Three Days in LA: A Weekend Itinerary

For my first trip of 2018, Luke and I went to visit his cousin, Cole, in Los Angeles. I have driven through LA twice before, but never spent much time exploring it. My initial impression of LA was that there is too much traffic. Plus I’ve never been that interested in celebrities or movies, so I wasn’t enticed with the Hollywood aspect either. And with that knowledge, I had written LA off as not worth visiting.

How wrong I was!

If you have had similar thoughts about LA or maybe just haven’t gotten around to visiting it yet, put it on your list. There is something here for everyone.

Below is my itinerary for a weekend in LA. Note that this is a driving based itinerary, since Cole was nice enough to cart us all over town. If you do not have a car, this can be modified using Uber or public transportation.

Day One: Hiking and Driving

Another Broken Egg Cafe

We flew in late Friday night and immediately crashed at Cole’s house in Valley Village. The next morning, the first thing we did was search out food. Cole recommended Another Broken Egg Cafe, so that’s where we went. I have to admit, it was pretty good!

At breakfast, we made a rough plan for the weekend, starting with a visit to Griffith Observatory.

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory is an astronomical observatory located at the top of Mount Hollywood. The building itself is beautiful, with dome-shaped ceilings and space related exhibits inside. The main attraction, however, is the amazing views of Downtown Los Angeles and the Hollywood sign.

Even the hike is beautiful, although it is tougher than it looks!

the Hollywood sign

I wanted to get a better picture of the Hollywood Sign, so we searched out a closer view. Cole drove us up into the Hollywood Hills neighborhood, where the sign was much more visible.

The neighborhood has many signs and road blocks to keep tourists out. I wouldn’t recommend parking and leaving your car because several cars had tickets. If you don’t have a car, it is possible to hike up into the neighborhood, but it looked really difficult as the roads are steep and there’s no sidewalks. I have heard that you can also get a pretty good picture of the Hollywood Sign at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland, so that might be a good alternative.

Beverly hills and sunset blvd

We drove through Beverly Hills and onto Sunset Boulevard to get a glimpse at some of the impressive houses. From there, we hopped on Mulholland Drive, a famous road that has been used in numerous movies and has fantastic views of Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley.

Lunch in Beverly HIlls

We drove back to the Beverly Hills area for a swanky lunch. We walked for a bit and, choosing between several Italian restaurants, we finally decided on Via Alloro because it looked out of our price range and had a beautiful patio.

I’ve never spent so much on cheese ravioli, but it was good and exciting to dine like a celebrities might.

Salt and Straw

I had to get my ice cream fix, so we stopped at Salt and Straw, the best place in LA for ice cream. I got the Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons and Chocolate Gooey Brownie, both very good, but the Sea Salt was amazing!

Malibu

Next, we decided to head up the coast to Malibu. This involved driving on Highway 1, the famous highway that runs along most of the Pacific coast in California.

Apparently the Jim Morrison Cave hike is located in Mailbu (thanks, Cole for the awesome suggestion). Officially called Corral Canyon Cave, it was once a very popular trail for Jim Morrison fans, but since the cave has been closed, it is much less crowded. However, the hike still offers gorgeous views of the Pacific ocean and has fun rock formations to climb on. More information on this coming soon!

To get there, take the Pacific Coast Highway to Corral Canyon Road and then follow that all the way until it turns into a dirt road, at which point there will be a parking lot. The trailhead is on the west side of the parking lot.

Casa escobar

For dinner, we went to Casa Escobar, a place that Cole recommend. It was pretty good, with Mexican style food. If Mexican food isn’t for you, Malibu Farms, located on the pier, looked like a cute place to grab a bite. We headed there afterwards to check out the pier and get some lemon basil ice cream (which was very basil-y).

E.P. & L.P.

If you have energy left and are looking to check out the bar scene, E.P. & L.P. was a really cool rooftop bar located in West Hollywood that Cole suggested. It looks like it could have really pretty views, but since it was January, the patio was mostly covered. The atmosphere was still really cool and the drinks were great, and of course, being LA, everyone looked incredibly stylish.

Day Two: Venice Beach and Santa Monica

Breakfast

Venice Beach was on the agenda for our second day, so we headed there right away. We attempted to visit Eggslut, a popular spot in Venice Beach (with several other locations). However, when we got there the line was fairly long and the guys were not willing to wait, despite my warning the previous night that there would be a line.

So instead, we ate breakfast at Barlo Kitchen and Cocktails right next door. It was actually pretty good!

Abbot Kinney

From there we walked to the Abbot Kinney shops. This area was filled with unique shops and restaurants, although everything was incredibly overpriced. It is a good place to window shop, but I would never buy anything here.

