Los Angeles City Guide

Los Angeles Sights

Stargazing in LA - anywhere else it'd be called 'stalking'.

LA has so many celeb tours and shows to attend you could forget to do anything else. However, there is culture aplenty, including blockbuster museums and the mindbending Walt Disney Concert Hall. In summer, a night of music at the Hollywood Bowl is a treat for ears and soul.

Los Angeles Nightlife

Stay up all night and watch the stars come out.

LA's nightlife is more than just drunken starlets tousling with paparazzi. A week's worth of nocturnal adventures in LA could see you bouncing from It-crowd clubs to designer bars to hair-metal temples to comedy clubs to ground-breaking theatre.

Shopping Los Angeles

Are you a mall rat or a vintage kitty-cat?

Although 'Gapification' (the proliferation of retail chains like the Gap, Banana Republic, Pottery Barn and others) is widespread and malls abound, countless offbeat shops in LA's many distinct neighbourhoods will reward those with a knack for browsing and a flair for the unusual.

Griffith Observatory

Kids, Observatory/planetarium

With an additional 40,000 square feet, a new multi-level exhibit gallery, a 200-seat theater, 60 new exhibits, a café and a gift shop, the new observatory in Griffith Park is ready for the masses. But for now, it's by timed-entry reservation only. No drive-up access is currently permitted, but stargazers can access observatory shuttles from various locations (your reservation guarantees a seat). And yes, it's worth the hassle.

Museum Of Television & Radio

Art-related, Free, Museum

This sweeping glass and stone landmark by Getty designer Richard Meier holds cultural treasures as captivating as the building itself. Scan the collections list, pick your TV or radio fave, then grab a seat at a console and enjoy. Media addicts beware: with more than 100,000 donated programs, from early Burns & Allen to the moon walk to Secretariat's triple crown win, you could be here a while.

Hollywood & Highland

Shopping centre/mall

With 65 shops, 26 eateries, 12 bowling lanes, six cinemas, two nightclubs and one hotel, the towering complex at one of Hollywood's busiest intersections takes one-stop shopping to the extreme. But creating the grand spectacle is a Tinseltown tradition, and the complex's courtyard - an over-the-top reproduction of a Babylonian set from DW Griffith's 1916 epic Intolerance - pays homage to these movie-making roots.