Looking to visit LA for the first time (on a budget) (Santa Monica: rental car, rental)

[kfink85]

I am trying to plan a vacation with my girlfriend to visit LA in the spring time and I could really use some help. We would be flying from either Baltimore or DC in to LAX. The DC plane flights have been cheaper and the cheapest I have found is $225-285 per person for a round trip. Does this pricing sound about right? Is it possible to do it cheaper?

As for lodging, I would like to stay at least 3 nights and spend as little money as possible on a hotel. Preferably under $100 a night if that's possible. Is it? I don't want anything luxurious, just something in a safe neighborhood, clean, and that has easy public transportation to the Santa Monica beach, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and downtown in the city. We would like to tour as much as possible and see all LA has to offer. Is it possible to stay somewhere at this price that has access to where we would like to get on the trip? If not, I'm open ears for suggestions.

Also, I have always fantasized about the idea of moving to a LA suburb one day so maybe I could visit some future neighborhoods.

Thank you in advance for any help!

[Charles]

Check Yahoo Travel or TravelocitY (I think they're the same database) and also Southwest. Southwest flies I think nonstop to LAX.
Consider BUR and SNA airports too, much easier but maybe not cheaper.
You may be able to find a cheap SWA ticket that is about to expire on Craigslist. There are ways to search all craigslists in the entire US in one click.

Consider renting a car; you're likely to see more. Find rental car discount codes from Rental Car Discounts and Codes

Public transportation isn't so good for sightseeing.

Consider doing your sightseeing driving like early on a Sunday morning. You should have pretty open freeways then.

[kfink85]

Originally Posted by Charles

Check Yahoo Travel or TravelocitY (I think they're the same database) and also Southwest. Southwest flies I think nonstop to LAX.
Consider BUR and SNA airports too, much easier but maybe not cheaper.
You may be able to find a cheap SWA ticket that is about to expire on Craigslist. There are ways to search all craigslists in the entire US in one click.

Consider renting a car; you're likely to see more. Find rental car discount codes from Rental Car Discounts and Codes

Public transportation isn't so good for sightseeing.

Consider doing your sightseeing driving like early on a Sunday morning. You should have pretty open freeways then.

Thanks for the input. Isn't renting a car pretty expensive? I really would like to limit costs as much as possible. I just went to Budget.com and it was $303 with taxes for 3 nights/4 days worth of use. That's kinda steep for me. Is public transportation really not an option? What if we took something in to the city and got on a tour bus or something?

[Chava61]

http://metro.net/riding_metro/maps/i...System_Map.pdf gives you an idea of L.A.'s public transportation. So there are a few things you can see without a car but not having a car does limit you a lot in L.A. I would suggest staying in the Miracle Mile area if you don't want to rent a car.

[kfink85]

Originally Posted by Chava61

http://metro.net/riding_metro/maps/i...System_Map.pdf gives you an idea of L.A.'s public transportation. So there are a few things you can see without a car but not having a car does limit you a lot in L.A. I would suggest staying in the Miracle Mile area if you don't want to rent a car.

Thanks. Is that a safe area?

Also, if I bit the bullet and rented a car what would be the most cost effective place to stay?

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by kfink85

Thanks. Is that a safe area?

Miracle Mile is a relatively safe area and there are plenty of museums there and good public transportation (DASH buses as well as city buses).

[Charles]

Originally Posted by kfink85

Thanks for the input. Isn't renting a car pretty expensive? I really would like to limit costs as much as possible. I just went to Budget.com and it was $303 with taxes for 3 nights/4 days worth of use. That's kinda steep for me. Is public transportation really not an option? What if we took something in to the city and got on a tour bus or something?

That sounds really expensive. Go to Yahoo Travel and let it pick the cheapest rate. I just tried a M-Th intermediate car rental randomly in Feb and it was more like $147 total.

Public transportation is an extremely limited option.

What are the things you want to see? There are several threads addressing the best things to see in LA (Venice Beach, Queen Mary, watch a TV show filmed, etc.) If you can put together a must see list of things then the forum can help out a little more. Still, it's hard to imagine seeing things without a car.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by kfink85

Thanks. Is that a safe area?

Also, if I bit the bullet and rented a car what would be the most cost effective place to stay?

Why not go to a Residence Inn or Homewood Suites and cook your own food? Otherwise if you want to eat out, that will be expensive unless you do fast food. With that, try the Motel 6, Super 8 places.

[kfink85]

Originally Posted by Charles

That sounds really expensive. Go to Yahoo Travel and let it pick the cheapest rate. I just tried a M-Th intermediate car rental randomly in Feb and it was more like $147 total.

Public transportation is an extremely limited option.

What are the things you want to see? There are several threads addressing the best things to see in LA (Venice Beach, Queen Mary, watch a TV show filmed, etc.) If you can put together a must see list of things then the forum can help out a little more. Still, it's hard to imagine seeing things without a car.

Hmm $147 would be doable considering I'd have to pay for public transportation as well. I haven't mapped out things I want to see, just the areas I mentioned. I just want to explore and a car would probably be best as you said. I just need to find an affordable one now.

[uptown_urbanist]

Hollywood is also a great place (and with lots of budget options) to stay if you want somewhere central that doesn't require a car. It has a subway and lots of bus connections, not to mention is on most visitors' sight-seeing list, anyway.

I think the idea of a place with a kitchen is a good one, and an easy way to save money.

My family used to stay at the Motel 6 on Whitley right off of Hollywood Boulevard; that's a great location, about half-way between Highland and Vine. It was pretty cheap. Not fancy by any means, but safe enough. There are some car rental places in Hollywood so if you decided to rent a car for a day it would be easy enough to do that.

Depending on what you want to see public transportation is definitely an option. Given the places you want to see (Santa Monica, downtown, Beverly Hills, Hollywood), public transportation is a very EASY option, and will save you money on both car rental and on parking.

If you want to see other places you might need a car, but since you're here for such a limited time there's no way you're going to be able to see "all LA has to offer," anyway. If you want to go so some difficult-to-access-by-transit places (Malibu, etc.), then I'd suggest renting a car for only the day you do that, since it sounds like most of the places you want to see are all very easy to get to by bus or train. I'm biased, but I also think you get a better sense of a city when you see it by public transportation.

If you're planning on doing a lot of really late nights out then yes, you'd need a car (late late night public transportation is limited and cabs are expensive), but if that's part of the plan I'd just stay wherever you're going to be hanging out in the evening. If your nights involve drinking that also means you won't have to worry about a designated driver. Hollywood's good for that, too, as there's a lot of bars and restaurants.