Spend an amazing outdoor day in Los Angeles.

If you have the chance to spend a day in LA and want to make the most of this beautiful city here is how you could spend an amazing outdoor day in Los Angeles.

Start with an early morning walk on Venice Beach in Santa Monica. You will be blown away by the number of people already there doing all sorts of activities. Such as surfing, running, cycling, doing CrossFit or yoga class on the beach. It makes you want to join them or oppositely feel sorry for them. It’s one of the only spots where you can see such a diversity of exercise in one place. It’s also a beautiful area, the landscape, and the vibe are incredible. Crafty streets, crazy architectures, large choice of coffee shops and restaurants, quirky shops with the beach in the background, definitely worth it.

After this early exploration by the sea, for a radical change of scenery, head up to Hollywood boulevard for one of the most touristy attractions in LA: THE walk of fame. No need to do it all it’s quite long but at least a bit. You won’t see Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts but you can find Mickey Mouse and all his crew. It’s also a nice area with a lot of crazy shops, museums, theatres, restaurants, gift shops, and many more. It’s a fun thing to experience.

Grab some lunch, there is so much choice on Hollywood Boulevard. Get water and if the weather is nice, make sure you have a hat, and let’s go to Griffith Observatory: http://www.griffithobservatory.org/

Second, because it’s a wonderful building but primarily because this is where the hike to the Hollywood sign starts.

You have different options there, if you have a car, you can park at the observatory. It costs 15 dollars per hour, you will need a good 2h potentially 3h. But you can pay for 1h and as long as you have a ticket in your car you won’t get charged.

If you don’t want to risk it and don’t want to pay 45 dollars to park your car, you can also start the hike from a different place. There will be multiple access points. It might be a bit tricky to find a good spot to park but it’s possible. When we did it, we put a 1h ticket in the car and had no issue but this might depend on the time of the year. The best thing to do is to ask someone who works in the park if you can spend more time than what’s on your ticket.

 Back to the hike, this one is just amazing, the view is insane and you feel completely disconnected. It’s so close to the chaos of Los Angeles but so different. The view of the city is just crazy beautiful. Practical advice, there are not many places where you can refill your water. Make sure you plan enough for the whole trip. It’s very up and down, you can take different routes and get to the same point, some are harder than some others. If you are a complete beginner, be prepared, it’s a long walk. You can either get to the Hollywood sign or just in front of it. Distance-wise it’s about the same, it just depends on what you want to see.

You can also take a completely different route, there are many canyons or peaks to explore from this point. Just be careful there are snakes and plenty of insects on the way.

After this hike, you should feel pretty tired and it should be time for a nice drink and some dinner. You can head down to Beverly Hills and find a nice spot at the Golden triangle for both. Or if you already miss the sea, get back to Saint Monica and find your perfect spot. For a good and quiet spot at the beautiful Marina del Rey, I can recommend the Beachside Restaurant and Bar with a view on the beach.

If you want to enjoy more of the California coast, I would advise you to have a look at my articles: https://elvinechloe.com/the-best-of-the-california-coast-road-trip/ and https://elvinechloe.com/how-to-make-the-most-of-san-francisco-in-a-day/