Hollywood Studio Tours Compared
Los Angeles Attraction Tours
Four working studios in the LA basin let you onto the actual lot, not a themed replica, and they’re wildly different experiences depending on how many hours you have and how old the group is. Sort out the studio tours first, because getting the wrong one for your kids is the single most common attraction-tour mistake in this city.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood (Burbank)
The full Warner Bros. Studio Tour runs about 3 hours: an hour on a guided golf cart through backlot streets and soundstages, then two self-guided hours through Stage 48’s Script to Screen exhibit, the Friends Central Perk set, and the DC and Harry Potter galleries. Adults run roughly $70 to $79, kids ages 5 to 10 around $60, and pricing shifts by date on wbstudiotour.com . Children under 5 are not permitted on this tour, and everyone 18 and older needs government photo ID at the gate. Check ticket availability on Viator before locking in a date, since slots fill fast in summer.
Paramount Pictures Studio Tour (Hollywood)
Paramount is the last major studio still operating in Hollywood proper, on Melrose Avenue since 1926. Its standard tour is a 2-hour guided cart and walking route through historic soundstages and the New York Street backlot, priced around $71 per person on paramountstudiotour.com . This one is strictly ages 10 and up, no exceptions, so plan a different morning for younger kids.
Sony Pictures Studio Tour (Culver City)
Sony’s 2-hour walking tour covers the historic Columbia and MGM lot where The Wizard of Oz and Singin’ in the Rain were filmed, plus the live Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune sets. It’s $55 per person, Monday through Friday only, ages 12 and up, and sonypicturesstudiostours.com requires advance booking since there’s no walk-up ticketing.
Universal Studios Hollywood’s tram tour
Universal folds its 60-minute narrated tram tour into general theme park admission rather than selling it separately, so you get 13 city blocks of backlot, the Psycho house, and the Fast & Furious set as part of a full park day. Admission is dynamically priced and commonly runs from around $109 into the $150s depending on date, never a flat number. Check current dates and book ahead if you want a specific day locked in.
Los Angeles Conservancy walking tours
For architecture over Hollywood, the nonprofit LA Conservancy runs 2-hour docent-led walks every Saturday through Downtown’s Historic Core, Art Deco storefronts, and Union Station, priced $20 to $25 for the public. Reserve ahead through laconservancy.org , since these routes sell out.
Studio lots are working production environments, not museums, so a soundstage or backlot street on your itinerary can close without notice when a shoot is in progress. Build a buffer into the day rather than racing between two studio tours; traffic on the 101 and 134 between Burbank and Hollywood alone can chew up 45 minutes. For a slower, on-foot alternative to the lots, the Downtown Historic Core walk covers Angels Flight and the Bradbury Building at no cost.