Is Los Angeles Walkable?

Can You See Everything You Want to See While on Foot in Los Angeles?

In some cities, you’ll find loads of big sidewalks, tree-lined streets, and cross-walks to help you navigate the busier roads. While all of these things exist in Los Angeles, California, their presence doesn’t necessarily guarantee an easy time walking from place to place. Overall, Los Angeles has earned and deserves its reputation as an unwalkable city.

Although you might find some pockets and neighborhoods where there’s nothing lovelier than an afternoon stroll, experiencing the city as a tourist doesn’t usually allow you to enjoy the city in this manner, especially if you actually want to see some of the famous sites around town. If you have Disneyland and Warner Bros. on your list of places to visit, note that these two SoCal landmarks are more than 35 miles apart.

Los Angeles and the surrounding areas of Ventura, Orange County, Riverside, and San Bernardino represent an absolutely huge metropolitan area. If you add up all the space, you’re looking at 34,000 square miles. Just to put it in perspective, just the County of Los Angeles (that’s not including Orange, Ventura, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties) is four times the size of the entire state of Rhode Island.

So, given that the city – or the larger metropolitan area – is so vast, it seems curious that anyone would think the city was walkable, at least when you think about getting between different tourist attractions and figuring out the best location for your hotel. However, is it absolutely necessary to use a car in Los Angeles? Can you use public transportation? Are bikes even a thing in LA? Let’s discuss it.

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Why is Los Angeles So Unwalkable?

There are a few reasons Los Angeles isn’t considered a walkable area. The main reason is because public transportation takes forever and everything is really spread out. One of the weird things about Los Angeles is that you’ll see buses everywhere, but if you check on the transit times for getting from one side of the city to the other, you’re actually looking at several hours of travel time.

If you land at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which is at the coast, and have a hotel room in Downtown LA, which is several miles inland, you only have a few options for covering that distance in a decent amount of time. One option is the LAX FlyAway airport shuttle, which will get you from the airport right into downtown. The other is a taxi or ride share like Uber or Lyft or a pre-arranged LAX transfer.

Unless you’re one crazy traveler, walking just isn’t an option. It would probably take you an entire day to cover that distance, particularly with luggage in tow. I’m sure there are some folks out there who would like to make an adventure of getting between all the significant tourist venues and neighborhoods of Los Angeles, but for most of us it’s just not realistic to travel through Los Angeles in this manner.

Overall, the main reason Los Angeles isn’t that friendly to walkers is that it’s just too spread out. And this isn’t just the big touristy places, either. It’s often more than a mile to the nearest grocery store, which is definitely a distance you can cover on your bicycle, but it’s just not always practical. I’ve lived in four neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles, and not one of them was truly walkable where I didn’t need to use a car at least some of the time.

Seeing Los Angeles With a Rental Car is Usually Best

For the most part, Los Angeles is best seen from the comfort of a rental car. Driving in Los Angeles can certainly put the fear into you, but you can make some strategic choices to make things easier for you if you’re not used to driving in a major metropolitan area. For example, just avoid rush hour driving at all costs. It doesn’t matter whether you’re driving two miles or 20. Rush hour makes everything take four times as long.

Having a car also gives you the ultimate freedom to stay wherever you want in the city, which opens doors to short-term rentals on sites like VRBO, as well as traditional hotels of all kinds. Renting a car is also a great way to take advantage of a less expensive motel that’s lower priced because it’s not on the doorstep of one of the area’s major tourist attractions.

In most cases, you’ll pay less to rent a car for several days than you will pay for a hotel that’s right next to a landmark like Disneyland or within throwing distance of Rodeo Drive. Communities like Inglewood, East Los Angeles, and the neighborhoods of Northeast Los Angeles all have excellent options for small local hotels and less expensive stays than in high-rent districts like Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Downtown Los Angeles.

If you’re completely adverse to having a rental car, companies like Uber and Lyft have saturated the area with drivers. Except for ultra busy hours at LAX, it’s usually pretty quick to snag an uber. Or, if you’re making an itinerary in advance and really want to have the taxis all planned out, you can definitely book them in advance, assuming you know what time you’ll need the pickup and where you’re going.

What’s the Most Walkable Part of Los Angeles?

There are definitely some beautiful areas for walking in Los Angeles, but it’s quite hit or miss as far as whether those areas are actually close enough to the things you might want to see or visit. For example, there are some gorgeous neighborhoods in the community of San Marino, but all that’s there are houses. You have to walk quite a distance south to get into Alhambra where you’ll find grocery stores and restaurants.

Further, even though walking down one of the tree-lined streets of San Marino is ideal for gazing upon absolutely gorgeous classic craftsman houses, that’s all you’re going to find yourself doing should you rent a VRBO in the community. The nearest places of interest would probably be the Rose Bowl, Old Town Pasadena, and Huntington Gardens, and none of those is really in a walkable distance.

Another area that you can walk around and reach a lot of entertainments is Santa Monica, home to the famous pier, the beach, and some seriously pricey real estate. The hotels in Santa Monica tend to be on the higher side for cost though, which is often the price you pay for splurging and staying in an area where you can walk around without having a car.

For brave souls who want to visit a side of Los Angeles rarely shown in the movies, Downtown is another option, but fair warning: there are quite a few homeless encampments around. The infamous Skid Row is in Downtown, and you can definitely take an accidental wrong turn and end up in no mans land if you’re not careful. Just be sure to be extra careful in Downtown LA when you choose to stay and play there on your vacation.

Los Angeles Travel Options for the Car Averse

So what’s the best way to see Los Angeles when you hate cars? How do you see all the cool stuff for which Los Angeles and Hollywood are famous without having to get behind the wheel of a car in crazy rush hour traffic? Well, one option is to come on an Instagram tour of Los Angeles with me to see many of the most famous vistas. You and up to two of your friends can ride along with me in my sweet gasless Chevy Bolt to take awesome pictures of Los Angeles.

Some of the places you’ll get to photograph include Chinatown, the Hollywood Sign, Griffith Observatory, Downtown Los Angeles, and LACMA. I’ll drive you to each of these spots, and you’ll have the opportunity to take your best Instagram shots. I’ll even show you the best vantage points for each of the locations we visit or take the photographs for you (I have a degree in visual media!).

Another way you can see Los Angeles without a car is to do some city hopping while you’re here. You can literally treat Los Angeles like it was an entire country, visiting different towns every few days, within the SoCal region. For example, you might start in Santa Monica and stay for a few days, visiting the beach and the pier.

The next few days, you might stay in Hollywood, where you’ll see all the famous landmarks like the Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Other options for visits within the overall metropolitan area include Anaheim for Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, Burbank for the Warner Bros. studio tours and Universal City, and Beverly Hills for some stratospherically expensive shopping opportunities.

And don’t forget that you don’t have to do absolutely everything in Los Angeles in a single visit. The City of Angels will always be here for you, whether you want to explore over a long weekend or you have your sights set on a monthlong journey throughout the Southland. Los Angeles is an amazing place to visit. It’s just not an amazing place to drive.

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