Los Angeles hotels.

Sexual Chocolate

Looking to travel to the states near the end of August for about 12 days to do the California Zeyper and finish out holiday in Los Angeles.

Just wondering as a tourist where I should be looking to stay in LA ? Area and distance from city center wise ( which I'm assuming is measured from downtown LA)

Have hotels in America always been so pricey ? I'm struggling to find anywhere decent for between €160 - €200 a night.

Caranica

There is no real centre in LA and it's a pretty grim city in general. Best to stay in one of the beach towns on the outskirts and just go in to do the bits you want.

Nigel Fairservice

We stayed in the Hotel Normandie in Koreatown. Location was good. The subway was very nearby. Hotel was ok. Have stayed in nicer hotels for less money in other cities but it's LA. Koreatown was OK. Didn't feel rough and had some nice food options. There's no real centre to LA. It's just a collection of different settlements that just merged into one over time. Hotels in LA are very pricey, even the crappy ones.

Sexual Chocolate

Yeah it's the fact that the clearly **** ones are expensive are getting me. I don't recall Las Vegas even been as expensive.

Nigel Fairservice

We got a cheap flight to LA but never checked the price of hotels before we booked so it was a bit of a sting in the tail to the trip.

Sexual Chocolate

Ironically the flights seem to be the best value. €580 pp.

I can get a hotel in Chicago and San Francisco for reasonable cost provided I don't stay on Friday/Saturday but LA is a different story.

It's not even the cost. I'd pay €500 for 4 days no problem but it's the state of the hotels/motels in the photos and the reviews of how mediocre they are that's putting me off.

Nigel Fairservice

Ya, LA hotels seemed poor enough value and we spent ages looking at them. We went in October so it was off season but a hotel for 5 nights still cost us €1000. The Normandie was on the lower scale of the prices we saw. It was safe and it was clean but it was expensive for what it was. I think you'll have that problem all over LA. LA isn't very pedestrian friendly and the public transport was poor enough given its size. We weren't renting a car so it ruled out lots of hotels that were just too far out of the way (not that they were particularly cheap anyway). We needed something on a subway line so The Normandie fit the bill. The subway in LA is an experience as well!

Sexual Chocolate

I'm actually in two minds about what to do. There's much more better value if I stay in Las Vegas for 4 nights compared to LA, nearly 300 quid difference but with a proper big fancy hotel.

October flights are definitely cheaper with Aer Lingus, need to check BA as well

Nigel Fairservice

Maybe look at San Diego. It's lovely. Not sure what the hotel situation is like there though.

deisemum

I'm currently in Las Vegas and fly to San Diego tomorrow and will stay for 3 nights before getting the train to LA. I've booked a Holiday Inn near LAX because we're planning on doing a one day tour of LA and it's one of the hotels the excursion company collects from as we're not driving plus it's handy for getting a transfer to the cruise terminal for our cruise to Vancouver.

We're staying in the Jockey Club beside the Cosmopolitan, perfect location and loads of space.

Sexual Chocolate

Keep us updated on how you get on 👍

deisemum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120426350#Comment_120426350

Will do.

I booked my flights with Aer Lingus back in September and one way from Dublin to Las Vegas via LAX was around €350, similar for the return Vancouver to Dublin via Seattle.

I was waiting on confirmation about something otherwise I could have flown Dublin to Chicago connecting for Las Vegas but that price shot up. It would be easier than going through LAX.

The flight from LAX to Vegas was with American Airlines and the seats were very comfortable. Tomorrow we're flying with Southwest Airlines.

I can highly recommend the O by Cirque de Soleil at the Bellagio, we went to it tonight, absolutely stunning and we only bought the tickets today.

We're staying with relations in San Diego but I did notice hotels were pricey unless booked well in advance.

dalyboy

I’ve been in LA many times over the last 25 years and have only ever stayed in Woodland Hills in the valley. You definitely need a car , which have cost us €400 for 8 days generally. Hotel prices and even motel prices are nuts. Marriott 4 star is €235 per night and on the other scale ‘motel 6’ is runs about €130 per night.

Last few trips we have only used Airbnb. Last year we had a 2 bed entire house with private pool for €1500 for 8 days.

