Ideas please

[tinkerbell59a]

We are for the first time spending 14 nights in LA. In the past we have only stayed for a few nights.
We are staying at Ayres Hotel in Anaheim. Our holidays over the last few years we have only stayed a few nights in an hotel before packing up and moving on. So this year we are staying in one hotel only. Just wanted to unpack for 14 nights! Before anyone says we know that we will need to do lots of driving to get to places but hubby doesn't mind that.

So I'm looking for ideas of places to see and do. We are doing Disneyland, Universal.

[jdouds]

14 n LA not everyone's cup of tea. With traffic so bad it makes it even worse. Like your hubby I don't mind driving but LA. Would suggest as you don't want to do to much packing on packing just do , say 3 stops giving yourself 5/6 nights each place.

[liz-paul]

When we're in LA in July we plan to do Universal, Warner Bros tour, some shopping (have been recommended the Camerillo outlets), the California science center, Griffith park/observatory. Things we are considering: La Brea tar pits, Santa Monica pier, bus tour, whale watching (some places near to Newport beach I think), Six flags, a water park. If you take a look at smart destinations website you can get some ideas. They sell cards that include a bunch of attractions in different areas. You don't necessarily need to buy the card but it will give you ideas for some things to do.

[KarenG]

400ixl posted once a phenomenal array of things to keep you busy in LA for weeks - I had a quick look but couldn’t find it unfortunately. Having been to LA quite a few times now it’s not at the top of my list to spend 14 days at and I would definitely look at splitting the stay even if it’s only one other location (San Diego?)

[daytonababe]

14 days in LA would be far to long for most and Anaheim really isn’t that good a base unless you want to spend a lot of time sat in traffic.

My husband doesn’t mind driving we’ve just done over 2500 miles but sitting in traffic each day is not our idea of fun , it can very easily take 2 hrs to universal from Disney

I’m not a great fan of hotel swapping either but for LA it’s a must for us .


Personally if you’re dead set on one hotel I’d be stopping nearer to where you’ll do most of the stuff and travel to Disney

[mrblack]

I've had a 14 night and 7 night holiday based in Anaheim and been all over. Both holidays were only adults though.

From Anaheim we've had days in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Hollywood, Universal, Santa Monica and Venice Beach, Ontario Mills outlets, Malibu, Long Beach and SeaWorld.

We are the crazy people who drove the direct route from Anaheim to San Francisco in one day with only toilet breaks and on the same trip drove the return route but all the way down the coast. Again the breaks along that route were only for toilet stops or food and took around 15 hours. Only one of us drives too. We are also people who stay up till 11pm/midnight Pacific time on arrival day having been up since 5am UK time so we're perhaps not the best measure of taking things slowly or at a normal pace.

Tend to go to a gig on our arrival night if possible. The trip we did the drive to SF and back we arrived in LA from the UK around 4pm (got the late, 11am, flight out) drove to Anaheim to drop bags at the hotel and relax briefly, drove to Hollywood and got food, saw a band which finished around midnight then drove back to Anaheim.

If we aren't tired by the end of our holiday then we haven't done it right.

[daytonababe]

Yep I also stay up the first night , last month it was gone midnight after we had driven from LAX to Ontario Mills had food , made up babies bottles etc

We also drive a lot each trip 2/3000 miles but they are mostly decent drives between cities not sat in traffic , my husband does all the driving .

Anaheim isn’t a bad base for Huntington Beach and long beach done both several times

Ontario Mills to Anaheim took us 80 mins last month .

I was last there last month , At 6pm Beverly Hills to Ontario Mills was going to take over 2.5 hrs so we left it till 9.30 when it still took well over a hour .

[red cuillen]

Ah I remember being stuck on the Long Beach Freeway, fortunately we had massive trucks to our left and out right and behind, so it was never boring!
Palm Springs can be done in a day, or there is no reason why you couldn't pack an overnight bag and check into a cheap motel somewhere.
I'd have no problems with 14 nights in LA, but of course Anaheim isn't exactly central. 5 days in Disney, maybe 1 in Knotts. Long Beach martime museum, aquarium, Point Vicente, Redondo Beach, loads of thing to do. Venice Beach by day (Venice Beach by night... ). You choose...

[landandword17]

Anaheim isn’t in LA, it’s in Orange County. A technicality maybe but certainly to locals it would be like an American saying they were spending 14 nights in London, staying in Oxford.

I would explore Orange County - Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington. Go down to San Diego. The traffic will make some places that are close on a map like Palm Springs just too tiring for a day.