Hello, we are staying a week in CA starting out in LA for 3 days then to Disneyland for 2 days and would like to end the last 4 days at a coastal hotel near the beach within 1 hour of LAX (we fly out of LAX), would want to visit Santa Monica pier at some point. My kids are between 10yo -16yo. This is our first time in CA with no knowledge of the beach areas so I could use all the recommendations you can provide on a nice family hotel (under $600/night) to end our trip at the beaches/pier/etc.
We are leaving in 2 weeks so need to find this last beach hotel FAST Thank you so much!

Welcome to Fodors. To be within 1 hour of LAX will pretty much limit you to LA and Orange counties - and depending on time of day/traffic even southern most Orange County could be substantially longer than an hour.

So where to look would include places like Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna, and Dana Point. Since you are at such short notice I'd maybe just plug your dates into Booking.com and see what's available within your budget.

How many kids are you talking about? You make it sound like more than 2. And what kind of arrangement do you want? A 16 yr old is an adult by hotel terms, but are you expecting a 10 and 16 yr old, if that's what you have, to sleep together in the same bed or not? You should easily be able to get a room with 2 queens for that price, for example. And when you say beach hotel, are you expecting to be ON the beach? You could look at Manhattan Beach or Redondo Beach.

The BW Plus Manhattan Beach has king suite rooms with a sofabed in that price range, for example, but it's not on the water. The Sonesta Rondondo Beach has a2 queen room in that price and it's closer to the beach.

I'm confused. You're staying "a week in CA" but the days add up to 9. So, is it 9 days and 10 nights on the ground? If you want to spend 2 full days in Disneyland, you should spend 3 nights there.

It would help to know your plan for the first 3 days in L.A. and then what you hope to do in the last 4 days. Is the first time for general sightseeing and the second for beach time? If you went to Santa Monica during the first days, you would have more options for where to stay before your departure. However, an hour from the airport in L.A. traffic isn't very far (and you'd have to add time to return the car). Drive times are very dependent on time of day and day of the week, and you might want to stay relatively close to LAX... Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, maybe Huntington Beach. Santa Monica too if there is still some general L.A. sightseeing to do. If you want a resort situation, look for any special offers at Terranea Resort. Beautiful views and a lovely property. As you search everywhere, pay attention to parking charges, if any, that can really drive up the nightly rate. Also, if you want a beach location, be aware that days in early May are often overcast/foggy in the morning, and on some days the skies at the beach never clear. Locals call it "May Gray" ... a prelude to "June Gloom." Ocean water temps will be too cold for swimming or surfing without a wet suit.

Christina mentioned the BW Plus in Manhattan Beach. It's currently under renovation and definitely has a construction-zone vibe at the moment. I don't know when the reno will be completed, but it's been on-going for a few weeks. The Sonesta Redondo Beach is ok, but the BeachFest (music) Festival is across the street May 2-4, 2025. I forgot about the festival until I counted the poster's days on a calendar.

The Sonesta and other properties in the immediate area (Redondo Beach Hotel, Portofino, Shade Redondo, Beach House in Hermosa) will likely be booked solid from a few days prior until at least May 5th. Removing the festival infrastructure takes several days, and the area around these hotels is already impacted and won't be traffic or pedestrian friendly until about May 8th or 9th.

If you're interested in Manhattan Beach, try the Westdrift and Belamar hotels. You can also check my first choice, The Sea View Inn, but I doubt it will have availability just 2-3 weeks from now. If you don't care much about a hotel's location, there are many chain hotel properties in Manhattan Beach-adjacent El Segundo, but they are mostly surrounded by only office buildings.

IMO, Newport Beach, Dana Point and Laguna are all over an hour's drive to LAX, esp. on a weekday morning. Any of them would be fine as long as you can give yourselves more like 90 minutes (plus car return) to your plan. The same "May Gray" weather is likely in these beach towns.

Thank you, that's very helpful! I look at those 4 areas to start.

Thank you ALL for you quick input and guidance, I appreciate all your posts! To answer some questions and provide more context....we will be in CA from May 2-9, starting out first 3 days in LA Live area for my work trip (bringing my family along to extend my work trip into a family vacation). We are leaving LA Live area on May 4th (checking out Warner Bros, Griffith Park, Hollywood sign if we can this day) and heading to Anaheim (staying 2 nights) for Disney May 5th then DCA May 6th and heading to beach area May 6-9 for relaxation, beach, piers. LA Live and Disney hotels booked. I do not have a hotel booked yet for the beach part of our trip (May 6-9). We're departing May 9th from LAX so I was thinking a beach coastal hotel/resort about an hour or 90 minutes north of LAX or south of LAX for the last 3 nights. I have 3 kids 10, 13, 16 and 2 Queen beds and sofa bed is all we need. Would like to go to Santa Monica pier one of those days, relax on the beach and be close enough to drive back to LA area for a few hours if we missed seeing Rodeo Dr or Hollywood sign (we do have a rental car). I hope this all made sense

You'll be able to see the Hollywood sign from many points, even 20 miles away if the skies are clear, so I'm not sure you need to make a big detour just to see it from a closer vantage. Your call. I don't know how much, if anything, the two younger kids would get out of Rodeo Drive. Two+ blocks lined with famous label stores with lots of other tourists looking in the windows.

But you will need to have some things to do in case the weather just doesn't lend itself to "relaxing on the beach." Getty Center? Observatory? La Brea Tar Pits? If any of the kids are into STEM, the California Science Center has a lot of interesting stuff, including great IMAX films, although it will be even better next year when the space shuttle Endeavor exhibit is completed. There is a very good aquarium in Long Beach. Migrating whales and dolphins are often seen from the Terranea Resort that I mentioned upthread. A more expensive but totally unique outing would be Cosm (near SoFi Stadium and Intuit Arena).

https://cosm.com/los-angeles/events

As for a room sleeping 5 people, I'd look at the Residence Inn in Manhattan Beach. Well under your budget, about a mile from the beach and 15 minutes from the LAX car rental return area. The SM Pier would be a 45-minute drive. I haven't been to SM since the Palisades fire, but there have been traffic delays in the downtown/pier area caused by the continued closure of PCH farther north.

Another idea... If any in the family are interested in cars, the Petersen Automotive Museum is excellent.

Newport would be great for you- try the Bayshore Peninsula Hotel or any of the Marriotts around Newport. The Bayshore is an older property but they have “ family rooms” and they provide beach chairs, hoodie boards etc and the beach and restaurants are a short walk. You can take the ferry to Balboa Island, have a frozen banana and see what you can see. Checking booking.com is a great idea because availability will be tight

even if I am not a great fan of cars, I loved the Nethercutt museum in Sylmar. They also have a train.

The Nethercutt is great! Esp. if not everyone in the group is crazy for cars, most of which here are 1900-1940. There are music boxes of all types and sizes, a Wurlitzer organ, pianos, dolls, coins and other collectibles, the mentioned private train car... all beautifully displayed. But, depending on where you're staying in L.A., Sylmar can be a trek, so it tends to be a nearly all-day outing... FYI, reservations required.

rouelan: "even if I am not a great fan of cars, I loved the Nethercutt museum in Sylmar. They also have a train."

... along with some fascinating musical machines. One of my favorite museums in So Cal.

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/the...ection-sylmar/