On LA downtown…. As a poster said earlier , it’s very grim. Brilliant to see but it’s very run down and there’s a lot of (sadly) evidence of homeless society everywhere. The bus tours from TCL Chinese theatre are fun and tacky and shows celeb homes through Beverly Hills etc and are good value for money.

Tip is to hire a bike from Santa Monica boulevard and do a cycle up the coast through Venice beach (east) or go west towards Malibu.

https://youtu.be/cdjt-A3g7oA

Prices are around €12 per hour for a standard bike and offer great perspective touring other than driving (car parking rates are crazy expensive btw)

Naked Lepper

dont get a hotel in downtown LA

we ended up booking there as it was cheaper than the likes of santa monica (and we had a rental car), but there is nothing to do in downtown LA and the traffic is always soo bad that it made the trip to the beach (or anywhere for that matter) almost not worth it... talking hours in traffic even outside of "rush hour"

pay the extra few quid, take the hit and stay in one of the nice beach areas

finbarrk

I have only been to LA once. But it's not a place I would have high on my list to revisit. Stayed near Hollywood.

deisemum

I'm currently in the Holiday Inn LAX by the airport, arrived in LA last night got a bus from Oceanside north of San Diego.

We have booked a full day tour of LA for today and will be collected from the hotel for it.

Tomorrow we're getting an Uber to the cruise terminal then sailing to Vancouver, first port call is San Francisco.

endofrainbow

Which day tour have you booked?.

deisemum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120444751#Comment_120444751

We had planned a full day excursion with A Day Out in La https://www.adayinlatours.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwuLShBhC_ARIsAFod4fKaPu6OswWNTqyMR5GD1yCNmPgGL7RuIvIwpRN6oRh1XNHXpyimMq0aAt58EALw_wcB but it was booked out so we booked a full day tour - Grand Tour of Los Angeles with VIP Tours of California through an agent in the hotel. We were collected, the tour was very good and the guide took us to a few extra places not listed.

Sexual Chocolate

Ended up booking a week in Las Vegas instead. Couldn't justify the hotel prices in LA for whats on offer. If the hotels were nice I'd go for it but anything under €600 (4 nights) looks like a **** hole.

Likewise with the California Zephyr train from Chicago - San Francisco. That's was coming in at €975 for a roomette on the train. Coach tickets were only around €135 but no way am I doing +52 hrs on a chair.

I do however plan on heading up to LA for the day by way of first flight out and last flight back. I can get a return ticket for under $100 with Southwest so I'll look more into it over the coming weeks.

deisemum

We flew with Southwest from Vegas to San Diego and they were very good, staff were entertaining.

Sexual Chocolate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120456387#Comment_120456387

In regards to phone/data coverage how you getting by ? Are you using a pre paid sim ?

deisemum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120456595#Comment_120456595

I'm getting by with wifi. In Vegas wifi was free in all the hotels and restaurants. I was staying with relations in San Diego so used there's when at their house, didn't need it when out with them.

Used the hotel wifi in LA, only had one full day two nights there.

However the only place we came unstuck was at the train and bus station in Oceanside north of San Diego. We couldn't buy a bus ticket for Greyhound as the office was closed and the only way to get a ticket was online. In the end we went to a cafe and had lunch while waiting for a later bus, got the cafe's guest wifi password and bought the bus tickets.

I'm currently on a cruise on the Pacific heading to Vancouver and have the free wifi package. I've been warned only use wifi in Vancouver as it's very expensive otherwise.

If you have an old phone it might be worth buying a sim over here. I was that organised though I had done so much research into the places I'm visiting so having a US sim wasn't essential.

Nigel Fairservice

I got the below sim on Amazon for Google maps etc. There were some calls included too but only ever made one local phone call on it. Have used this one twice for recent US trips and it worked great. You could get an esim too if your phone is capable of it. I've only used an esim once but it wasn't a positive experience.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B09X3V2443?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Sexual Chocolate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457028#Comment_120457028

T-Mobile told me I can pick up a SIM when I arrive in any of their shops.

Nigel Fairservice

My partner was going to pick up a sim locally but the cost ruled it out. We were in LA for 5 days but the local operators wouldn't do a sim for a week. They were all only offering monthly plans that ranged between $40 - $50 and they all had a $20 sim activation fee on top of the monthly fee so they were working out quite expensive. Suppose it depends how long you'll be in the US for but it seemed poor value for a short stay.