At Blue Star Donuts, I got a Blueberry Bourbon Basil donut, which was really good! They had all kind of flavors like Passionfruit Cocoa Nibs and Hard Apple Cider Fritter.

One of my favorite things we found while strolling around was street art called “Love Wall.” Find it at 1601 Montana Avenue.

Venice Beach

Finally, we got to the beach! We went to the beach by the Venice Fishing Pier, which was incredibly busy with cars, pedestrians, bikes, and beach loungers.

But despite all that, I was still ecstatic to be at the beach. No matter how old I get, as soon as I stick my feet in the sand and see the expansive, never-ending ocean, I get a thrill of excitement and feel like a child, ready to run, arms open wide into the water.

Unfortunately, in January the Pacific is pretty cold and swimming didn’t seem nearly as appealing. Even so, I got a little overly excited and got the bottom half of my jeans wet and sandy before deciding I should just change into my swimsuit.

We spent a couple of hours lounging on the beach, sticking our feet in the water, and admiring the big beautiful ocean and surrounding mountains.

Biking

After a bit of lounging, we decided to rent bikes and ride up to the Santa Monica Pier. This was so much fun! I highly recommend it. It’s such a great way to cover a large stretch of the beach. You get amazing views of the shore and pass all the sights along the way: muscle beach, the skate park, the shops and restaurants. It’s really the best way to capture the atmosphere of Venice Beach.

We rented from Venice Beach Rentals. Even though I had a great time, I would not rent from them again. It was ten dollars just for the bike for an hour, not including a bike lock (an additional two dollars). They were very specific about the hour because if you went over an hour and ten minutes, they were prepared to charge double.

So, feeling a little jaded, we hit the road. Since we had decided against purchasing a lock, we couldn’t leave the bikes unattended. In retrospect this was probably a mistake. We ended up just biking up to Santa Monica Pier, snapping some pictures, and racing back to Venice Beach to avoid paying double.

One other small and unavoidable complaint about biking was the amount of people, and specifically, the amount of people who weren’t obeying traffic laws (i.e. walking in the middle of the bike land). So if you do visit Venice Beach, biking or walking, be respectful and mind the road.

Lunch

We walked around some of the shops near Venice Beach, but I wasn’t impressed as most of them were touristy and the streets were filled with people trying to sell you things.

For a bite to eat, we stopped at Tocaya Organica, serving tacos, bowls, and burritos made with fresh ingredients.

Venice Canals

A trip to Venice Beach wouldn’t be complete without seeing the Venice Canals, so that’s where we went next. They were absolutely beautiful!

The canals were crowded with tourists, photographers, and models, all trying to capture that perfect shot. It might be a good idea to check these out early in the morning if you are hoping for the canals to yourself.

Sunset

After that we caught the sunset at the beach, a must-do activity in my opinion.

Dinner

On our way out of Venice, we stopped at Casablanca, a Mexican restaurant that Cole had tried once before. They hand-make their tortillas in front of you and they are so good. There is also a margarita cart that circles the restaurant, offering top-shelf or better quality tequilas and mezcals at a lower price. Unfortunately, I was too full from lunch to eat a whole plate of food, especially after filling up on tortillas.

LACMA

We weren’t planning a visit to the entire LA County Museum of Art, but I really wanted to see the Urban Light exhibit.

Apparently so did everyone else in LA on a Sunday night. It was packed and pretty much impossible to get a picture without catching someone else in it. I’m not sure if it’s always this busy, but I think this is another place that would be better in the early hours of the morning.

Hollywood

Finally, just to say we’ve done it, we went to visit the Hollywood Stars and the Chinese Theater. The theater was pretty cool, but the stars were not really much to admire. The Hollywood area was also a little trashy. I wouldn’t recommend this unless you absolutely have to see it for yourself.

Day Three: More Beach Time

Eggslut

We had to visit Eggslut, so since it was our last chance, we headed over there as soon as possible. We got lucky with the timing, there was no line and we got three seats after we ordered. As soon as we sat down, there was a line out the door.

The food was great! I ordered the Fairfax with scrambled eggs, cheese, caramelized onions, and sriracha mayo. Mmm!

Dockweiler State Beach

Our flight was scheduled to leave around five, so we wanted to find a beach somewhat near the airport to enjoy our last couple hours.

We chose Dockweiler State Beach, although Manhattan Beach is another good option. The beach was empty when we got there and didn’t get much busier throughout the day. It was a nice change of pace after Venice Beach. The emptiness was most likely due to the fact that airplanes fly right over the beach, so if you are bothered by loud noises this is not the beach for you!

See you Soon, LA!

After this visit, I am planning to go back to LA for sure! When traveling, first impressions should never be your only impression. Make sure to keep your mind open so you can really experience and enjoy it!

Have you ever misjudged a place?