Los Angeles 3-Day Itinerary (2026): The Westside, Hills and Downtown Spine

A genuinely good three-day LA itinerary fights the city's geography rather than ignoring it. The four luxury bases (Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Downtown) sit on different corners of the metropolitan grid, and the only viable car-light rhythm is to group the activity inventory by sub-region — a Westside-and-beach day, a Central-Hills-and-museum day, and a Downtown-and-Arts-District day — and to cross the city only twice (once each evening, in the off-peak direction). This is the answer to the question "what do I actually do in LA in three days" without the rush-hour Uber bill that ruins the trip.

This guide is the itinerary answer. For the base-decision guide see our Where to Stay in Los Angeles (2026): Beverly Hills vs Santa Monica vs West Hollywood Picks. For the property-by-property hotel ranking see our The 6 Best Luxury Hotels in Los Angeles for 2026. The textbook three-day version below assumes a Beverly Hills or West Hollywood base; the Santa Monica-base variant flips Day 1 and Day 2 (the beach day becomes the "stay near base" day), and the Downtown-base variant flips Day 1 and Day 3.

Day 1 — Westside and beach: Getty, Venice, Santa Monica#

The Day 1 anchor is the Westside-and-beach spine — the Getty Center in the morning, the Venice Boardwalk and canals in the early afternoon, the Santa Monica Pier and Third Street Promenade in the late afternoon, and a Santa Monica or Venice dinner before the off-peak eastbound return. The full-day rhythm runs 9.30am to 9pm with a single afternoon swap from Westwood to the beach.

9.30am — Getty Center (1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood). The 1997-opened Richard Meier-designed travertine campus on the hill above the 405 — the J. Paul Getty Trust permanent collection (the Van Gogh Irises, the Rembrandt Abduction of Europa, the Cézanne Still Life with Apples, the Manet Spring), the gardens by Robert Irwin, and the Brentwood-to-Pacific view from the south terrace. Free entry; parking is US$25 per vehicle. The tram from the parking structure to the main campus runs every 8 minutes. Plan the 9.30am arrival (the museum opens at 10am, the queue at 10.15am-11am is meaningfully longer than the 10am-10.15am walk-on). The walking programme runs 2-2.5 hours across the four pavilions; skip the gardens-only visit and prioritise the Manet, Van Gogh and Cézanne rooms in the West Pavilion plus the photographs in the East Pavilion.

12.30pm — Lunch at Felix Trattoria (1023 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Venice). The 2017-opened Evan Funke-led pasta institution — the hand-rolled pasta-tasting-menu programme at US$60-90 per head, the strongest Italian restaurant in LA. Book the 12.30pm or 1pm slot 14 days ahead via Resy. Alternative: Gjelina (1429 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, the 2008-opened wood-fired California-Mediterranean institution at US$45-75 per head) or Gjusta (320 Sunset Avenue, the bakery-and-deli sister property at US$25-45 per head for the walk-in counter rotation). For a Beverly Hills base running the Getty-only morning the alternative is lunch at Spago (176 N Cañon Drive, Beverly Hills) for the Wolfgang Puck-led California-fusion rotation at US$80-140 per head.

2pm-4pm — Venice Boardwalk and canals. The walking programme runs the Abbot Kinney boutique-and-gallery street (1.2 km, the strongest small-shop cluster on the Westside), the Venice Beach Boardwalk (the 4 km oceanfront walking path with the skate park, muscle beach and the boardwalk-vendor rotation), and the Venice Canals (the 1905-built Abbot Kinney canal grid south of Washington Boulevard, the 45-minute walking loop through the residential-canal cluster). Skip the Venice Boardwalk if travelling with children under 8 (the boardwalk-vendor cluster runs the panhandling and homeless population that the LA tourism infrastructure does not police).

4pm — Santa Monica Pier (200 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica). The 1909-built historical wooden pier with the 1916-opened Looff Hippodrome carousel, the Pacific Park amusement rides and the pier-end fishing rotation. The textbook 45-minute walk-the-pier programme. Free entry; ride tickets at Pacific Park run US$5-12 each.

