Hotel Santa Monica / Venice Beach: LA

B

brian.mobile

Registered User
Messages
347
Off to LA very soon. I've heard Santa Monica or Venice Beach are the places to be.

Anyone know of any hotels worth staying in around this area?

Or in general, good location to stay in LA?

BM
 
i stayed in lowes in santa monica, hated evry minute of it. The whole place is full of wannabees and homeless people begging. not nice at all
 
On that subject, next year six of us ( 3 couples) are planning an American holiday with Los Angeles being one of the planned stops. Can anyone, especially from first hand experience, advise the places to stay and to avoid.
 
I stayed close to Venice Beach before in a backpacker hostel, I thought the area
itself was fine as far as LA goes. Venice beach is just a freak show but there are
a few decent bars/restaurants there. LA itself I found to be a bit of a kip, the
amount of homeless people there is ridiculous and it's very spread out.

Lots to see and do there though, although getting around is not the easiest.


brian.mobile said:
Off to LA very soon. I've heard Santa Monica or Venice Beach are the places to be.

Anyone know of any hotels worth staying in around this area?

Or in general, good location to stay in LA?

BM
Click to expand...
 
Venice beach is a "freak show" to some and "bohemian" to others. Depends on your age and outlook on alternative life styles I guess.

Its a whole strip about a mile long on the beach with market stalls , street performers resteraunts, bars, skaters, surfers, muscle beach outdoor gym, beach rugby ( was amazed to see that there you dont even see it here ) the white men cant jump basket ball courts and well eh freaks- plenty of em but all good natured an colourful

The area attracts this sort of crowd historically from the 60s/70s and maintains it with its relaxed and technically NOT illegal laws on personal spamspamspam smoking.
Hotels are cheaper in Venice and its only about 3$ in a taxi or a 5 min drive to Santa M. A car is essential around here really

Santa M is a very chilled out and upmarket area, People go to bars in flip flops and Abercrombie that have valet pick ups for ferraris!

I absolutely loved the area and its a great place to base your self for an LA visit, down town LA is sleazy seedy and dirty- great stuff then!!

DOwn the road is the biggest marina ( man made ) in marina del ray.

PM me and Ill talk all day about the place just spent 2 weeks there and ived there when younger. Its my no1 place to go back to ever!
 
We were in LA last year for two nights on a stop over from Hawaii stayed in Shangri LA Hotel on Santa Monica Beach not great for the price I felt unsafe with all the homeless people at night but during the day it was ok with bars, shopping and restaurants. We got the bus to Hollywood no problem. I've family living there and they live in Bay shore Ave which I thought was a lovely area nice hotel's good food but it was an hours drive from Santa Monica. Its where the titanic copy boat is the Queen Mary. I liked this area and was ragging we didnt stay there but will go back to LA.
 
I have stayed in Marina Del Ray many times....very clean and safe, I will look up the hotel and post it later. We were 5 minutes walk from Venice Beach....Santa Monica itself is 20 minutes by bus. The hotel prices were not cheap as I recall.
 
<Pedantic Mode>
It's spelled Marina del Rey, with an 'e' (as in Spanish for king, or some such).
</Pedantic Mode>

My old home at the marina is a nice, peaceful area but if you want to hang out at Santa Monica pier or 3rd street then it's a taxi ride away (or a long walk along then beach).
 
Also disliked Santa Monica- same experience with homeless people begging. Also there was a gunman spotted in our hotel and the whole area was cordoned off by the police for a number of hours before we were allowed to return there. However we stayed at Santa Barbara for a couple of days and loved it- if I returned I wouldnt go to LA/Santa Monica at all but go direct to Santa Barbara.
 
Avioid LA in my opinion! I have traveled the states extensively whin I lived there. There are many more fantastic places to visit in california.
 
Hi

Was in LA in Feb, stayed at the beverly hills plaza cheap for wilshire drive
and that area, get out of the city and go north to santa barbara, stay in
a Best western $155 a night, but a lovely spot food etc great and none of the nuts in LA to contend with.

Enjoy it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top