Going to Los Angeles California for a summer trip?

There are literally hundreds of things to do here in LA. Here is my list of “must sees”. Visit as many as you have time for:

Disneyland: The Happiest Place on Earth. Half a billion visitors can’t be wrong. #1 Destination.

Universal Studios: A theme park that grew out of a studio tour. #2 Destination.

Even if you don’t visit Disneyland or Universal Studios Tour, Downtown Disney District and Universal City Walk are very fun places to visit for shopping and eating. And they’re free to visit. If you’re adventurous, try the indoor skydiving (www.iflyhollywood.com). They also shoot “Extra” here 9AM-2PM. You could see a star.

Hollywood: Enjoy the Walk of Fame, Entertainment Museum, Chinese Theatre and more. The Hollywood & Highland complex has lots of shops and restaurants, and the Kodak Theater. The El Capitan theater, right across the street, is where Disney shows their movies. And the Hollywood Bowl is a GREAT place to listen to concerts outdoors.

Other theme parks include Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain, which are both more geared towards the fast-ride teen crowd.

Olvera Street/Union Station: Olvera Street is the birthplace of LA, and it emphasizes our Mexican heritage. In addition to the Avila Adobe (oldest building in LA), you can eat at some pretty good Mexican Restaurants, do a little shopping, and taste a churro. If you don’t want to go to Tijuana, this is as close as it gets without going there

Rodeo Drive, 90210: Packed with exclusive shops, full of gawkers. They all came to enjoy the excess. Free, unless you intend to buy something.

Venice Beach: Here you'll find Muscle Beach, street performers and tacky shops galore. Fun, VERY interesting, but I avoid it after dark, when it gets a little TOO interesting for my taste.

Santa Monica: Beach and Pier: Great beach scene and a classic seaside amusement park, complete with antique carousel that has been in a lot of TV and movies. After visiting the pier, you can ride a bike south a couple miles to Venice Beach.

Farmers Market and The Grove - A new shopping complex right next to a Los Angeles landmark, It is right next to CBS.

Griffith Park - Home of the Los Angeles Zoo, Griffith Park Observatory, Travel Town, the Greek Theatre, and Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage.

Hike to the Hollywood sign: http://www.hollywoodsigntrip.com/

Getty Museum - The Getty's architecture is so beautiful that it keeps me fascinated. No matter whether you like their art, architecture, or view better, the Getty is sure to please. Free.

Attend a TV taping - You can get free tickets at audiencesunlimited.com, tvtix.com, or ocaudiences.com. It’s a very fun and interesting time.

Places to eat:

In-N-Out Burger: Multiple locations, best burger in LA.

Pink’s Hot Dogs: Locations in Hollywood and Universal Studios.

Tommy’s Chili Burgers: Look for the shack, an LA tradition. The original location is at Beverly & Rampart, a couple miles west of downtown.

Canter’s Deli: 419 N. Fairfax, between Beverly & Melrose. Near CBS, you might spot a celebrity.

Phillippe’s: 1001 N. Alameda. Great roast beef sandwiches. Near Union Station and Olvera Street.

Tito’s Taco’s: Voted best tacos in LA. King Taco is a good alternate if you can deal with East LA.

The Pantry: Corner of Figueroa and 9th, downtown. Huge portions, they never close, GREAT steak and eggs.

Medieval Times and/or Pirate’s Dinner Adventure: Dinner and an adventure show, both are on Beach Blvd in Buena Park, you get to eat with your hands.

Places to Stay:

Since LA is so spread out, there is no single place that is close to EVERYTHING. Most people who come here tend to stay in Hollywood, Santa Monica, or Anaheim. In Hollywood, I recommend the Hollywood Roosevelt, Orchid Suites, Hollywood Celebrity Hotel, or Hollywood Heights (formerly Holiday Inn Walk of Fame), all near Hollywood and Highland. In Santa Monica, the Holiday Inn Santa Monica is close to the pier and reasonably priced. In Anaheim, I recommend the Howard Johnson (HoJo) Anaheim, and the Candy Cane Inn. There is also a nice place in Burbank called the Best Western Media Center, very close to Warner, NBC, and Universal Studios.

Places to Shop:

Citadel Outlets, Commerce

Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica

The Grove, Los Angeles

Americana @ Brand, Glendale

Beverly Center, Los Angeles

Brea Mall, Brea

The Block at Orange, Orange

South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa

Fashion Island, Newport Beach

Santee Alley, Los Angeles

If you have money:

Disneyland, CA Adventure, and Universal.

If you don't have money, I would suggest that you explore the small towns along the coast.

You'll find a few lighthouses.

I'm not big on Hollywood.

I would rather go to the Griffith Park Observatory where you can see the Hollywood sign.

There are museums, missions, sub-missions, Japanese Gardens, and two Presidential libraries.

Manhattan beach and Newport Beach are nice upscale beach towns to visit with shops and cafes. Griffith park where you can check out the L.A zoo, numerous hiking paths etc.. the grove mall, Anaheim packing district, south coast plaza, and del amo are nice malls to go to. Irvine spectrum is a huge outdoor mall with a Ferris wheel. Downtown L.A is nice to visit going down the L.A slide is fun and it has an amazing view up there.

Disney alone could take up 3 days. At a minimum during the summer I would suggest two days, you can do one but you will end up spending a lot more time rushing around and still missing several things.

Six Flags is a day in itself, but it is also 60 miles north of Disneyland and a good 1 1/2 - 2 hours away. So if you go there you should also look at getting a hotel closer to there and don't try to do everything while staying in a single place.

You have miles and miles of beaches. In LA you have Santa Monica which along with a beach as a pier with an amusement park on it, and a huge shopping area(3rd street promenade) a couple of blocks off the beach. A few miles down the road you have Venice Beach which is probably one of the most unique beaches for people watching, just don't hang around there after dark as it gets a bit too "interesting" for most people's taste.

In Orange County if you like art, Laguna Beach has a huge Art's Festival and the Pageant of the Masters where they have people recreate famous works of art. It runs daily basically most of July and August.

If you only have 3-4 days and a majority of your time you will be at Theme Parks not sure how much of a foodie you are going to be able to be. But you have simple staples such as In N' Out that is a So Cal tradition and has several locations. To places such as Pink's Hot dogs or Tito's tacos are a couple of the hundreds of places you could go.

I do just also have to comment on you wanting shoes. Not sure exactly what you heard about LA but being a Shoe Capital isn't really something we are really known for. There is the Fashion District near Downtown LA, where you may find some bargains or unique items. But it is unlikely that unless you are going to the extreme high boutiques that you are going to find anything significantly different than you can find in Texas.

Keep an Eye out for Captain O, he will also give you a quite extensive list of other things to do as well.

I would try to go to the Santa Monica Pier. It has a bunch of fun carnival themed rides & games too! Plus it's on the beach so you could make it a beach day out of it :) Hope this helps :) Also I would spend more than 1 day at Disneyland. Because their is just too much to do in one day, trust me you'll have a much more fun time that way too. Have fun!

{You could easily spend 3 days at Disneyland if you wanted to.} Knotts Berry Farm is also a good, fun theme park; and their home style chicken dinner is excellent.