Marina del Rey or Manhattan Beach?

Hi,

Me and my boyfriend will be in LA for two weeks from July 30th. The first part will be holiday and we want to be not too far from beach and then the second part will be some business (requires visiting art galleries). Which area will be best to base ourselves? We will have a car.

We want to have a choice of good restaurants around and be able to drive into the main bit of the city etc.

For Marina del Rey we were looking at Marine Del Rey Hotel or (for extra cash) Best Western Jamaica Bay Inn. They seem to be near Venice Beach etc - can we walk to restaurants and bars? Don%26#39;t know too much about Manhattan Beach though - is it really far from Hollywood etc - does it have many restaurants?

Thanks so much - really need to book something soon as everything is going!

Marina del Rey or Manhattan Beach?

Yeah, Manhattan Beach is farther from Hollywood than Marina del Rey (it is south of LAX, and LAX is in Westchester, a neighborhood south of Marina del Rey). Anyway, I find Manhattan Beach a lot nicer and more interesting than Marina del Rey.

Having a car will give you easy access to Hollywood from both locations. The only problem will be heavy traffic during rush hours.

For the other part of your trip I will recommend Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills or Century City, although if you%26#39;re on business (and as you will drive), you may want to stay Downtown, I don%26#39;t know...

Hope this helps!

Kindest regards...

Marina del Rey or Manhattan Beach?

While Manhattan is a lovely beach town, it will be about an hour to get anywhere you want to go (think Brighton to London). Marina del Rey isn%26#39;t a great location, either, except for the lounging and eating part - but you have to walk into Venice, a fairly good walk. Venice has great restaurants and bars to walk to, but then, why not stay in Venice? Cadillac Inn is the same price range, look into it.

Which art galleries? There are art galleries all over the place, many in Venice, some in Santa Monica (Bergamot Station), most in Beverly Hills, some in West Hollywood. If you are looking to move the 2nd half, look into West Hollywood, but the art galleries won%26#39;t be any closer to you than they would be in Venice or Santa Monica. Museums are also all over the place, from Pasadena to Malibu.

If you can stay in Santa Monica the whole trip, that would probably be ideal.

If you looking just for a vacation at the beginning of your time out here, i would opt for Manhatten Beach. It is a great california beachtown with plenty of fun bars and restaurants.

For the second part, the more business oriented time i would move to a hotel that is more centrally located. West Hollywood come to mind, maybe the BEst Western Sunset Plaza. You can still walk to plenty of nice bars and restaurants, plus are close to Hollywood/Beverly Hills and Santa Monica

I completely agree with both posters: If you want to split your vacation time in two areas, I would go with Manhattan Beach and West Hollywood or Hollywood. If you opt for sataying in just one area, I would go with Santa Monica.

Manhattan Beach is full of restaurants and shops to walk to, and young people around, for your first part of the trip. It%26#39;s a great place to be in the summer. We%26#39;ve been having very hot weather here, and I can%26#39;t imagine staying far from the ocean.

Another good thing is we are close to two freeways, the 105 and 405.

www.downtownmanhattanbeach.com/dining.cfm

If you want to really be able to walk to nightlife (and opposed to short cab rides), none of those locations would walk. The walk would be too far.

I agree with Yogachik on the Cadillac Hotel recommendation in Venice. That%26#39;s best for being within walking distance to restaurants and nightlife and the beach. And it%26#39;s convenient enough to get into central LA (about 35-40 mins).

Manhattan Beach is nice, but mostly quiet and residential. Hermosa Beach nearby has nightlife - mostly young 20s college crowd. However, both are too far away from anything else in LA to be convenient to sightseeing, especially in central LA/Hollywood.

';Manhattan Beach is nice, but mostly quiet and residential.';

Guess you haven%26#39;t been here lately...tons of young people out every day/night of the week, enjoying the beach, walking, shopping, riding bikes, sitting in outdoor cafes having drinks, and dining at all the restaurants in several blocks around the pier.

I go there pretty often actually. And I repeat that it%26#39;s quiet and residential, in tourists%26#39; eyes (compared to places like Santa Monica where tons of people come to visit from all parts of LA every day). I didn%26#39;t say there weren%26#39;t any people ever around. It%26#39;s residential, so there are people - they live there. But it%26#39;s not a business or nightlife mecca which makes a neighborhood loud instead of mostly relaxing.

As much as i like the Cadillac Hotel, i would not say that there are a lot of people walking around at night in the area going from one spot to another. There are some great restaurants that mostly will be closed by 11pm/\\

You could walk to mainstreet or Abbot Kinney, which might be not to comfortable for some.

Never heard that Manhatten Beach is sleepy at night, quite the opposite actually

Cadillac is literally 2 blocks from where the lively part of Main St starts at Rose. It%26#39;s very convenient. There are tons of restaurants, cafes, boutiques, and bars along Main Street for at least 8 blocks.