Confused about where to stay....

Ok, im sorry for bothering u guys again but, my original post had the preliminary info, now were a little more secure in our plans. Ill start from the beginning:

8 of us will be going to LA May 3rd-7th, as far as i know, we all want to stay at the same hotel, just so you get a better idea, 2 of the travelers are senior citizens and 1 is handycaped (wheel chair does not fold, but wheels come off)-4 of the travelers (not including myself) will be attending the Dodgers/Mets game on May 5th %26amp; 6th, the baseball fans will be interested in taking a tour of the stadium.

The rest of us would like to see LA and the surrounding areas, Disneyland is a definate must, would like to see Mullhuland Drive views, Malibu the beaches, Disney Operah House, the Hollywood Sign, the big entertainment complex, etc. Nono interest in seeing stars homes tho.

These are my questions, there are alot of areas to stay in, which are is the best for what we want to do?

What hotel would you suggest (yes, were budget friendly but want to be able to step on carpet w/bare feet)?

Public transportation or rent a car?

Ive read thos amazing posts from Hopskipjump but there is just SOOOO much info, im a little confused, so now i need my hand held, lol. So if you guys can help me out that would be great. I also got the book ';los Angeles %26amp; SOuthern California'; by Lonely Planet, so trust me i AM making the effort, its just the size and how spread out everything is thats confusing me i guess. Well anyway, hope 2 hear from one of you guys soon! Thank again!

Donny

Confused about where to stay....

What you want to see is all over the place, so the main question here is what type of neighborhood you want to be based in. Beverly Hills and Santa Monica would be my top picks for your situation since they%26#39;re more relaxing neighborhoods where you can stroll. However, you need to give us an idea of budget, i.e. the highest amount you can spend per night. Keep in mind that a very simple hotel in the cheapest convenient neighborhood will run you at least $100 per room, and $150 in a nicer neighborhood. Motel type hotels in those areas would be $60-100 respectively.

Please start by reading the FAQ question called ';where to stay'; which outlines all the different neighborhoods.

I would strongly advise you to rent a car for this trip considering you have a handicapped person with you etc. You probably need to rent a van. It would not feel like a vacation trying to transport your group via 3 buses for over an hour to get to some destinations. And places like Mulholland and most of Malibu are not really reacheable by bus anyway.

Some places I would recommend you to look into are suite-type hotels like Chamberlain West Hollywood, Le Parc Suites in WeHo too, Cal Mar Suites in Santa Monica, Valadon Hotel, etc.

Are you willing to use Priceline? You can get much better deals by bidding there. Pretty easy to get a 3-4 star hotel in Santa Monica or Beverly Hills for only $150 or less (usually go for $250 and up).

Confused about where to stay....

With so many of you traveling together and those with special needs, you definitely need to have a car. The cost of public transit for 8 people (per day) is $40 (8 x $5, for each DAY PASS). The cost of a rental car is not much more than that so why fuss with buses, metro rail and trains when you can drive to where you want to go?

In addition, a number of your sites, like Mulholland, are hard to get to via public transit.

Your sites span the entire metro area. Here%26#39;s a map:

visitlongbeach.com/maps/southerncalifornia.h…

Dodger Stadium is near downtown (which is represented by the tiny triangle of lines in the center of the map above the words ';Los Angeles';. As you can see from the map, Disneyland is southeast of downtown (look for the orange dot) -- this is about an hour%26#39;s drive,

';The beaches'; -- in the L.A. metro area, anyway -- are Santa Monica, Venice and Malibu. On the map, you%26#39;ll see that these are at the extreme western edge of the city. (Malibu is also about an hour from downtown -- especially when you consider the traffic along PCH -- Pacific Coast Highway, the main route through the area).

I%26#39;m assuming that when you say:

Disney Operah House

you mean the Disney Concert Hall (which is in downtown L.A.) not too far from Dodger Stadium.

The Hollywood sign is in the hills overlooking Hollywood. (Note: there is an error on this map. Hollywood is not positioned correctly. It should be just south of the orange dot that denotes Universal Studios).

I%26#39;m not sure what you mean by the ';big entertainment complex';. Do you mean the Hollywood %26amp; Highland Center Mall in Hollywood?

The geographic center of all of your sites (and the one that has the best freeway access) is downtown L.A. The downside to downtown is that the nightlife is a little spare. There is no real ';pedestrian area'; at night -- no ';Times Square';, so to speak. That kind of environment is in either:

Santa Monica

the Sunset Strip (West Hollywood)

or Hollywood

but all of these areas are easy to get to from downtown, if you have a car. Another option is to stay in the Beverly Hills area (see map). This is also very central to what you want to visit but, again, the nightlife is VERY spare, there. But, again, you are within a 15 minute drive to many lively areas, if you stay in Beverly Hills.

