Disclaimer: This post has taken me way too long to write but I wanted to get it out there so if you are planning to travel to LA you have an idea of how it is right now during a pandemic. I know the situation with this virus is always changing so I will make my research first.
Before sharing with you my itinerary I think I need to give you a little background about this trip. I started planning this trip with two college friends back in February, then COVID19 happened. A month before our flight we decided to do the trip and take all the precautions possible! Fast forward to the week before our departure and a heatwave hit California and the wildfires went crazy. To be honest, I thought that the smoke was not going to be that bad since even the day before boarding our flight, LA was looking ok. The first morning in LA we realized how bad it was and if LA looked the way it did, I could not imagine San Francisco which was basically next to the fires. So after many talks and stalking social media to see how Northern California looked we had to improvise and cancel our Pacific Highway road trip to San Francisco and all our plans for Napa. We stayed in Southern California and explore all of LA’s surroundings.
With this being said, here is my ultimate Two-Day Itinerary to do LA during the Pandemic.
Day One
When mapping our first day in LA we decided to make a list of things we wanted to see and visit and then map it out and start from east of the city and end at the beach.
9:00 am: First we started with the Hollywood sign. I mean if you did not see the Hollywood sign did you even visit LA? Our original plan was to be in LA for 24 hours so we knew that we were not going to hike to the sign but we still wanted to make it up there so we looked for a spot to take pictures and appreciate it. Since we were there on a weekday there was literally no one there, only us and at one point a couple came to also take pictures. But we basically had the sign all for ourselves so make sure to make it up there bright and early to avoid crowds!
The exact address of the spot is: Canyon Lake Dr & Mullholand Hwy, Los Angeles, CA 90068
10:30 am: After taking pictures and only being fueled by coffee we went to look for breakfast. We wanted to go to Beverly Hills and stroll around Rodeo Drive. We had breakfast at The Farm of Beverly Hills, to be honest, it was not THAT good and you are paying more for location than quality but we were starving (hangry).
After eating we went to window shop and stroll around. It was pretty empty and there was not that much traffic or tourists.
Fun fact: We went to fashion school so whenever we are together we always look for the fashion district and go see all the designer windows and comment on their merchandising!
#LaMariaTravelsTip: when looking for parking in LA, search in google free parking around your area and you will most likely find one. We parked in Beverly Hills for free for 2 hours!
Before heading west, we went in search of the iconic palm trees of LA to shoot a few pictures. You can find all around the streets of Beverly Hills, you won’t miss them.
12:00 pm: Then we headed west to the beach. First, we went to Venice Beach and walked around the boardwalk. To be honest, my expectations for the boardwalk was completely different, it was pretty dirty and has a big issue with homeless people camping out in the middle of the boardwalk. There are plenty of bicycles that you can rent to cruise the boardwalk but due to the pandemic, I did not felt comfortable riding them. Instead, we decided we were going to walk all the way from Venice to the Santa Monica Pier, I know crazy.
Once at the pier, we walked around and took some pictures, even with the smoke the beach was pretty packed. Currently, the arcade at the pier is closed due to the pandemic but the restaurants around it are open.
3:00 pm: For lunch we decided to go to Tocaya Organica which is a modern and healthy Mexican restaurant. The food was AMAZING, I could not recommend it enough! I recommend you order the Barrio tacos and make it a combo which includes a side and a beer. For the side, I recommend ordering the guac and chips, the chips are made of sweet plantain.
After lunch, we went on a hunt for dessert. My friend had recommended Jeni’s Ice Creams and we found a spot in Venice. One of the best ice creams I have tried!! I recommend ordering the salted peanut butter with chocolate flecks flavor.
Fun fact: I am a dessert first kind of girl. After every single meal, I always need to have something sweet!
5:00 pm: For our final stop of the day we went to Malibu. It was around an hour’s drive to Malibu from Venice. We went to the famous El Matador Beach, but due to the smoke, we were not able to see the sunset. I was so sad that the smoke ruined a few plans we had, I mean just google sunsets at El Matador Beach and you will see what we missed out. Still, we made the most of it and went to the beach walked around, and took some pictures.
8:00 pm: For dinner, we were exhausted so I ended up ordering Chick-Fila to the hotel, I mean you can never go wrong with their chicken nuggets and fries.
Day Two
12:00 pm: For our second day we had a later start since we had to change our plans and stay in LA for the remaining of our trip. Thankfully I had an aunt in LA and we were able to stay at her house so every morning we had Ecuadorian breakfast ready. The best kind of breakfast, I mean I might be a little biased since I am actually Ecuadorian.
For our first stop of the day, we went to Chinatown. One of my friends, she loves the Asian culture so she always likes to visit the Chinatown of big cities. I think due to the pandemic it was pretty empty, most of the shops closed which was very sad to see. After walking around we found this fun wall where we took some pictures.
#LaMariaTravelsTip: when traveling to a new place and looking for places to shoot going to Instagram to the hashtags of that location or the geotag, it’s a great resource to find cool spots to shoot. Actually, that was how we found the fun wall in Chinatown, through influencers who tagged the location.
1:30 pm: For lunch, we decided to stay around the area and eat Chinese food, I mean you can never go wrong with Chinese food! We ate at a restaurant called Hop Woo, definitely recommend it and they had outdoor seating.
The remaining of the afternoon: After lunch, we went on a hunt to the California dreaming wall. I mean if you are creating content you have to at least go to one iconic wall. This wall is right next to the Chinese Laundry offices and there are plenty of cars but I could tell they are used to content creators since I was not the only one there.
The exact address of the wall is: 3485 La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016
To end our day we headed to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Unfortunately due to the pandemic the museum is closed but their outside exhibitions and park were open. To be honest, what I wanted to see was the urban lights. I mean haven’t you seen it in more than one movie? Thankfully since the urban lights were outside you can take pictures and there was no one around. I would have loved seeing them at night and turned, I will for sure go back and see them at night.
