id say spend ALL your time in san diego - much more relaxing

la jolla would make a great place to stay

(and be sure to have lunch on the terrace level of georges at teh cove - great food good prices wonderful views)

For a day trip I would recommend LAguna Beach or Santa Barbara.

Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica would be my hotel pick.

What is your budget per night and will you have a car?

Please read our FAQs at the top of the LA forums.

L.A. is big, lot of different places to explore and see. What are your interests, what kinda vacation are you looking in having?

Santa Barbara or Laguna Beach (or both) are great daytime trips from Los Angeles, so that would be a great way to spent some time while here

Yes, please provide budget and a car. This is a big place with lots of neighborhoods. Where to stay depends on what you will do and what you can afford.

Please read the FAQs to get an idea of what is out here. 4 days is barely enough to see the highlights or LA. There is no time for a side trip unless you're rushing a bit, or you find from the FAQs that there isn't enough that interests you here (I would find that amazing).

The options for honeymooners, if price is not a big issue, is staying in Santa Monica area if you want lots of places to walk to, including nightlife, and be by the beach, Beverly Hills in the hills if you want getaway in the hills amongst the mansions; Sunset Strip if you like live music, and Manhattan Beach if you want a laid back beach community.

Weather can't be predicted. Some years it's still beach weather at the end of November. On average though it's in the 60s.

Btw, this is around Thanksgiving, which means you should book everything soon.

"Beverly Hills in the hills if you want getaway in the hills amongst the mansions"

What does that mean? Beverly Hills is not in the Hills and you can not "getaway in the hills and mansions" You can drive around and look at some gates but hardly can just stop there and walk around or sit in the car with some secutity guard bugging you

They're asking for hotels. Drive to and around the Beverly Hills Hotel and Bel Air Hotel and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Thanks for all your advice!

We will have driven from San Fran to LA - so hope to see that side of the coast on the way down.

We are then spending a few days in Los Cabos before we spend time in LA.

I like the idea of staying somewhere, where we can walk to a few places and get the LA atmosphere.

Our budget is $250 per room per night - Max!

We don't want to rent a car but will if we really have to.

Thanks

J

LA is a car city, so it's a lot more convenient to do it by car. If there is nothing stopping you from it, you should have your car in LA. You don't need a car in SF, but you will need one to drive down the coast anyway, for which you should allocate at least 3-4 nights to truly enjoy it. And it's usually the same price to rent for a week vs a few days anyway.

$250 is not a very high budget for LA. Santa Monica by the beach is a nice walkable area. There could be some specials, but nice hotels are mostly in the $300 and up range there. Check Huntley, Georgian, and Fairmont and see what the prices are like for your nights. The second option I would recommend is to stay around Sunset Strip. Look into Grafton or Chamberlain there. Third option would be the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

If you want a 4-5 star hotel at a 3-star price, I would recommend considering bidding on Priceline or buying via Hotwire. You can easily get a 4-5 star for around $150-200. The only difference is that it's not cancellable and you don't know the exact hotel you will get, but you can see what others have gotten in various neighborhoods at biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com. Do some research on those sites and you'll be able to figure out a way to bid to get a nice hotel. You can usually get the Beverly Hilton for around $150-175 instead of the going $250-350 rate for example.

Thanks for all your help

I think I can get the soffital hotel for a good price. It's a 4.5 star - would you recommend I go for it?

j