Los Angeles in a day: what to see

Los Angeles doesn't exhaust itself in a day: it sprawls over more than twelve hundred square kilometers and has no real single center in which to concentrate the visit.

By focusing on the coastal strip and Hollywood, though, it's possible to put together the city's two most recognizable images in a single day, moving almost always by car given the extent of the spaces.

The Hollywood Hills above Hollywood house the Hollywood Sign, fifteen-meter-high white letters visible from much of the city: the most convenient observation point, without facing the hiking trails leading to its foot, is the Griffith Observatory plaza, which also offers a view over entire Los Angeles.

Descending to the city, the TCL Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood Walk of Fame along Hollywood Boulevard remain the most touristy core of the quarter, with handprints and footprints of stars inscribed in cement in front of the theater and over twenty-six hundred pink stars set into the sidewalk.

A drive of about twenty minutes leads to Beverly Hills, where Rodeo Drive concentrates the city's most photographed luxury boutiques along three tree-lined blocks.

For lunch, the nearby Farmers Market, active since 1934, brings together dozens of gastronomic stalls under one roof, a more informal alternative to Beverly Hills restaurants.

The Getty Center is the museum perched on a Brentwood hill, reachable only by an automatic funicular: beyond European art collections, gardens and terraces offer a view spanning from the ocean to the mountains, with free admission.

Toward the sea, Santa Monica has a historic pier with its observation wheel facing directly onto the Pacific, a few minutes' walk from the Venice Beach promenade, known for Muscle Beach and murals along the shore.

With sunset approaching, Santa Monica's pier becomes the most natural spot to stop for dinner, with an ocean view fading in color as the sun descends over the water.

Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the coast between Santa Monica and Venice are enough to bring together, in just a few hours, Los Angeles' two most famous faces: cinema and ocean, with the afternoon choice between Getty Center and beach rounding out the picture.

Downtown, with its skyscrapers and museums, and Malibu, further north along the coast, remain chapters for a second trip. Watching the sun set from Santa Monica Pier, with the Ferris wheel lighting up against a changing sky, is perhaps the most direct way to remember California.