Los Angeles - Accomodation
 

Hi

we are visiting LA next July, and would like to spend a couple of days at disney and the rest up near the hollywood/santa monica area, we are looking to go for pretty cheap accomodation so that we can spend more on things whilst we are there, but we don't want a carboard box if you catch my drift. Where is the best place to base ourselves for visiting Disneyworld for a couple of days, and also the same question for Hollywood/Santa Monica, we will have a car during our stay as well.

thanks

Barry

Do you need something that will accomodate 2 adults, and kids in the same room, or just a couple?

First of all: Hollywood is not anywhere NEAR Santa Monica; it's about 14 miles away. Choose one or the other. Santa Monica is expensive, but has many and better lodging options. For my money, there are only two options in Hollywood: the Renaissance Hollywood, and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (especially after its recent renovations). In Santa Monica, the best deal with ocean views is the Georgian; a few blocks inland you might find better deals at the Huntley. The Best Western Ocean View is relatively cheap and not a bad deal for the money. The Shangri-La is cheap and clean, but definitely showing its age.

I'm not a fan of Anaheim, but there are multiple lodging options in the Disney<b>land</b> area, some quite reasonable. The Candy Cane Inn is very, very popular, and not too expensive.

Oh, and as far as driving: Map your routes out carefully before venturing out. And FOLLOW THE SPEED LIMITS. Tourists in rental cars seem to cause the most traffic snarls on surface roads here in southern California-- and always on the streets I'm driving on. Always crawling down the road looking for that turn, then missing it, then trying to make a left turn from three lanes to the right....

I rather doubt if you will find any &quot;bargains&quot; in hotels/motels in LA area in July. That is prime tourist time. Anaheim has a zillion hotel rooms so I'd look there for being close to Disneyland. The usual variety of hotel/motel is in vast abundance all around the park. If you belong to Auto Club get one of their So.CA books, it's a good reference for motels. Also get some good maps.

As the last poster said Hollywood and Santa Monica are not that close and be aware there is a HUGE amount of traffic on all LA freeways. I doubt if you will find anything &quot;pretty cheap&quot; along beach area in July.

As for having a car please be careful if you are not familiar with freeway system. Read the map before going out. Familiarize yourself with exits 2 stops before where you want to get off the freeway. Please don't drive during rush hour if you can help it. I too spent enough time driving back and forth to work and seeing tourists do some really dangerous lane crossing when they realized their exit was coming up.

Farmer's Daughter Hotel (farmersdaughterhotel.com) would be relatively central and reasonable.