Why would you visit Los Angeles from Las Vegas? Why?

You can get too much of Vegas. In the city with a million things to do, by day 6 your feet can be throbbing and sore, your love of walking through the wonderful noises of casinos and shopping can start to wane, and your bank account more empty than you really expected when you first sat down on the Wizard of Oz machine…

You get back to your room into the peaceful tranquillity of your own little air conditioned space, and you fall onto the big comfy bed, and a little voice in your head says… ‘It WOULD be nice to see the ocean wouldn’t it?  A bit of sand?  A bit of sea breeze? That would be nice.

Now, of course there are options and I’ll write blogs on how you can get sand and water in Vegas, but lets deal with Los Angeles.

This time, we drove straight there.  Google maps said 4.5 hours.  It took us 7 hours. It was tough going.  And I’ll tell you why another time, but basically – set off so that you don’t hit Los Angeles rush hour traffic.  And rush hour in LA is about 4 hours long…

The first time we visited Los Angeles Sarah and I drove there from San Francisco down Highway 1.  A beautiful road.  The road to hell.  I hated it. A cloudy, smoggy, asshole of a place, when its at its worse.  This is the city where dreams are MADE.  Not where dreams EXIST.  That’s many people’s first impression.
The second time we visited we flew in from Hawaii on flights that cost us £8 (about 10 dollars) due to an beautiful air miles ‘find’. We landed at night.  This time I knew what to expect.  Landing and seeing the millions of lights of this huge city from above, and with the ‘Drive’ soundtrack in my head, I saw it as the industrial Mecca of entertainment that it is.  And I enjoyed looking at it for that reason.  But still, we just drove straight out and down to beautiful San Diego.

The third time, we hit the jackpot. We figured it out.  We went to Hermosa beach.  Hermosa is one of the beautiful California beaches you’ve seen on tv and film your entire life.  This is Baywatch.  This is Hollister.  This is the America that lives in your head.  The Virtual America writ large.  And it is beautiful.  The 350 days a year that the pacific breeze blows in, the smog is pushed in over the city to cover the places you visited when you thought LA was shitty – like the Hollywood Walk of Fame (ewwww). 

Hermosa, Venice, and Long and Malibu beaches are all part of the same, if quite different in personality, stretch of coast.  Hermosa is small avenues with boutique shops, fine restaurants, beach volleyball and a young nightlife of people ranging from the millionaires who can afford a property here, to the backpackers staying at the hostel by the pier.  Sitting and having a drink with the sun going down, outdoors because the breeze keeps it just cool enough, is a night and a world away from Vegas.

Driving back we set off to avoid the LA rush hour (i.e. anything after 2pm!), and it took us around 5 hours to get back, which is good going.  The views of Vegas approaching and the signs beginning to appear for the happy hours, shows, 5 dollar tables, all began to turn the stomach slightly.  Oh, how I wish we were having one more night on the beach.  Cut forward by one hour and we were sitting eating the BEST sushi we’d ever eaten and wondering why we ever left Vegas. 

In Britain we have a lot of places which have ‘by the sea’ added to their name.  I think when I recommend a daytrip to LA from now on I’ll add that.  Yes, do lots of Vegas, but you should take a great trip over to Los Angeles By-The-Sea.

The journey to Los Angeles was a story in itself involving the wild west, altitude sickness, and a subway.  I’ll release that next week, read it and make sure your life is saved.  Also check out other trip ideas from the Grand Canyon to San Francisco at trustedvegas.com/travelbeyond