8 Hour layover in LAX
 

Hi,

Have a layover for 8hrs at LAX. Is that enough time to get out of the airport and doing anything? If so any recommendations?

Thanks!

Generally, that is enough time to leave the airport and visit either north, to Santa Monica or Marina Del Rey, or south to the beach cities, Manhattan Beach, etc.

But, that will depend on when you are arriving, the airline(s) you are traveling on, the day of the week, and if you are in a busy travel period. On a weekend during a holiday period, you could spend three hours checking back in at the international terminal.

With more specific information, I am certain you will get good suggestions on this board.

I would head over to Venice Beach. Walk around Abbot Kinney for a bit, maybe the boardwalk and beach. It should be an easy 30 minute taxi/Uber each way. With 8 hours, you should have enough time for something, though we'd need some more info to know exactly how much time.

A good budget-friendly option would be the Big Blue Bus, from the airport to Santa Monica (or other options along the route, I like SM).


Route 3: http://bigbluebus.com/Routes-and-Schedules/Route-3.aspx

What will you do with your luggage? Will it be checked through to your next flight? Usually if both legs are booked on one ticket, it will be through checked, if booked on two separate tickets you may well have to collect and recheck and usually you cannot recheck onto flight #2 until 4-5 hours before the flight. Southwest does not interline so if one of your flights is with them, you will be stuck with the luggage. No storage at LAX since 9/11. There is an offsite storage place but takes time, is expensive and gets mixed reviews.
If your luggage is checked through, you can take a taxi to Manhattan Beach (closest) and watch the surfers and beach volleyball players and eat, shop, etc. Or you can also visit Santa Monica a bit further away but not a bad drive (take Lincoln, or have cab take Lincoln, not the freeway). Marina del Rey is not so good with public transit.

Nothing will be easy during the rebuilding of upper level roadway which begins this month. Allow at least an hour to get back to the airport, an hour to get through TSA and more time for car rental return if you need to go that route (which is a common approach to dealing with luggage). All auto rentals are off airport and shuttles will be affected by construction.

So I would head back 3 hours before flight time, minimum.

>>Have a layover for 8hrs at LAX. Is that enough time to get out of the airport and doing anything?<<

W/o know which 8 hours you are talking about it is really hard to say . . .

Landing at 7AM, or Noon, or at 11PM . . . all would present different options/problems.

I did that a couple years ago. We have friends in LA and they picked us up and we headed down to Venice Beach, walked around, had lunch, and did a little window shopping. We were heading out on an international trip so got back to the airport about 2 1/2 hours in advance. It was very doable and a lot more fun than hanging out in the airport.