Things to Do in Los Angeles: Itineraries, Costs and Food

Free admission is the one figure I'll give with confidence without a fresh check, it's core to how the Getty Trust operates. The tram ride up from the parking garage is part of the visit, not a formality, so leave time for it.

The best sunset view in the city and it costs nothing, which is unusual here. The lot fills fast on weekend evenings, arrive before 5pm or take a rideshare and skip the parking hunt entirely.

You cannot walk up to the sign, the hillside is fenced and monitored. Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood and Highland complex both give a real view without a hike or a permit.

Skip it if star-spotting on a sidewalk doesn't interest you, most of Hollywood Boulevard reads more tired than glamorous today. The handprints in the TCL Chinese Theatre forecourt are the part actually worth stopping for.

The Urban Light installation out front, rows of restored antique streetlamps, is free to walk through even without a ticket and is the most photographed spot on the Miracle Mile.

This is a full day, not a half day, budget it as such. The studio tour tram ride is the one thing genuinely unique to this park versus any other theme park in the country.

A hilltop observatory and planetarium in Griffith Park with free public telescopes some evenings, exhibits on astronomy, and a wraparound terrace looking out over the Hollywood Sign and the LA basin. Free to enter the building and grounds, and the sunset view over the city is one of the best free things to do in LA. Parking fills up fast, especially at sunset, plan to walk up or arrive early.

A hilltop museum campus reached by a dedicated tram, its collection spanning European paintings, decorative arts and photography, set among terraced gardens with sweeping city and ocean views. Admission is free, you only pay for parking, which makes this one of the best-value stops in the city. The gardens and architecture are worth the trip even on days when a specific exhibition doesn't interest you.

A beachfront strip of street performers, muscle-beach gym, skate park and vendors, a few blocks inland from a quieter network of man-made canals lined with small homes. The boardwalk is a genuine spectacle but leans hard into tourist-trap territory on food and souvenirs. The canals a few blocks over are a completely different, much quieter experience most visitors skip.

A short, steep public hiking trail in the hills above Hollywood with panoramic views over the city and, on clear days, out to the ocean, popular for dog walking and a spot of low-key celebrity sightings. Free and genuinely popular with locals for a reason, the loop is short enough to fit into a morning. Go early to beat both the heat and the crowd, midday on a weekend is standing-room only on the main trail.

A contemporary art museum downtown with a major collection of postwar and contemporary work, including Yayoi Kusama's mirrored Infinity Room installations. General admission is free but the Infinity Room requires a separate timed reservation that sells out well in advance, don't count on a walk-up slot. The rest of the collection is strong enough to justify a visit even without it.

Hillside neighbourhoods east of Hollywood built around a reservoir, known for independent shops, a strong coffee and bar scene, and Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House in Los Feliz. A genuinely lived-in part of LA rather than a tourist set piece, though it's also one of the more expensive, gentrified corners of the east side now. Good for a walking afternoon away from the Hollywood Boulevard circuit.

Carne asada, al pastor and lengua from trucks that have been in the same spot for decades. Better and cheaper than most sit-down Mexican restaurants in the city.

Tabletop grills, banchan spreads, and a scene that runs late into the night. One of the strongest Korean food districts outside Korea itself, worth multiple visits on a longer trip.

Double-fried, glazed and served with pickled radish, often paired with soju. Koreatown's late hours make it the default answer to 'where can we eat at midnight'.

A double-double animal style is the order most locals actually make, not on the printed menu. Worth doing once, and the cult status is more earned than most fast food.

Boat noodles, larb and som tam from kitchens cooking for a Thai audience first. A short detour off the Walk of Fame crowds into a genuinely different neighborhood.

Sawtelle is the newer, denser strip with lines out the door on weekends; Little Tokyo is older and more spread out. Both do ramen and small-plate izakaya food well.

Consomme-dipped, cheese-crisped tacos that started largely as a Southern California phenomenon before spreading nationally. This is close to where the current wave actually began.

Filipino restaurants and bakeries, historically under the radar in LA, getting broader recognition and expanding beyond Historic Filipinotown. Worth seeking out, and still less crowded than the Korean or Thai scenes, which won't last much longer.

A wave of L.A. restaurants and cafes reformulating menus around high protein counts, chasing a fitness-driven customer base obsessed with grams per meal. Some of this is genuinely useful for the gym crowd, some of it is just marketing stickers on the same food. Small independent spots are reportedly getting squeezed trying to keep up with the trend.

Korean-style convenience stores and DIY instant-ramen bars, modeled on late-night Seoul konbini culture, opening in and around Koreatown. Genuinely fun and cheap, closer to a real cultural import than most viral food trends. Go for the ramen bar setup, not the packaged snacks alone.

The Taiwan bakery chain's first U.S. store, serving dense, chewy Taiwanese-style bagels and buns that blend Asian bakery technique with the bagel format. One of the rare bakery trends backed by an actual original product. If you're in Pasadena it's worth the stop, not just a rebrand of a croissant with a new name.

A crop of independent L.A. coffee shops topping lattes and cold brews with thick, house-made cream layers instead of standard steamed milk foam. Worth seeking out if you like your coffee closer to dessert. It's a real technique difference, not just a name change on the menu.