5pm — Third Street Promenade (Third Street between Wilshire and Broadway). The 1989-pedestrianised three-block shopping cluster with the Santa Monica Place mall at the southern end. The walking rotation runs 60-90 minutes with the textbook coffee-or-cocktail break at the Fairmont Miramar bar (101 Wilshire Boulevard) or the rooftop at the Shore Hotel.

7pm — Dinner at Cassia (1314 7th Street, Santa Monica). The 2015-opened Bryant and Kim Ng-led modern South-East Asian institution — the kaya toast, the laksa, the whole-fish rotation, US$55-90 per head. Book the 6.30pm or 7pm slot 14 days ahead. Alternatives: Tar & Roses (602 Santa Monica Boulevard, the Andrew Kirschner-led wood-fired Mediterranean at US$50-80 per head), Birdie G's (2421 Michigan Avenue, the Jeremy Fox-led modern Jewish-American at US$50-85), or for a Beverly Hills or West Hollywood base running the early-return rhythm the alternative is dinner back at base (Spago in Beverly Hills, Mother Wolf or Republique in Hollywood) and the textbook 8pm departure from Santa Monica.

9pm — Off-peak eastbound return. The 9pm-10pm window runs the 10 freeway eastbound at meaningfully better than the 6pm-8pm rush-hour bracket — 25-35 minutes to Beverly Hills or West Hollywood, 35-45 minutes to Downtown. The Uber Black booking is US$45-85 to Beverly Hills, US$80-140 to Downtown; the in-hotel car-service is US$140-220 for the round-trip with the wait.

Day 2 — Central Hills: Beverly Hills, LACMA, Griffith Observatory#

The Day 2 anchor is the central-cluster rotation — the Beverly Hills shopping-and-cafe rotation in the morning, the LACMA or the Petersen Automotive Museum in the early afternoon, the Griffith Observatory at sunset, and a Hollywood or West Hollywood dinner. The day runs without a meaningful cross-city transfer until the Griffith return; the Hollywood Hills evening is the strongest LA viewpoint anchor and earns the booking.

9.30am — Coffee at Maison de la Beverly or Alfred Coffee (8428 Melrose Place, West Hollywood). The textbook West Hollywood-Melrose Place café cluster with the Alfred Tea Room and the Maison-de-la-Beverly bakery rotation. Skip the hotel-breakfast for the textbook Melrose Place walking start.

10.30am — Rodeo Drive walk and shopping rotation. The walking programme runs the textbook three-block Rodeo Drive flagship cluster (Chanel at 400, Hermès at 434, Louis Vuitton at 295, Prada at 343) plus the side-street Beverly Drive village rotation south of Wilshire — the genuinely walkable village section that most travellers miss. The 60-90 minute walking rotation.

12.30pm — Lunch at Nate'n Al's Delicatessen (414 N Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills) or Il Pastaio (400 N Cañon Drive). Nate'n Al's is the 1945-opened Jewish-deli institution at US$25-40 per head; Il Pastaio is the Drago-family Italian-trattoria at US$40-65 per head. Alternative: Spago (176 N Cañon Drive) for the Wolfgang Puck-led California-fusion at US$80-140 per head with the 60-minute reservation requirement.

2pm-4.30pm — LACMA or Petersen Automotive Museum (Wilshire Boulevard at Fairfax, 10-minute Uber east of Beverly Hills). LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard) is the textbook Westside-and-Mid-City art museum — currently in the final 2026 phase of the Peter Zumthor-designed David Geffen Galleries reopening, with the Urban Light installation (the 202-vintage-streetlamp Chris Burden 2008 piece) at the entrance, the Japanese Pavilion, and the Rauschenberg, Magritte and Kandinsky permanent-collection rotation. Adult admission US$28, free for under-18s. The textbook 2-2.5 hour walking rotation. The Petersen Automotive Museum (6060 Wilshire Boulevard, opposite LACMA) is the strongest car museum in the United States luxury edit — the 1994-founded 23,000-square-metre collection across four floors, the Bugatti, Ferrari, Porsche and Hollywood-car rotation, US$24 adult. The textbook alternative for car-led travellers.