Tell us about your budget. Give us a nightly amount for hotels since each neighborhood has different prices. Also, please be specific about how many rooms and beds you need since there are ';suite hotels'; where you can have a number of you together in one suite and this will affect how much you pay per night.

As far as handicap accessibility, California is very progressive about that. You%26#39;re not apt to have any problems in most hotels.

Dear Donny, Let me first start out by saying that it sounds like you should think about staying in downtown L.A. and using that as your hub. Your right in saying that the sights you want to see are spread out.

For hotels try using priceline.com Bid on a 4 star and through experience I can tell you that you%26#39;ll get a room for around $125.00 per night. The only drawback is that you%26#39;ll pay too much to park if you rent a car.From downtown you can use the subway to get to places such as Pasadena,Hollywood, Universal Studios etc.To get to the other places such as Dodger Stadium you can use the bus.As far as Dodger Stadium tours go check their web site for details.

Being from New York and living here for the past 40 years I can attest to the fact that everything is like you said, very spread out.We depend on our cars.

If I can help with anything else I%26#39;ll be here.

Ken

First off, thank you SOOO much, u guys r awesome! I will definately do the ';priceline thing'; since were not hell bent on a certain hotel. Now to answer a few questions, (to be honest i did leave out certain info cuz i didnt want to bombard u guys with usless info).

Smartcooki: i definately agree about the van rental, and i will check on those suites u suggested

Hopskip: Yes im sorry i do mean Hollywood %26amp; highland Center, im still tring to remember some of the places i read about. Budget on room? i guess no more than like $180. The sleeping arrangements will be me %26amp; hubby 1 rm, Mom %26amp; Dad 1 rm, Father-in-law 1 room, friend 1 room, brother-in-law 1 wheelchair acces room and BIL%26#39;s friend 1 rm. so 2 dbls and 4 singls

Karmaguy: That 125 per nights sounds very good, wut if we found parking on the street, is that at all possible?

Now just so that im clear, Mullhuland drive is where you get the view of all of LA right?

Ok, so i guess because i dont want to HAVE to drive everywhere, my best bet is to stay in Hollywood or W Hollywood? Ok, so now what hotel would u guys suggest? i looked into the Best Western Sunset Plaza, would you guys suggest that or are there other places i should look into?

Thanx for the advice guys, i really appreciate it.!!!!

Donny

Sunset Plaza will come in just at your budget if you have AAA or AARP (one for each room)....and it%26#39;s a nice hotel in a pleasant location. You can even take the #2 City Bus to Dodger Stadium from just outside your hotel.

Careful driving on Mulholland, yes the view is nice but not if you%26#39;re driving....keep your eye on the winding ROAD.

Getty Center is a great place to visit, have dinner there on Fri or Sat night for a great view of the city, after you browse the museum.

Hey thanx tracy2cents, i will definately look into the getty center!

Rent a car!

Beverly Hills would be in the middle of all sights.

Before bidding on Priceline, do read www.biddingfortravel.com first to see what others have won and for how much in each neighborhood.

I think staying on Sunset Strip is a good idea if you want to be in an upscale walkable area with outdoor cafes and some upscale (somewhat expensive) shopping (there is an H%26amp;M now though). Best Western or the Hyatt there are in great location. They%26#39;re around $175-200. You can probably win them for around $100-120 on Priceline. Chamberlain West Hollywood or LeParc would be better options if you%26#39;re not bidding because they are suite hotels, so you can all stay in one apt-style place if you want.

I would also consider Santa Monica. Great walkable area with lots of shopping, restaurants, etc right by the beach. Travelodge there is around $150 and nicer hotels around $250. You can win the nicer hotels on Priceline for under $150. If you want to take advantage of visiting a city near the ocean, I would definitely stay there. It is a very relaxing area as well.

I would NOT stay in Downtown given your requirements. It%26#39;s deserted in the evenings and on the weekends, and you%26#39;ll have to drive almost every time you want to go out to eat etc since things are kind of all over the place there. Plus, it%26#39;s one of the most congested areas in terms of freeways, so you%26#39;ll often be in traffic getting anywhere. Given your requirements, I wouldn%26#39;t consider this area for this trip.

Call the Sunset Plaza hotel to see if ';entertainment card rate'; is offered for your dates. you can easily buy entertainment card memberships online for about $25 and it might save you all $150 or more for the four night stay. Check first though as many dates are blacked out.

You can consider also to try hotwire.com I booked a 3.5 star hotel in downtown for $69 plus taxes.