Most of our guests are spending a few days in Los Angeles as part of a larger trip. Especially visitors from other countries, they’re doing a California coast road trip on route 1, or heading to the National Parks Yosemite and Sequoia, or maybe Disneyland. They’ve got a day or two in LA and are looking to see the top ten places in their Lonely Planet guidebooks. Our 2.5 hour sight seeing bike tours are the best way to see just about all of downtown LA in a half day tour that will have you back at the hotel pool when the temp hits 90 having done a lot of Los Angeles in a short amount of time. Our Historic Core and More Tour is the best over view of Los Angeles you can book.
What a lot of visitors do not understand is the scale of LA, it is really like 10 cities in one. But most people want to see the things they’ve seen on TV; Hollywood Boulevard, Venice Beach and Beverly Hills. Don’t come for me, but those places are over rated and full of other tourists-not many locals go there. Of course you have to do it but you’ve got to plan strategically traffic wise. I suggest spliting the city into East/West, as we do. Use La Brea or Highland Avenue as the dividing line. Also plan a destination. Maybe an early dinner at Musso and Frank for Hollywood Blvd, or a resort pass at The Shay in Culver City, or a big splurge like a massage at the Four Seasons on Doheny which allows you to use the pool and amenities. That way when you drive over to the west side to see Venice and Rodeo drive-which both shouldn’t take you more than an hour, you have something to look forward to. PS Hollywood Blvd. the Walk of Fame is over rated, get tickets to see a movie at the Chinese Theater instead of just look at the stars hand prints out front.
If you only go to the tourist areas of L.A., you’ll come away with the impression Los Angeles is junky souvenir shops, or out of reach designer shops, with dirty sidewalks. You can’t really get a sense of a city until you see its civic institutions, historical places and artistic expressions. Most locals rarely venture to the west side, its full of transplants chasing the fame dream. Many visitors skip downtown LA, and decide they do not like Los Angeles, when they haven’t even seen the real Los Angeles. Downtown Los Angeles is where the history, culture and many cultural institutions are located. Its less segregated than the rest of LA in terms of incomes, age and race. You’ll find everyone in DTLA. Let us show you around the real Los Angeles on an easy downtown Los Angeles bike tour, round trip from Grand Central Market and Angel’s Flight!