The 20 best places to visit in L.A.: Where to go when you arrive

The collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA, are housed in a cluster of buildings, with a modern and contemporary art-filled west campus that opened 2008 and a single-building redesign due to open in 2026 on the eastern half. The focal point is its grand entrance, which includes Chris Burden’s photogenic installation Urban Light. LACMA shares a park with the La Brea Tar Pits and sits just across the street from the Petersen Automotive Museum and Craft Contemporary, and next to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (an excellent celebration of cinema from the folks who hand out the Oscars).

Make sure to check out all of the free museum days before you visit.

Most visitors will be plenty satisfied with sunning themselves in Santa Monica or Venice, but put in the extra miles to venture a little farther up the coast and you’ll be rewarded with the most picturesque beaches in L.A. County. We couldn’t pick just one stretch of sand to visit in Malibu, so we’ll instead offer three: Point Dume for picnicking and sunbathing by an as-seen-on-TV scalable cliff, El Matador for sunsets among photogenic coves and outcrops and Leo Carrillo for secluded sand and an on-leash dog beach. If you’re hungry, we’ll recommend a trio of seafood spots, from east to west: excellent fish and chips at Malibu Seafood, superlative lobster rolls at Broad Street Oyster Co. and fried goodness at Neptune’s Net.

While the coastline east of Malibu Pier has been devastated by the Palisades Fire, the western majority of Malibu remains untouched. Here’s how you can help the restaurants to the east that were destroyed by the fire.

Want to make a night of it? Book a stay at the best beachfront rentals in L.A.

Sure, light pollution and some old-timey optics mean that you can’t see all that much through its enormous telescope, but you can still spend a few hours browsing around the Griffith Observatory quite happily (closed Mon; grounds open daily). There’s the popular Hall of the Sky and Hall of the Eye, a pair of complementary displays that examines the interplay between people and space. The Art Deco building itself is the star attraction though—and the stunning view of the city from Griffith Park makes it worthy of a visit whether you’re a space buff or not.

Don’t miss out on these other essential Los Angeles attractions.

The Getty Center is packed full of artistic masterpieces and enjoys an awe-inspiring hilltop location with incredible views of L.A. and a stunning central garden. The grounds and buildings here are so remarkable that you could never step inside a gallery and still probably walk away satisfied. But you absolutely should, particularly to see works by Rubens and Impressionists such as Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh and Cézanne—though the lovely French decorative arts galleries are our personal favorites. The museum’s predecessor, the Getty Villa, rewinds the clock a few millenia with Greek and Roman antiquities in an Italian-style estate; however, the palatial landmark is closed until further notice (but thankfully undamaged) due to the Palisades Fire.

Make sure to see these must-see works at the Getty.

A decade in now and the arrival of the Broad still feels like a gamechanger thanks to the museum’s distinctive design, free admission and post-war art collection. Yayoi Kusama’s pair of Infinity Mirror Rooms in particular continue to pull in the crowds—one which transports viewers into a twinkling, pulsating starfield of LEDs (you can reserve a time slot), the other via a smaller reflective chamber that you can pop your head into.

Have time to kill before your reservation at the Broad? Explore the best things to do by the Broad.

Venice Beach has long made its case as the bohemian epicenter of California, and while the area gets plenty of mainstream tourists, it still boldly embraces its eccentric spirit—for better or worse. Abbot Kinney has transformed into a high-end ’hood over recent years, but the gritty boardwalk is still a, let’s say, unique place for people watching, with street “performers,” skateboarders and body builders all making their presence known (if you’re simply after a picturesque stretch of beach, we suggest venturing to Santa Monica or Malibu instead). Grab lunch at the Fig Tree before browsing the shelves at Small World Books. Make sure to stray from the boardwalk and stroll along the Venice Canals, too.

Looking to relax by the ocean? Check out the best beaches in L.A..

If you’re in SoCal to take in as much culture as possible, you’ll be spoiled for choice at San Marino’s three-in-one attraction, the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens. A truly one-of-a-kind destination, it’s home to an impressive art gallery, a substantially stocked library and elaborately themed botanical gardens. The hilly Japanese garden, beautifully designed Chinese garden and cacti-filled desert garden are among our favorites, as is the colorful rose garden and its historic tea room. Take a whole day out to explore this fabulous Pasadena-adjacent place.

Stop and smell the flowers at the rest of the city’s best botanical gardens.

Silver Lake has persisted for the past couple of decades as one of L.A.’s trendiest neighborhoods thanks to a wealth of boutique shops and an ever-growing dining scene filled with leafy outdoor patios, coffee shops that take their beans very seriously, and one notably cool old-school tiki bar. Oh, and true to its name, there’s indeed a lake here (or rather a reservoir): Though you can’t step up to the shore of the concrete-lined Silver Lake Reservoir, you can walk around its scenic perimeter or have a picnic at the grassy Silver Lake Meadow. Look out for the colorfully-painted public staircases that dot the nabe, too.

Find more recommendations in our full guide to Silver Lake.

We’ve all dreamed of being Julia Roberts shopping on Rodeo Drive, but very few of us could actually afford to shop in the designer boutiques and flagship stores seen in the film Pretty Woman. Which means window-shopping is the order of the day. Along the $200-million ersatz European cobbled walkway Two Rodeo, browsing tourists mingle with serious spenders. A short journey away is Anderson Court, which is the only shopping mall designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Fulfill your fashion dreams at the best shops in L.A.