Hello,

We have a 12-hour layover in LAX returning from Tahiti to the East Coast (arrive 9:30 a.m., depart 9:30 p.m.) We are thinking of going to Universal Studios for the day. (No Santa Monica/Venice Beach - figure we will have had enough beach by then.) How long is the drive from LAX to Universal Studios? Is it very stressful? (After an overnight flight, we are not normally exhausted, but I don't think we really want to kill ourselves with traffic.) With time constraints due to traffic and pick-up/return of rental car, are we better off using a shuttle service even though it is 4 times the cost of the rental car?

Thanks in advance!

check the city bus web site. you can get a free shuttle to the airport transportation center, which has a bunch of express busses. I took bus 561 to the Getty Center (fast, via freeway) and Westwood for under $2, which may be the best entertainment package for LA shortvisit, even if you dislike museums.

You will be exhausted to say the very least. Your best bet would be to rent a hotel room for the day, veg by the pool or relax in the room.

you know your own stanima but i think it sounds like too much. by the time you get there is the cost worth a few hours? allow an extra hour each way in case you get in a traffic jam. the drive from universal south was horrible on a saturday that we went.

I wouldn't bother. We visited Universal Studios in March and thought it was horrible. Many attractions were closed and there just was not that much to see. I would not recommend it at all. Spend your time and money on something more worthwhile.

I am very surprised by Maureen's statement that there's not much to see at Universal Studios. I was there with my family over Labor Day weekend and there was plenty to see and do. Did you venture over to the escalator that takes you to another area of the park? Plenty of rides, attractions and restaurants in CityWalk.

There are shuttles from LAX to the light rail(green line, or blue?).Change in downtown LA . The subway station is at the bottom of the hill at Universal.Walk across the street for the free shuttle to the main gate.
You can buy a front of the line pass to speed up your wait for attractions.

Quickest public transpo would be a combination of 2 buses, then the metro, and would take about 95 minutes. Better to throw your belongings into the trunk of a car rental (www.budget.com for good weekday rates) and head for the hills.
10am traffic should be clearing for easy 11am arrival to Universal, 4 to 5 hours there is just enough. Head south to Hollywood around 4pm when the traffics not TOO bad, then over to Beverly Hills for dinner, or out to Marina del Rey. A 7pm departure from Beverly Hills or a 7:30pm departure from the Marina will give you plenty of time to return the rental car and get to your 9:30 flight.

Thank you all for replying. I understand the remarks about exhaustion; however, we have a 7 hour flight in the evening, and I really do not want to be awake during the flight because I spent the entire layover snoozing in a hotel room. We were actually able to get a great deal on a car rental for the day, so that looks like the way we will go - unless there is a remarkable steal on limousines!

Thank you again for all the help. Any further suggestions are welcome!

Angleique, what about hanging out at venice beach, catching lunch at spago. I am not from LA, have never even been. But I know the kind of flying time you are going to put in and I think you will be exhausted no getting around this.

I thought about Venice Beach, but I am not too excited for two reasons. First, coming from Tahiti, I think we will have had enough beach. Second, we are from Miami, and we have South Beach, so I can't really work up the excitement for Venice Beach.

Any non-beach suggestions would be appreciated, however. We are not married to the Universal Studios idea. If anyone can come up with something less taxing - especially if we don't have to do the actual driving or resort to public transportation - I would appreciate it.

Thanks again.

Universal is doable but may be rushed -especially since tours and shows are on time schedules. Also, Universal is fairly far traffic-wise from LAX. Just don't expect to see all.

Other options to consider -

The Getty - The museum is nice and the grounds are terrific. A great patio for informal dining or you could try the indoor restaurant. You could easily combine this with a little sightseeing up Sunset Blvd.


Brunch at the Farmer's Market at fairfax and third (one of my favorite spots in LA), then a little shopping at the new Grove outdoor mall and then a movie there. You could head back to LAX about 6:00 (time to get rental car back during heavy traffic time in unfamiliar place).

A trip to Norton Simon and Huntington Gardens where you could enjoy the museums and the outdoors then to South Pasadena for early dinner. This is rather far from LAX so would need to leave fairly early to get back but it is a fun day.

Venice is a SLUM compared to South Beach, so don't even think about it!!

If you want to stay land-locked, then just spend the day in Beverly Hills soaking up the glitz and glamour of it all, and then having a nice, leisurely lunch or dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Spago there!

I think the Beverly Hills thing sounds good. Maybe a tour of Hollywood Blvd. Something you can just sit back and relax somewhat. No stress. A nice lunch someplace. Walk around, stretch your legs. If Universal is that appealing to you, the go for it. Maybe Long beach, visit the Queen Mary. I guess that is to far, from airport. You must consider travel time, traffic, etc. time of day in order to drive to far away. Good luck.

Please, no car rental suggestions for the extremely jetlagged - someone may be killed! Take an excursion to a sweet spot that just takes one bus, like the Santa Monica bluebus (see their website for attractions on the line) or take bus 561 to Getty Center or Westwood (much more than a museum destination). These busses are not bad at all in terms of confort, convenience, price.

I think it's a great idea and I would do it given the layover time.
Here's what I would do.
Arrive 0930 customs/immigration get your bags and head out to the curb - say 10:15-1030. Take shuttle to the Sheraton Universal Studios (should be a lot cheaper or call Sheraton ahead of time). Or take a directly taxi will probably cost $35 give or take. There's less traffic so you'll make it their in 20-30 minutes and arrive around 1100. You can walk to Universal studios from the hotel if you can get a good shuttle rate there. Getting back you'd have traffic to deal with so I'd be on the shuttle or bus by 6:30-7:00 pm and allow for a about 1 hour to the airport. You'll have about 6 hours at Universal. That's plenty of time so see alot. Most people that go there wear out after 6 hours anyways.

You won't be up for much that day since you'll almost certainly have a bad case of tahitian flu. The only cure for the malady is more frequent return trips. I both envy and pity you!!

Thank you so much for the ideas! I'm leaning towards either Universal Studios or the Beverly Hills day. The only problem is that I'll probably be too poor to enjoy it after this trip!

We have reserved a room at the LAX Sheraton, which is a 24-hour room - you can check in at whatever reserved time for 24 hours. I just hate to end up sleeping when LA awaits. (Can you tell I've never been?)

Thanks again.

Hi,
Welcome to LA. If you have never been to LA and only have 11 hours, then I would skip Universal Studios. It is kind of cheesy, and you likely will not see any movie stars or current productions. It is really a theme park.

I would go to you hotel, take a quick shower if you need to then head out for the day.

The Getty Museum is lovely, the view is fabulous, you can get a light lunch. From there I would drive through Beverly Hills, see Hollywood, then back to Santa Monica for a light dinner before you flight. Something easy.