LA - scenic drives?

Rashers72

Staying near Venice Beach for 4 days summer 2015, family of 4, 2 teens, car rented. Anyone recommend any nice drives? Planning to do Griffith Park, Mullholand Drvie, Hollywood (Walk of fame etc.), Science Museum and out towards Santa Monica. Will be driving up towards San Fran afterwards, so have that part sorted.
Don't want to do any theme parks (more from a budget perspective!).
Also any tips from any recent visitors? Or any good website links? Thanks in advance.

InTheTrees

Venice Beach is a good choice to stay. Santa Monica is right next door to the north, they both blend together really.

There's the Queen Mary down in Long Beach.

www.queenmary.com

Peterson auto Museum:

http://www.petersen.org/

Museum of Art:

http://www.lacma.org/

InTheTrees

Here's a really good view spot on Mulholland drive:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.128765,-118.3649771,20z?hl=en

The thing is that there's some amazing views in the daytime. But at night it can be spectacular. The city is a massive grid and when its lit up at night its a hell of a view. Its like a chessboard of light laid out below you. So try and do it at night and during the day!

And you dont have to drive all of it, drive up Coldwater canyon road from Beverley Hills and then go right. And you can get off it on the 101 freeway.

InTheTrees

I'm not sure whether you'd be into it but the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball field Dodger Stadium is right by downtown. And I hear its a nice stadium. Unlike most other sports baseball is played almost every night, each team will get a night off a week, but its a 168 game season. And that means tickets tend to be reasonably priced and its rare to have a sell out (unless its a major occasion or your in NY). You also dont have to stay for the whole thing, there's plenty of breaks and people come and go.

Baseball is a big family thing in the US and its a nice slice of Americana.

Of course they may be playing out of town when you're there.

InTheTrees

A GPS is essential. A dedicated one too, I wouldnt rely on your phone GPS. I'm not sure how much the car rental place will charge for one but you can buy one pretty cheaply.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/gps-navigation/portable-gps/abcat0301014.c?id=abcat0301014

InTheTrees

You can spend time driving around Beverley Hills. While my capacity for looking at movie stars homes is limited it is kind of fascinating. Also check out Rodeo Drive. One of the richest shopping streets in the world. Its the section between Wilshire blvd and Santa Monica Blvd.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.067832,-118.401636,3a,75y,37.44h,68.12t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s7epL6suhFXz54Cdg7Qe-Qg!2e0?hl=en

KevR

InTheTrees wrote: »

A GPS is essential. A dedicated one too, I wouldnt rely on your phone GPS. I'm not sure how much the car rental place will charge for one but you can buy one pretty cheaply.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/gps-navigation/portable-gps/abcat0301014.c?id=abcat0301014

I had "Hertz Never Lost" sat nav a couple of times in the US last year and I would NOT recommend it at all. Cost me $80 extra on top of the rental for one of the trips, ended up using my phone a lot of the time.

I didn't like it because it takes an age to calculate (and re-calculate) the route. The software is out-dated. The sat nav is positioned low down near the glove box on the passenger side, the driver has to completely look away from the road to see the map. The audio directions are generally poor. The routes it picked were often not what I would have considered to be the best (Google Maps on my phone was giving more logical routes).

I will definitely be arranging my own alternative sat nav when I next hire a car in the US.

thecommander

Used Navigon for iPhone all over the USA. Works perfectly, make sure to get a cradle that sticks to the window.

él statutorio

InTheTrees wrote: »

A GPS is essential. A dedicated one too, I wouldnt rely on your phone GPS. I'm not sure how much the car rental place will charge for one but you can buy one pretty cheaply.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/gps-navigation/portable-gps/abcat0301014.c?id=abcat0301014

Use your phone, a dedicated gps is a waste of money.

Here maps (formerly nokia maps) is available on android / iphone and doesn't need a data connection. I've used it in LA last week and it's perfect.

Mars Bar

I found maps on my HTC worked fine. I set up the route via wireless before I left and started the navigation and it was grand. Never got lost once using it over there. It sent me down every back arse road in roscommon but where I needed to go on Tuesday. :mad: