thank you so much for all the feedback! We are actually going to be in LA next Tuesday! I had thought to take my daughter to Hollywood to walk along and see the stars but I think the beach may be a better idea.

My problem with a cab is that we will all (4 of us) have a carry on bag that we will have to lug everywhere we go. If we have a rental car, we'd have a place to stow it! :o)

Shame that there are no longer lockers at the Airport!

<i>My problem with a cab is that we will all (4 of us) have a carry on bag that we will have to lug everywhere we go. If we have a rental car, we'd have a place to stow it!</i>

Exactly, plus (again assuming this is during the winter months) it can actually get quite chilly in the beach towns in LA (I grew up in Manhattan Beach) and the car will also provide shelter and warmth in the evening hours.

Regarding a destination, on second thought I'd probably skip Malibu; if your flight arrives at 2:35 it's unlikely you'd be able to be on the road in a rental car before around 3:30, and you'll need to be back at the airport by 8:30 at the latest, so counting time to gas up the car and return it (all the rental car offices are off-airport at LAX, with shuttles) you'd probably want to wrap up the excursion around 7:30.

3:30 to 7:30 pretty well brackets the rush hours in southern California, so I'd be concerned that picking someplace like Malibu or even downtown Santa Monica might involve a lot of traffic time and looking for parking places (with lots of tow-away zones and other urban nuisances.) And if you're not familiar with the lay of the land, you could also waste time navigating.

So I'd opt for a drive down to Manhattan Beach. Park at the foot of Manhattan Beach Blvd. and walk out the pier. There might be some surfers visible (winter is often the time for good surfing conditions) but you'll enjoy the walk. Back on land, you can stroll along the "Strand" - the beachfront pedestrian/bike street, with the beach and surf on one side and houses you'd need to rob a bank to buy on the other. (Warning, you'll be casing some B of A branch once you've done this.)

Get a meal in downtown MB, maybe drive around some of the neighborhoods for a bit around sunset, then back to the airport. It's an easy and oxygen-filled evening that will help you survive the long - that's <i>long</i> - flight.

If you want to walk along Manhattan Beach, just drive for Manhattan Pier. I remember there being public parking on the street there. That portion of the beach should be public beach.

http://californiacoastaltrail.info/h...ty&CountyId=18

If you opt for Santa Monica and want beach access, then drive to Santa Monica Pier. Here's a map of available parking garages for Santa Monica.

http://www.smgov.net/departments/tra...x?map=downtown

If you want to park near the Third Street Promenade (cross street: Broadway) then the beach is down from a cliff, so, if anyone has mobility issues, that may be a problem. Santa Monica has more dining options and more interesting shops to browse in. Wherever you decide to park, just remember to lock your car and have little/nothing showing through the windows, especially not luggage! :)

Gardyloo is correct in the peak traffic hours, so avoid returning to the airport on the freeways. Try the surface roads instead. If returning from Manhattan Beach, Pacific Coast Highway (State Highway 1) is a nice straight shot. If returning from Santa Monica, take Highway 1 also, here it's also called "Lincoln Blvd".

Enjoy your trip! Sounds like fun!

Both Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach are [distance-wise] really close to the airport -- 9 miles and 5 miles respectively, so even if traffic is horrendous, if you leave yourself enough time, it's doable. I'd personally opt for a taxi if that's feasible, but it's doable with a car rental (keep in mind that that adds time - shuttle to pick up, paperwork, return, shuttle back to airport).

The mileage LAX-SM and LAX-MB may sound close, but the drive times are quite different. MB (where I live) is 15 minutes or less from LAX. The drive LAX to SM is easily 30 minutes and at 3:00p would probably take 40-45 minutes. If you drive, navigating and parking in much-smaller MB is infinitely easier than in SM.

BTW, we see travelers/tourists in MB walking around with luggage so I wouldn't make that the deciding factor on the question of taxi v. rental car. The costs for the two options are probably similar, but the time involved in renting and returning the car would be the deal-breaker for me. The rental offices are a shuttle ride from the airport and heading away from the beach. You could easily lose 30 minutes at both ends just dealing with the car.

You are arriving the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and could run into some traffic getting back to the airport even at 7:30 at night as well as delays in getting through security for an international flight.

It is a risk to leave the airport, but if you plan it right, you should be good. But, again, LA traffic is unpredictable.

Santa Monica is probably too far, but Manhattan Beach is an excellent suggestion. It is a gorgeous place, great little restaurants and shops, nice long beach promenade.

I wonder if you could hire a driver for the few hours. It could be as reasonable as renting a car and dealing with that hassle (PS Do NOT rent from Fox). You would have an LA-experienced person behind the wheel, and a trunk to lock your valuables in.

Your question gets asked here quite frequently. Maybe it's a new business opportunity for someone with a nice car. Hmmmmm.

I know it's a hassle to haul your carry-ons, but I have rented a car from LAX and the shuttle ride and the time waiting in the office took forever.

I don't think Santa Monica is too far btw.

There is a Groupon special listed in LA right now for a 4 hour limo service for $199. Not sure of the details but it would take care of the luggage and the driving issues.

Hi, ediebrown.

I've read all the posts in this thread, and my opinion is that it could have stopped right after the first reply, from Tomsd, which was essentially correct and showed that a trip to Hollywood was doable in the time frame you specified.

Last tuesday I went on Google Maps and checked their "time in current traffic" for the route from LAX to the Hollywood and Highland Center, which I suggest be your destination.

At about 4 PM, the time to Hollywood came out to be 50 minutes. The return trip back to LAX at about 7:45 was 46 minutes. So next tuesday you can expect something like that, barring a major wreck on the freeway. Regarding that eventuality, if you have a pad or a smart phone, you can find out what's happening on the freeways by going to this freeway traffic map:

http://www.sigalert.com/Map.asp?lat=...-118.22335&z=2

Here are some links that may be useful:

http://www.hollywoodandhighland.com/...b-of-hollywood

http://www.seeing-stars.com/streets/...l#.UKFraYVTuaQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...d_Walk_of_Fame

http://golosangeles.about.com/od/thi...arring-You.htm