Los Angeles trip April 26 to April 29

marcuslo721 wrote: ↑I am planning a trip from April 26 to May 2. I have about 6 young adults (mid 20s) going to LA from April 26-29 and then boarding the cruise from LA to Vancouver (where we live) from April 29 to May 2.

What are some options we have from April 26-29 in LA? Which area in LA is best to stay at for a good price. We will be renting a car too. What activities are 'must do'?

the best area price wise is hollywood, or downtown l.a. ,areas such as santa monica, beverly hills

must do's santa monica beach, venice beach, the santa monica promenade, starline moviestar tour bus, hop on hop off sightseeing bus,

OP, what do you like to do? Sight see? Beach? Clubs?

I'm not a club type of person. However, I went last year, around the same time. Santa Monica area is nice. Beverly Hills is rich/posh area, small area, but worth a stroll through. Hollywood is very touristy, but ghetto. It looks much nicer on TV. There are a lot of bums on the main strip in Hollywood. You could take a picture of the Hollywood sign. There's a Grammy museum if I recall correctly (I didn't go in).

There are many beaches around. Venice beach (ghetto), Santa Monica (nice, clean, classy area), Huntington Beach (didn't go), long beach (didn't go).

Whatever you do. Stay out of Compton.

I stayed at at days inn, in Glendale. It's was approximately $70-$80 a night, for a room with 2 queen sized beds, a couch, and even had a balcony (yes, the door opened). It was located beside a residential area though. Area was quiet and safe (imo).

Here's the hotel I stayed at. http://www.daysinn.com/hotels/californi ... ?cid=local

I found them through expedia, so you might be able to get a better deal through another website like expedia, itravel2000, hotels.com, hotwire, etc...

If you have points with hotel chains, there's some very good points values in the LA area.

Consider staying very close to at least one of your planned sightseeing destinations. Traffic in LA is as bad as you've heard particularly at rush hour.

I am also planning to rent a car at LAX airport. However, I am boarding the cruise on April 29th. What is the best way to get to the cruise port at San Pedro? I supposed my group will return the car at the airport and shuttle to the port. The other option is to rent from enterprise (which is more expensive) and drop the car at their drop off location near the port. Anyone has some insight regarding this issue?

You can look for a car rental place close to the cruise port. If you return car at airport, then take shuttle to port, it takes additional 2 hr+ out of your time.

We had sailed out of the Long Beach port before, and there were several car rental places we could've returned a car to. We used Budget at the time, no additional one-way drop off charge. At the San Pedro, it should be similar.

double post. Please delete.

If your renting from LAX all car rental companies are "off site", so you are picked up by shuttle bus and its a 5-10 minute drive.

I would highly recommend Enterprise.
I was impressed with how efficient their system was for checking in and out.

1. Picked up by Shuttle (5-10mins)
2. Check in using your drivers license and reservation Credit Card in the automated booth (2mins)
3. Proceed outside where you are greeted by an Ipad holding employee who greets you by name and walks you to car to inspect it with you (60 seconds)
4. Drive to gate, give ticket to gatekeeper and your on your way (30 seconds)

I wish Toronto rentals were as seamless.

For comparison: Here is what I paid with LAX-Enterprise (Using An Employee Discount Code)

Nissan Versa
112.96 USD (4 Day @ 28.24)
0.00 USD (Drop Charge)
0.00 USD (COLLISION DAMAGE WAIVER FULL)
0.00 USD (SUPPLEMENTAL LIABILITY PROTECTION)
13.02 USD (AIRPORT CONCESSION FEE 11.11 PCT)
10.00 USD (FACILITY CHARGE 10.00/RENTAL)
2.94 USD (TOURISM FEE 2.60 PCT)
4.24 USD (VEH LICENSE RECOVERY 1.06/DAY)
11.34 USD (SALES TAX)

Total Charges 154.50 USD for 4 Days

If you're returning your rental car to LAX, it's a long way to San Pedro. Not a big deal if you're splitting a van cab among 6 people, but plan for that.

universal studios and Disneyland are a great way to spend 3 days.