Where to stay in Los Angeles

Los Angeles has no centre: the city spreads over 1,300 km² and the metropolitan area far beyond, so the neighbourhood shapes the whole day more than the hotel itself does. Bel Air is a residential enclave north of Sunset Boulevard with no shops within walking distance: every trip, even for dinner, is made by car, ten minutes to Beverly Hills and fifteen to twenty minutes to the Sunset Strip outside traffic. The Sunset Strip and West Hollywood form the only genuinely walkable area, along 3.5 km of boulevard between Doheny Drive and Crescent Heights, with restaurants, clubs and music venues at the foot of the hotel, and the night-time noise that comes with them in street-facing rooms. Beverly Hills, 4 km east of Bel Air, is quieter and has more shops around the Golden Triangle, but everything closes early. Downtown has the lowest prices, the chain hotels and three metro lines, 25 km from the ocean; some streets east of Main Street remain unpleasant in the evening. Santa Monica and Venice offer walking, the beach and sea air, at the cost of 25 to 30 minutes to West Hollywood off-peak and often an hour at 6pm. Silver Lake and Los Feliz, to the east, are the neighbourhoods of independent restaurants and cafés, ten to fifteen minutes from Downtown and Griffith Park, but 45 minutes from the sea.

Three quantified caveats before booking. The city lodging tax remains at 14%: Measure TT, which would have raised it to 16% until 2028 and then to 15%, was rejected by voters on 2 June 2026 by 52.9% to 47.1%, so the rate is unchanged since 1993; it is added to the displayed price, as are any service charges, and West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, which are separate municipalities, apply their own rates. Valet parking is charged at 50 to 70 USD per night in this category of hotel, before tax, and there is virtually no alternative: free parking is scarce in Bel Air as on the Strip. Finally, the journey times given here apply outside traffic: between 7am and 10am and between 3pm and 7pm they commonly double, and a 25-minute Santa Monica to West Hollywood run becomes 55 to 70.