Where to stay in LA?

[GilliC]

We'll be in LA for 3 days in late September before a cruise with my parents, so we really need to book a hotel before I put it off much longer.

We don't plan to do too much sightseeing, but we might do a little if there's time. Our main priority is to catch up on a lot of shopping while we're in the States, so being reasonably close to a decent mall and an Apple store would be good.

[emilyinchile]

If you stay in Santa Monica, you can be close to Third Street Promenade which is a whole pedestrian street with shops, including an Apple store, as well as close to the beach and good restaurants. There's also a smaller mall, Santa Monica Place. Or you could stay in Beverly Hills, near the Beverly Center mall (and of course all the fancy shops on and around Rodeo Dr!). I would choose Santa Monica for location and then take the bus to the Beverly Center (assuming you're not wanting to rent a car) if you need additional stores.

[more adventurous]

I second Emily. We absolutely loved Santa Monica and didn't care too much for the craziness of Hollywood Blvd or any of that. We did lots of shopping on the Promenade, which did include an Apple store and lots of other great places. Plus, you would be right by the beach and the Santa Monica Pier which is cool, too.

We stayed at The Huntley Hotel. I think it was the smallest room we've ever had but it was nice enough. We did enjoy the rooftop restaurant for brunch (although, I imagine it probably gets a bit snooty at times...probably dinner/late night.) I think it's hard to go wrong in Santa Monica unless you stay somewhere shady and/or really far off the beach, so I would suggest going with the best deal you can find. Hotels definitely aren't cheap in that area.

[dutchgirl678]

We recently had to stay there for a night and stayed near Santa Monica. I would not recommend the Best Western Plus Gateway hotel. It was expensive and pretty shabby for that price.

[maddiepaddy]

Santa Monica isn't a bad choice, but if you think you'll spend much time east, you might want to be more central. I've also usually found Santa Monica hotels to be more expensive than others and not necessarily nicer. Maybe Century City or Beverly Hills would be a good choice. I like the Beverly Hilton as well as the Intercontinental in Century City. Both are pretty close to the Westfield Century City Mall and a short-ish drive from the Beverly Center. You'd also be close to boutiques on and around Robinson Blvd. and West Hollywood.

[GilliC]

Aug 21, 2014 13:11:41 GMT -5 emilyinchile said:

If you stay in Santa Monica, you can be close to Third Street Promenade which is a whole pedestrian street with shops, including an Apple store, as well as close to the beach and good restaurants. There's also a smaller mall, Santa Monica Place. Or you could stay in Beverly Hills, near the Beverly Center mall (and of course all the fancy shops on and around Rodeo Dr!). I would choose Santa Monica for location and then take the bus to the Beverly Center (assuming you're not wanting to rent a car) if you need additional stores.

Is this possible?! I kind of assumed that renting a car was mandatory in LA.

[emilyinchile]

GilliC it depends on what you want to do. If you really mainly want to shop, then you can almost certainly get by without renting a car if you're well-located close to enough stores/malls. In Santa Monica you can get around pretty easily via the Big Blue Bus, and you could always call a cab to get home if you have too many bags (definitely get the number of a couple cab companies as they won't just be on the street). If you end up wanting to do sightseeing and/or visiting other neighborhoods then yes, you'll need a car. Also if you stay in the areas maddiepaddy mentioned, you'll want a car. Santa Monica is more expensive, but you'd have to weight that vs. the car and parking costs.

[Deleted]

The Grove, Beverly Center, and Westfield Century City all have Apple Stores.

I recommend staying near either of the first two for superior restaurant choices in the general vicinity.