Gene Autry Wild West Museum. I think that when the Hop On Bus stops at the Farmer's Market/ Grove ...you could walk over to La Brea Tar Pits. Most of the other stuff would not be walkable from the tourbus stops.
http://www.discoverlosangeles.com/what-to-do/activities/attractions-tours
Venice Beach, too.
You will be a lot better off driving to these places.
HTTY
If you have a car I would use it. I honestly don't know anything about this tour, so I can't comment on it, but the tours I have gone on seem to focus on historical LA movie stars and your kids may be bored because they wouldn't know who Lucille Ball was, etc...Just for places to see I'd recommend the Getty Museum, and Universal Studios. I would also really recommend driving up the PCH to Point Dume Beach in Malibu. You can park your car in te public beach lot, for a fee, but park as far to the end of the lot as you can, closest to the large hill. If you climb the hill you have a great view of the ocean as well as Santa Monica. There are then metal steps that will take you down the other side of the hill to the beach which, depending on the time of year and tides, has great tidal pools for the kids to explore. You can then walk the beach under all the malibu mansions until you reach Paradise Cove where you can get a cheeseburger lunch.
I think they meant they were staying in West Hollywood, not the W hotel.
I would also suggest using a car if there are indeed 4 of you.
Agree with the others that a car would work best for you instead of the hop-on, hop-off bus. A great deal more flexibility and you can park where you want to go instead of having to walk some distance to get there. Just be sure not to be driving the freeways during peak traffic hours. You're correct in your perception that LA is too spread out for any really good bus touring.