Experience Los Angeles: An Adventure Travel Guide for Visitors
If you are visiting Los Angeles for the first time and you like to travel, there are plenty of different landscapes to explore around the city. From famous beaches around the Pacific Palisades to metropolitan areas to nature trails that are off the beaten path, you can choose your own outdoor adventure when visiting Los Angeles.
In this blog post, I’ll be sharing different spots around LA that you might want to consider exploring for your first time in the city.
Explore Beaches of Los Angeles
Los Angeles is well known for its diverse beach landscapes. If you like sunset walks along the beach, you can have plenty of options to choose from when you visit Los Angeles from the Pacific Palisades coast and downwards. Here are only a few of the many beaches that you can explore along Los Angeles.
Santa Monica Beach
When you visit Downtown Santa Monica, you can take a walk along the Santa Monica Pier - a popular tourist attraction for visitors. The location features small gift shops, local artists performing, arcades, and of course the infamous Pacific Park Ferris Wheel that lights up at night.
In my experience, the beach itself is usually a lot quieter in the mornings or during the fall and winter time at sunset. If you’re looking for a relaxing and quiet time at the beach, then I recommend going at one of these times.
Along the beach, you can find also -bikes that you can use to travel around the bike path to move more quickly along the beach front.
Venice Beach
Close to Santa Monica Beach is Venice Beach, where you’ll find the Venice Skatepark, more local street vendors, the Venice Beach Pier, and the Venice Canals. Very similar to Santa Monica, this beach is usually pretty bustling and busy throughout the day, while the canals are usually quieter since it’s a residential neighborhood.
If you’re looking for a quieter and slow-paced time on the beach, once again I’d recommend arriving in the morning or during the fall and winter seasons.
El Matador Beach
Based in Malibu, El Matador Beach is a much farther distance from the Greater Los Angeles area, but can definitely be worth the trip if you’re interested in relaxing at a beach with photogenic rock bluffs and a beautiful view of the ocean. Just be sure to check in advance when high-tide is coming - as the waves can sometimes cover the entire sand of the beach. I like to use The World Beach Guide to try and plan ahead.
Explore Nature Trails
If you’re looking for nature trails to explore you can walk around Griffith Park and the surrounding areas near Mount Hollywood. You can make your way up to the Griffith Observatory, where you can see the Hollywood Sign and a beautiful view of different locations in Los Angeles. As a heads up, this spot usually becomes pretty busy at sunset on days the Observatory itself is open.
You can also take some time to walk along the Betty B. Dearling trail in Coldwater Canyon Park near Beverly Hills.
Explore Architecture in Downtown Los Angeles
If you’re interested in city vibes and high-rise buildings, then you’ll enjoy exploring the amazing architecture around Downtown Los Angeles. This area in Los Angeles is a concrete jungle that has some of the most notable structures in the city, including the Crypto.com Arena (formally known as the Staples Center), the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Broad Museum, and the 6th Street Bridge.
If you visit the Walt Disney Concert Hall, then you might be able to walk up the patio and see the Blue Ribbon Garden, which not only houses different plants and flowers, but also a beautiful view of the high-rise buildings in Downtown Los Angeles.
Thank you for reading and until next time.
If you like travel photography, feel free to browse my work across other cities:
Tokyo
Los Angeles
Berlin
London
For outdoor lifestyle photoshoots, you can see some behind-the-scenes blog posts:
Outdoor Commercial Lifestyle Photoshoot in Griffith Park
Luxury Watch Outdoor Lifestyle Photoshoot at Venice Beach, Los Angeles
Sunset City Lifestyle Photoshoot in Downtown Los Angeles
Outdoor Commercial Beach Campaign Photography in Santa Monica
