Los Angeles Highlights Tour: Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Hollywood and Beverly Hills

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Another Side Of Los Angeles Tours, 1080 S La Cienega Blvd Suite 108, Los Angeles, CA 90035-2591

Meet your guide in central Los Angeles to begin your full-day tour of the city's top attractions and suburbs by air-conditioned minivan. You’ll begin with a morning tour of LA beaches followed by an afternoon tour of the landmarks of Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

Your first destination is the century-old Santa Monica Pier, which provides expansive views of the sandy coastline and the Pacific Ocean. Learn about the history of the amusement rides before taking a stroll along the Third Street Promenade, an open-air shopping district filled with boutiques and name-brand stores in downtown Santa Monica.

Back aboard the minivan, drive to another waterfront favorite — the Venice Beach Boardwalk, birthplace of extreme skateboarding and a hotbed of counter-culture quirkiness. Enjoy people watching and soak up the bohemian vibe as you admire more ocean views and watch the many street performers. Your guide will regale you with stories about Venice’s former inhabitants like Jim Morrison while you take note of Muscle Beach's eccentric crowd.

Next, take a 1-hour break for lunch (own expense) at The Grove shopping center next to LA's popular Farmers Market, and then start the afternoon portion of your tour.

Learn about the entertainment industry en route to Hollywood, where you’ll set eyes on the Dolby Theatre (formerly known as the Kodak Theatre), home to the Academy Awards. Stop at the opulent TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly called Grauman’s Chinese Theatre) on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame, where more than 2,500 stars line the sidewalk. Pass the 4,310-acre (1,740-hectare) Griffith Park and the restored movie palace of El Capitan Theatre, and enjoy views of the downtown skyline and the Hollywood Sign, a cultural icon marking the Hollywood Hills.

As you drive down the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, glimpse the Viper Room — a legendary nightclub — and the world-famous Whiskey a Go Go, former host to rock bands like Led Zeppelin and The Doors. Cruise past the notorious Chateau Marmont, a celebrity favorite, on Sunset Boulevard as you make your way to Beverly Hills.

While you drive down the palm-lined avenues, your guide will point out the mansions of the rich and famous, as well as the legendary hotels they frequent like the Beverly Hilton, the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Beverly Wilshire, featured in the movie Pretty Woman. Then cruise down Rodeo Drive and past the designer stores of the Golden Triangle on Wilshire Boulevard.

Your tour ends when you return to your starting point at our office.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: 200 Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90401-3126

The iconic Santa Monica Pier is a 100 year old entertainment center on the water. It contains a family amusement park, several restaurants, fair-themed food booths, an arcade, and is always busy with public concert, movies, and events.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Venice Beach Boardwalk, Los Angeles, CA 90291

Venice Beach and Boardwalk is a popular locale for tourists and locals alike. It contains the famous outdoor Muscle Beach gym, public modern art, street performers, and arts. It is a center for shopping and play for everyone.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: The Original Farmers Market, 6333 W 3rd St at Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036

The location of our lunch break, the Farmers Market first opened in 1934. It is a well-loved center of food stalls, sit-down eateries, prepared food vendors, and produce markets in Los Angeles, California. It features food from just about every culture, shopping, a hot-sauce specific shop, and fresh fruit and vegetables daily.

Duration: 1 hour

Pass By: 189 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90036-6222

The Grove lays directly across from The Farmer's Market. It is a large complex of shops and entertainment, but mostly known for its sprawling beautiful park. It features animated fountains and shaded and green walks everywhere.

Stop At: Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles, CA 90068

The classic Hollywood Sign is an American landmark and cultural icon overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It is situated on Mount Lee, in the Hollywood Hills area of the Santa Monica Mountains. "HOLLYWOOD" is spelled out in 45-foot-tall white capital letters and is 352 feet long.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood Blvd at Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is one of the most well known locations of Hollywood and LA. It runs over a mile along West Hollywood, and currently comprises of more than 2,600 individual stars of musicians, actors, directors, producers, and entertainment stars of every kind.

Duration: 30 minutes

Pass By: TCL Chinese Theatres, 6925 Hollywood Blvd Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA 90028-6103

First opened in 1927, the Chinese Theater has been the heart of many world-famous movie premiers, three Academy-Awards ceremonies, and currently seats 932 people. It's possibly the most recognizable movie-palace in LA and is the home of the Hollywood Celebrity hand and foot-prints tiles.

Pass By: El Capitan Theatre, 6838 Hollywood Blvd Rua Versalhes 45 Casa 4, Los Angeles, CA 90028-6102

The El Capitan Theater opened in 1926 by Charles E. Toberman and was being built around the same time as the Chinese Theater in partnership with Sid Grauman. Originally it premiered live stage-plays, but after being crushed by the Great Depression it turned to movie entertainment and road shows. It was put on the map after becoming the original screen-location of Citizen Kane.

Pass By: Dolby Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028-6136

The Dolby Theater is now the center of the annual Academy Awards, and very close to the TLC Chinese Theater. It was designed specifically for the Oscars, and seats over 3000 people. Often when not hosting the awards it acts as a stage for televised stage-based shows like American Idol.

Pass By: Sunset Boulevard, Doheny Drive to Vine Street Beverly Hills and Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

The Sunset Boulevard runs through both West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, connecting the two titans-of-entertainment locations. The Sunset Strip portion has been a center of Hollywood Night-Life for over half a century, and the rest of the strip is lined with recognizable buildings and signs featured in many, many movies.

Pass By: The Viper Room, 8852 Sunset Blvd. at Laherty, West Hollywood, CA 90069

While originally known as The Central, The Viper Room was opened in 1993 and owned by Johnny Depp and Sal Jenco. Since then, the club has been known as a popular hang-out and preferred club of many Hollywood Elite. It's mainly known as a music venue, but also beloved as a whisky bar.

Pass By: Whiskey-a-Go-Go, 8901 Sunset Blvd. at San Vicente, West Hollywood, CA 90069

The first American Whisky a Go-Go was opened in 1958, and known as one of the earliest, if not the first, American discotheque. It has been the launching pad of No Doubt, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Guns N' Roses and many many more.

Pass By: Chateau Marmont, 8221 W Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046-2484

Based loosely on the French Royal Château d'Amboise, the Chateau Marmont was competed in 1929. It stands like a palace over the Sunset Boulevard. Originally it was built as a high-end apartments for the movers and shakers, and later converted in to a glamorous hotel. It was declared a Los Angeles Historical-Cultural Landmark in 1976.

Pass By: Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica Blvd at Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

The heart of Beverly Hills. Rodeo Drive is a two-mile stretch of road that encompasses some of the most glamorous and famous locations Along its path lays restaurants pioneered by world-class world-famous chefs, and beautiful luxurious hotels loved by stars of the golden age and the modern era.

Pass By: Two Rodeo Drive, 9480 Dayton Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

As a highlight of Rodeo Drive, the Two Rodeo Drive is a luxurious shopping area home to high-end boutiques and designer shopping. It lays beautifully lined with cobbled bricks and styled in classic European-style architecture, and wrought iron lamps.