5pm — Drive or Uber to Griffith Observatory (2800 East Observatory Road, Griffith Park — 25-35 minutes from the LACMA off-peak, 40-55 minutes at rush hour). The 1935-opened observatory on the southern slope of Mount Hollywood — the textbook sunset-and-Hollywood-sign-view anchor, the Foucault pendulum, the Camera Obscura, the Samuel Oschin Planetarium and the Tesla coil. Free entry; planetarium shows US$10 adult. Plan the 5pm or 5.30pm arrival for the sunset window (sunset times: April 7.20pm, July 8.05pm, October 6.20pm, January 5.05pm); the parking at the observatory fills 90 minutes before sunset, and the textbook fix is the 5pm arrival or the textbook Uber drop-off plus the 30-minute walk down from the Trails Café.

8pm — Dinner at Mother Wolf (1545 Wilcox Avenue, Hollywood) or Republique (624 South La Brea, Hancock Park). Mother Wolf is the 2022-opened Evan Funke-led Roman trattoria — the strongest pasta restaurant in Hollywood, US$80-140 per head, book 30-45 days ahead via Resy. Republique is the 2014-opened Walter and Margarita Manzke-led French-Mediterranean institution in the 1929 Charlie Chaplin-built building — US$60-100 per head. Alternatives: Providence (5955 Melrose Avenue, the Michael Cimarusti-led Michelin-two-star seafood tasting at US$280-440 per head), Sushi Park (8539 Sunset Boulevard, the omakase counter at US$220-340 per head), or for a Westside-base traveller running the early-return rhythm the textbook fix is dinner back at base (Cassia or Birdie G's in Santa Monica, Felix or Gjelina in Venice) before the off-peak westbound return.

Day 3 — Downtown LA: The Broad, Disney Concert Hall, Arts District#

The Day 3 anchor is the Downtown LA cultural-and-Arts-District spine — the Broad in the morning, the Disney Concert Hall and Grand Park walking rotation at lunch, the Arts District gallery-and-coffee rotation in the afternoon, and an Arts District or Downtown dinner before the late evening return. The day runs cleanly on a Downtown base; from a Beverly Hills, West Hollywood or Santa Monica base, plan the early-morning eastbound departure (8am-9am, on the 10 freeway at meaningfully better than the 9.30am-11am bracket).

9.30am — The Broad (221 South Grand Avenue, Downtown LA). The 2015-opened Eli and Edythe Broad-founded contemporary art museum in the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed honeycomb building — the textbook Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirror Room (the Souls of Millions of Light Years Away installation), the Jeff Koons Balloon Dog, the Cindy Sherman, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol permanent-collection rotation. Free entry but the timed-entry ticket is required (book 14 days ahead at thebroad.org); walk-up entry is possible on weekdays 11am-noon and after 5pm. The Infinity Mirror Room is a separate 45-second timed-ticket bookable on the day at the entrance kiosk. The textbook 90-minute museum-walking rotation.

11.30am — Walk to Walt Disney Concert Hall and Grand Park. The Disney Concert Hall (111 South Grand Avenue, opposite the Broad) is the 2003-opened Frank Gehry-designed stainless-steel home of the LA Philharmonic — the textbook architectural anchor of the Bunker Hill cluster, the self-guided audio tour (60 minutes, US$15) or the textbook walk-the-exterior 20-minute rotation. Grand Park (the 4.9-hectare park running from the Music Center down to City Hall) is the textbook walkable spine connecting the cultural cluster to the City Hall cluster.

