12 hour stopover in LA

[ats86]

Hey everyone. I'm flying into LA from Australia next month on my way to Orlando to work at Disney World for 6 months! My flight lands at LAX at 10am and my connection to Orlando departs at 10pm, which means I have 12 hours to kill (and don't really want to hang around the airport).

 

I've been trying to think of things that I could possibly do in the time I have which wouldn't take me too far from the airport. I originally wanted to hit up SFMM and Knott's but ruled them out because they're too far. I'm interested in hitting up Santa Monica Pier but after doing a bit of research on public transport in LA I'm just really, really confused...Oh and I also really wanna go to In N Out!

 

Can anyone provide any tips on: a) stuff to do in LA close to the airport, b) public transport to said things and c) any other useful tips?

 

Thanks!

[RCFreak]

The closest In N Out to LAX would be This one which is really close to one of the runways if you're into plane spotting, you can eat on the grass and have planes fly right over you.

 

Getting to the Santa Monica pier would actually be pretty easy using public transportation. There's a bus that goes travels to the pier from the airport (Santa Monica Rapid 3) and it should take about an hour or so to get there. You can use the LA Metro site to help you plan out a trip to another tourist spot if you wanted.

[Sir Clinksalot]

You could also make it to Century City and check out some of the museums and stuff in the area.

 

If you had transportation SFMM wouldn't be too far, but with public transportation sucking in SoCal as bad as it does, I wouldn't even chance it.

 

Knott's is a possibility though. You can catch the Metro Green Line from LAX to Norwalk, and then the 460 line to Knott's.

 

http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/bus_overview/images/460.pdf (look at page 4)

Edited June 21, 2010 by Sir Clinksalot

[What Now]

To get to Knott's

 

Take Green Line light rail to Norwalk, then take Metro 460 (bus) to Knott's. It'd take about 1:30-2hrs.

[ats86]

Thanks for the replies! Knott's is very tempting but if it takes up to 2 hours to get there I don't think I'd have enough time to really enjoy it - I'd hate to be constantly checking my watch. Hopefully I'll get the chance to visit KBF and SFMM after I finish in Orlando.

 

The thing I'm concerned about with Santa Monica is that I'll get there, have lunch, do a few rides, and then have nothing else to do. I know Venice Beach is in the vicinity - is it possible to kill a few hours checking out the shops and stuff around there?

[atem122]

I was just at the beach yesterday, and you can probably use up a lot of time there. I spent somewhere around 4-5 hours there (without the pier or a real lunch really) and it was all fun. The only difference is that I was with a huge group of people. However, if you walk a couple blocks up from the Pier, you'll find yourself on the Third Street Promenade. Third Street is probably one of the cooler areas in LA, it's a 3 block long outdoor shopping mall. It even has a movie theater! So if you have time to kill, you can watch a movie there if you want. There are also usually a bunch of street performers, and it's an all around fun atmosphere.

 

Although if shopping isn't your thing, there are a bunch of places along the beach where you can rent a bike and ride along the beach path, which is always fun to do.

 

Hope this helps!

[rcdude]

If you are looking to visit a theme park, you could probably do Universal Studios Hollywood. From the website, it doesn't look too difficult to get to using public transportation, and the park can be done in half a day, even in the summer, unless you are dead set on seeing every show. Land at the airport, get to the park, eat lunch at Citywalk, enjoy the park for the day, then ride back to the airport in time for your next flight. I've never used public transport in LA, but I'm guessing it would take an hour or so to get from the airport to the park if the schedule works out well. Here's the park's website: http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/visitor_info_transportation.html

 

If you aren't going to Universal Studios, Santa Monica Pier/Beach/Shopping is probably your best option. Knott's is really too far away (unless you rent a car) and you wouldn't have enough time to do everything anyway so you should probably stick to one of the above.

[RaptorBoyASU]

It's very easy to get to Santa Monica from the airport!

 

As everyone said, take the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus (Rapid 3 line) from the lax transit center to downtown Santa Monica. To get to the LAX transit center, take the "C" shuttle at the airport. You then walk to the transit center from the C lot. Just ask the driver if you have questions.

 

If you're going straight to the pier and Pacific Park, then get off the bus at 4th and Colorado. The pier is to the west where Colorado meets the ocean.

 

There's plenty to do nearby to kill time.

 

The Santa Monica Promenade is only a couple blocks from the pier. It starts at 3rd and Broadway (the next street past Colorado) and continues for 4 blocks.

 

Venice Beach is about a 30 minute walk south of the pier, and there's a pedestrian walkway right along the beach the whole way. Lots of shops, pizza/ice cream stands, street performers, etc. The breakwater is also kind of fun to walk on around low tide to see what creatures have been left behind. Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice has some upscale boutiques and small cafes. Also, the Venice Canals are very charming. They are between Venice Blvd and Washington Blvd, just a couple blocks east of the beach. You'll see the entry ways to the right.

 

If you do walk down to Venice, and don't want to walk all the way back to Santa Monica.... you can catch the Big Blue Bus again at Pacific & Windward right in the heart of Venice Beach (1 block from beach). The #2 line runs through Venice. From there, you can either take the #2 back to Santa Monica to catch the #3 line again, or take it the other direction, and switch to the #3 line anywhere on Lincoln Blvd. The #3 runs down Lincoln from downtown Santa Monica until right before the airport. Just look for the number on the bus stop sign.