Short vacation in LA this weekend

Hi,

Me and my 17 year old son are heading to Los Angeles this Friday for a four day weekend. We are staying at the Hilton near LAX and we have a rental car. My son wants to go to the Health and Fitness Expo at the Convention Center (I think it is about 15 miles from Lax?) and Venice Beach. How far will it be to drive to Venice Beach from Lax? And what else do you think we can fit in on a short weekend? we are on a budget and don%26#39;t want to spend a ton of cash. Also....parking is $17 a night (yikes!) at the hotel. Do you think it would be cheaper to just leave the rental car in the airport parking lots and catch the shuttle to the Hilton everyday? I guess I should have looked at different areas but I didn%26#39;t really have time %26amp; I think that this is a good location to see both the beach %26amp; go to the Convention Center.?? Any info would help.

Thanks!

Short vacation in LA this weekend

If you can change your reservation at this late date, do so immediately.

Not only are you overpaying for parking, but LAX is NOT a good location for all that you want to do. Downtown LA would even be better.

Venice from LAX is about 10 minutes. That%26#39;s the only convenient location from that hotel. The Convention Center will take about 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic.

Short vacation in LA this weekend

Unfortunately it will have to do. I booked it through Hotwire and got a deal. It is not refundable!

According to Map Quest the travel time %26amp; distance is 15 miles and/or 20 minutes away from the hotel to the Convention Center? We will be driving to that on Sat %26amp; Sun And off to Venice beach etc... on Monday?

What do you think? Traffic??

You always need to add a minimum of 10 to 20 percent to Mapquest%26#39;s times if you are traveling during NON-PEAK hours. For peak hours, add another 50%.

Re: the parking, one day one, you could take a shuttle to your hotel. For the convention center, you could transfer back to the airport, then take the $4 UNION STATION FLYAWAY BUS to Union (train) station in downtown L.A. Transfer to the red line metro rail to the 7th St/Metro Center station ($1.25) and then either:

a. transfer to the blue line for the 1-minute ride to the Pico Bl stop (adjacent to Staples -- an additional $1.25 fare (there are no free transfers)

or

b. Exit the metro center station, walk west to Figueroa St (2 blocks, turn left, walk 4 blocks to Staples).

NOTE: You can buy a $5 DAY PASS to cover all the metro rail and bus rides for the day.

The transfer would probably take:

15 minutes waiting for and riding the hotel shuttle bus

45 minute waiting for and riding the FLYAWAY

15 minutes waiting for and riding the red line

15 minutes for the last portion

So, that%26#39;s 1-1/2 hours in transit versus about 30 minutes by car although you%26#39;ll save the cost of the car rental, parking at the hotel and parking at Staples ($10). How much is your time worth?

Another option is to take the #439B bus from in front of your hotel going westbound on Century Bl. Get off the bus, 53 minutes later at Pico Bl %26amp; Flower St. Walk 2 blocks west on Pico Bl to the Concention Center. The fare is $1.25 per person, each way or buy a $5 DAY PASS from the driver if you think that you will be making at least 4 bus and metro rail rides for the day.

There is public transit access to Venice (to the north of LAX) as well as to Manhattan Beach (to the south of LAX). Use MTA.NET for planning your public transit trips by entering starting and ending points in the upper right corner of the home page.

Thanks!

I got my car rental in the Hotwire package so I guess I will just use it and pay for the parking and skip all of the public transit stuff. What do you think since I already have the car rental? Save a little time?

Using your rental car will save you about an hour in each direction, so figure about 2-3 hours a day, saving time by not taking the bus.

Thanks again!

I do think it will better to just use our rental car to get around (even though we really don%26#39;t know where we our going) It will be nice to have it if we want to see other places. I would like to see the farmers markets and maybe the Grove if time allows.

I%26#39;m so used to Sacramento where we have lots of parking and parking lots and they are all free to park. Some of our areas like downtown have hard to find parking and metered parking, but I usually don%26#39;t frequent those places so it%26#39;s no big deal!

As mentioned, this is not a great area to stay, but you%26#39;re basically set there because it%26#39;s Hotwire. Next time, do come here and ask about where to stay first :)

Please read the FAQs here on things to do. You should definitely add Santa Monica and the Getty to your list. You can do them the same day as Venice. Each will take about 2-3 hrs to visit. Start with the Getty, have lunch there and take pictures of the views, then go to Venice and then Santa Monica to have dinner before getting back to your hotel (there isn%26#39;t much around your hotel; it%26#39;s not a walkable area).

Convention Center is in Downtown LA, about 25-30 mins away without traffic. On the weekend, it shouldn%26#39;t be too bad except maybe in the evenings when there are events going on in Downtown and on Monday night when people are coming home after their weekend trips. Try to avoid driving around there then. Plan to see Olvera St, Disney Concert Hall, etc when you%26#39;re in Downtown as well. And you can go to the Grove/Farmers Market (it%26#39;s the same place) for dinner afterwards. It%26#39;s only 15-20 mins away from Downtown.

On another day, explore Hollywood Blvd sites, West Hollywood Melrose shopping, outdoor cafes, LACMA (new wing open now), and Beverly Hills -- all near each other.

Btw, LA is not much different from Sacramento. Everyone drives, so there is parking everywhere. Most mall-type places like the Grove and the Promenade usually have free parking at least for a couple hrs since they want your business (Grove is free for 2 hrs with validation from the big stores, no purchase necessary). Hollywood/Highland tourist area has $2 parking for 4 hrs at the main lot there. Meter parking is free after 6pm and on Sundays in most areas. There is usually street parking in a lot of places as well. Downtown parking is a hassle during the week, but not bad at all on weekends.