1pm — Lunch at Bestia (2121 East 7th Place, Arts District — 10-minute Uber east of the Broad). The 2012-opened Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis-led Italian-led wood-fired institution — the bone-marrow pasta, the lamb shoulder, the dessert programme by Genevieve Gergis, US$60-100 per head. Book the 12.30pm or 1pm slot 30 days ahead via Resy. Alternative: Manuela (907 East 3rd Street, the Hauser & Wirth-attached Southern-American institution at US$50-85 per head), Officine Brera (1331 East 6th Street, the Northern-Italian by the Chi Spacca team at US$55-90), or Sonoratown (208 East 8th Street, the Sonoran-style burrito-and-taco counter at US$15-25 for the textbook walk-in counter rotation).

3pm-5pm — Arts District walking rotation. The walking programme runs the Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles gallery (901 East 3rd Street, the 2016-opened 100,000-square-foot complex in the converted Globe Mills flour-mill — free entry, the textbook 60-minute gallery rotation), the Soho Warehouse rooftop (1000 South Santa Fe Avenue, the Soho House Group property — public-rooftop access via the textbook restaurant-reservation work-around), and the Arts District Brewing Company or the Angel City Brewing cluster. Alternative anchor: the MOCA Geffen Contemporary (152 North Central Avenue, the 1983-opened warehouse outpost of the Museum of Contemporary Art at Little Tokyo's edge, free entry on Thursdays, US$18 otherwise).

6pm — Cocktails at Death & Co Los Angeles (810 East 3rd Street, Arts District) or the Edison (108 West 2nd Street, the 2007-opened speakeasy in the 1910-built power-plant basement). The textbook pre-dinner cocktail anchor in the Arts District before the dinner rotation.

8pm — Dinner at Bavel (500 Mateo Street, Arts District) or Damian (2132 East 7th Place, opposite Bestia). Bavel is the 2018-opened Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis sister property to Bestia — the textbook Middle-Eastern wood-fired institution, the duck shawarma and the foie-gras-kebab rotation, US$70-110 per head. Damian is the 2019-opened Enrique Olvera-led Mexican-fine-dining institution (the chef behind Pujol in Mexico City) — US$80-140 per head. Alternative: Otium (222 South Hope Street, the Timothy Hollingsworth-led California-fusion at the Broad — US$60-100 per head, the textbook fix for travellers wanting the dinner-at-the-Broad single-anchor evening).

10pm — Late-night cocktail at the NoMad rooftop (649 South Olive Street, NoMad Los Angeles) or the Conrad rooftop (100 South Grand Avenue). The textbook downtown-rooftop bracket before the late westbound return; the 10pm-midnight window runs the 10 freeway westbound at meaningfully better than the 6pm-8pm bracket — 25-40 minutes to Beverly Hills or Santa Monica.

A short note on the half-day add-ons#

For a four-day trip the textbook half-day add-ons rotate as follows. The Getty Villa (17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades) is the 1974-opened classical-antiquities sister to the Getty Center — free entry, timed-ticket required, the textbook 2-2.5 hour walking rotation in the recreated Roman villa-and-garden setting. Add to a Day 1 Westside-extension trip in place of the Venice afternoon. Malibu and the PCH drive (the 32 km PCH north of Santa Monica to the Malibu Pier and the Nobu Malibu) — the textbook half-day with lunch at Nobu Malibu or Soho House Little Beach House Malibu (members and guests only); add as a Day 1 morning or a Day 4 full-day in place of the in-city itinerary. Universal Studios Hollywood (100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City) — the full-day theme-park anchor; add only if travelling with children aged 6-14, otherwise the textbook fix is to skip. The Huntington Library and Gardens (1151 Oxford Road, San Marino) — the textbook half-day from a Pasadena, Downtown or Hollywood base, US$25 adult, the 1919-founded Henry E. Huntington estate with the Gainsborough Blue Boy, the Gutenberg Bible and the 49-hectare botanical-garden rotation including the Japanese, desert and Chinese gardens.

For the wider US trip combining LA with a where to stay in New York leg see our where-to-stay-new-york-city-2026-soho-vs-upper-east-side. For the West Coast road-trip pairing see the San Francisco entry in our cluster. For the Mexico City-from-LA flight option see our Where to Stay in Mexico City (2026): Roma vs Polanco vs Condesa Picks.