5 Days in Los Angeles: First-Timer Itinerary
Five days buys you the full first-timer arc plus a day that actually belongs to locals, not the tourist board. Shorter trip? Try 2 , 3 , or 4 days . Longer? Step up to 6 or 7 days .
Book these before you go
- Hotel: check Santa Monica, Los Feliz, or Koreatown availability on Booking.com
- Rental car for five days across six areas: compare rates on Discover Cars
- A Koreatown food and BBQ tour: browse options on Viator
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Hollywood Walk of Fame, Griffith Observatory at sunset |
| Day 2 | Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach and Canals |
| Day 3 | Grand Central Market, Arts District, The Broad or LACMA |
| Day 4 | Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, the Getty Center |
| Day 5 | Griffith Park hike, Koreatown |
Day 1: Hollywood, then Griffith at sunset
Morning
Walk the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the TCL Chinese Theatre forecourt, thirty to forty-five minutes, no more. Cracked sidewalks, costumed characters angling for tips, and “star map” hawkers who aren’t official anything, see it, photograph it, move on.
Afternoon
Griffith Observatory : free admission, free parking before 10am, and the best single frame of the skyline and the Hollywood Sign together, since the sign itself can’t be visited up close. Time it for sunset and expect the lot to fill fast right when the light gets good.
Evening
Dinner in Los Feliz, a few minutes from the Observatory.
Day 2: The coast
Morning
Santa Monica Pier via the Metro E line, one of the few corridors where transit beats driving, $1.75 a ride with a $5 daily cap. Walk the pier, ride the Ferris wheel.
Afternoon
Venice Beach boardwalk, then a block inland to the Venice Canals for a quiet five minutes almost nobody bothers with.
Evening
Dinner near the boardwalk, out before the 10 freeway hits rush hour.
Day 3: Downtown
Morning
Grand Central Market, a dozen counters, no reservation, honest prices. The Arts District after for murals and coffee.
Afternoon
The Broad, free with a timed ticket on thebroad.org or the 4pm standby line. LACMA, $15 general admission, though the classic Wilshire buildings are gone, replaced by the new David Geffen Galleries.
Evening
Dinner in the Arts District.
Day 4: Beverly Hills and the Getty
Morning
Rodeo Drive, thirty to forty-five minutes of window shopping.
Afternoon
The Getty Center: free admission, timed reservation recommended on getty.edu , parking $20 a car ($15 after 3pm, $25 during the summer peak window). Free museum, not-free lot, budget it that way.
Evening
Dinner near Brentwood, a lighter night before Day 5.
Day 5: Griffith Park hike, then Koreatown
Morning
Skip the Observatory parking lot this time and hike into Griffith Park itself, trails up toward the peak with views that rival the Observatory deck and none of the crowd waiting for a photo spot. Bring water, there’s no shade for most of the climb.
Afternoon
Head to Koreatown. This neighborhood deserves more of your trip than Hollywood Boulevard ever got, and today’s the day to prove it, walk the strip malls, browse a Korean grocery, grab a coffee that isn’t a chain.
Evening
Korean BBQ at Park’s BBQ or Genwa, $30-50 a person all-you-can-eat, and honestly a better night out than anything on the Walk of Fame. If AYCE isn’t your speed, Guelaguetza nearby covers Oaxacan mole instead.
Why add a fifth day to an LA itinerary?
The first four days cover the tourist-board version of the city, Hollywood, the coast, Downtown, Beverly Hills. Day 5 is the one locals would actually take you on, a real hike with zero crowd and a Koreatown night that beats every Hollywood Boulevard dinner on this list. It’s the day that turns a good trip into a trip you’d repeat.
Is the Griffith Park hike hard?
No technical difficulty, but it’s exposed, there’s no shade for most of the climb up toward the peak, and the sun gets serious fast once you’re past the first switchback. Go early, bring more water than feels necessary, and treat it as a moderate morning workout rather than a casual stroll.
Where to stay
Santa Monica keeps Days 2 and 4 walkable-adjacent; Los Feliz or Koreatown itself puts you closer to Days 1 and 5. Pick one base for all five nights regardless, LA’s size punishes hotel-hopping more than it rewards it.
Getting around
Rent a car. Five days across six distinct areas of a city that spans roughly 500 square miles is not a rideshare-only trip. Metro rail covers corridors, not a grid, so cross-town transit trips run 90-plus minutes with transfers where a car takes 30-45 off-peak. Traffic peaks 7-10am and 3-7pm, route your Griffith-to-coast and Getty-to-Downtown legs around those windows.
Practical notes
Disneyland sits in Anaheim, not LA proper, 45-90 minutes away depending on traffic, it needs its own day, not a squeeze-in, see our Los Angeles California guide for that trip. Parking runs $10-20-plus near the beach, $20-40 in Hollywood, Downtown, or Beverly Hills. Spring and fall bring the mildest weather, late May into June brings a gray coastal morning, June Gloom, that usually burns off by early afternoon.
Book the Griffith Park hike for the cool part of the morning, not midday, there’s zero shade and the sun gets serious fast once you’re past the first switchback.