When visiting LA, you can always get a guided tour around the most famous sights, or if you prefer adventure, you could drive yourself around. When you drive yourself, we've come up with two possibilities. They both will take about a day and they both will give you a somewhat different impression of what life in Los Angeles has to offer. The first tour will guide you through what everybody knows as Los Angeles, or at least the best part of the city. The second tour, trying to go around the tourists (not guaranteed you won't see them), is a bit more off the beaten path. It will guide you through more remote parts of town and will give you an insight into what other great inspiration LA has to offer, such as the tranquility and closeness of the wilderness and the best of Californian beach life. Enjoy both rides, take your time, and see all that LA has to offer.

Before you start touring get a good map of Los Angeles. We think some of the best are the hard copy maps supplied by Rand McNally, available in the better book stores. You could always just print maps from Map Quest.

LA2DAY'S Tour Option One: The Famous Sites

Santa Monica: Start early, well, we mean at least before 10 AM. Santa Monica is famous for its Pier, Third Street Shopping Promenade (between Broadway and Santa Monica Avenue), its' beautiful beaches, and Main Street. It's all within walking distance and the bright lights of the California sun and the cool ocean breeze will help you to enjoy the sights and sounds. Although Main Street is just a few (hundred) steps away from the Third Street Promenade it's definitely less crowded and worth a visit to get a local vibe. With some little shops, coffeehouses, and fine dining, Main Street is just a relaxing place to escape the crowds. You'll also find Urth Cafe's Santa Monica location here, a good place to eat some organic and very affordable food. Find more about Urth Cafe at our Where to Eat section. When you've taken about an hour to visit Main Street and had your coffee from Starbucks or the Coffee Bean, start driving towards Ocean Avenue. Continue North until you've hit Wilshire Boulevard, go all the way up and enjoy a typical broad LA street. Wilshire can take you all the way to Downtown, but don't forget to take a detour in Westwood.

Westwood: Take Wilshire Boulevard up to Westwood Avenue and take a left. Best is to park your car and walk around, but you could also drive a bit and find your way through LA's student residential village of Westwood. Students living here attend UCLA, The University of California at Los Angeles, just behind the hordes of apartment buildings. In total 22,000 students attend. You could even walk up to the UCLA campus and find out why this University is such an amazing place to get inspired and learn.

Beverly Hills: From Westwood Avenue or any of its parallel streets, drive back onto Wilshire Boulevard and continue East again towards Beverly Hills. Continue driving on Wilshire until you've hit Rodeo Drive. Park your car or drive through what is known as one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world. You'll find all the exclusive designer labels on and around Rodeo Drive. You can also cross Santa Monica Boulevard into the residential area of Beverly Hills and see some of the upper-class houses and Palm- tree studded avenues. Done shopping? Drive back onto Wilshire Boulevard and continue East again.

West Hollywood: Still driving on Wilshire Boulevard, passing Doheny Drive, you'll enter the City of West Hollywood, known for its nightlife and gay scene. You will see more of this when driving back later on Sunset Boulevard. Continue driving until your hit Fairfax Avenue and then take a left onto Fairfax driving North.

Hollywood: You are now driving in an area most often referred to as Hollywood, not a separate city with its own counsel like West Hollywood, but one of many parts of the City of Los Angeles famous for its movie history. When you are driving on Fairfax you'll come across 3rd Street. Here you will find an interesting Farmers Market to your right and one of the newest Shopping Malls in LA, The Grove, right behind the Farmers Market.

When done strolling along the many shops, boutiques, department stores and little diners that the Farmers Market and Grove offer, continue driving North on Fairfax until you've reached Sunset Boulevard. Take a right on Sunset and continue East. Then take a Left on Highland and pass Hollywood Boulevard. Take an immediate left and drive into the parking structure underneath the Hollywood and Highland Mall, a perfect place to enjoy Hollywood's biggest attractions, the section of Hollywood Boulevard between Highland and La Brea Avenue. Here you will find the "stars" on the pavement, the famous Mann's Chinese Theatre opposite Disney's generously restored El Capitan Theatre, and a fairly new shopping mall. Of course this section also houses the Kodak Theatre, annually in the spotlight during Oscar night. Checkout our Shopping Section for more details about Hollywood and Highland and the Grove.

Downtown: If you have time left in your busy driving day, continue on Highland Avenue (also when exiting the Parking structure) and go North towards the 101 Freeway. Take the 101 Freeway South towards Downtown. Exit the 101 Freeway on Grand avenue and find yourself in a completely different world. Tall buildings and skyscrapers all around remind people of New York City or San Francisco. It's easy to drive around a bit and find your way. Most streets are one-way so pay attention here and try not to stay around here after 7 PM because when the working people leave, it gets rather quiet pretty fast. Don't get frightened or anything, just use some common sense and it's worth a trip to see the difference between Downtown LA and the rest of Los Angeles.

Sunset Boulevard: Drive back from Downtown LA taking the 101 Freeway North and then exit on Highland Avenue. Drive South on Highland until you get to Sunset Boulevard. Turn right (West) onto Sunset and take it all the way down to the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). Then take a left on PCH and head back towards Santa Monica. An amazing drive all the way down! This drive will take you past the Sunset Strip, between Fairfax and Doheny, where a major part of nightlife in LA takes place. Take a look at our Nightlife Section for ideas. During the day it's also fun to check out the competitive billboards around town, but make sure you pay attention to the road.

Sunset Boulevard will take you further West through the Beverly Hills residential area, passed the Gates to Bel Air, along UCLA's Northern entrance, and into the secluded village of Pacific Palisades until you hit the ocean. Need we say more? At the end of Sunset, go left onto the Pacific Coast Highway towards Santa Monica (and get off again before it turns into the 10 Freeway).

Take a look at LA2DAY'S option two in the next article!