California · Guided Tours
Los Angeles Tours & Things to Do — 2026
Sun, stars, and world-class sightseeing
Photo: Jeffrey Clayton / Unsplash
Expert-Curated Selection · Only the Highest-Rated Experiences · By the Award-Winning USA Guided Tours Team
Hollywood Bus & Sightseeing Tours
The tours in this section are bus and van sightseeing runs that anchor on Hollywood and cover the wider city from there. The flagship is an open-air bus that pairs the Hollywood corridor with Beverly Hills and a celebrity-homes loop; the others work the same way — one guided ride linking sights that sit miles apart. LA is spread out and the traffic is real, so one narrated ride that strings the sights together handles the driving and parking for you and points out the photo stops worth a pause. We read the reviews and check each operator's booking page, and list only the runs that hold up. Not sure which to pick? Our guide to which Hollywood tour is worth it compares the open-air, VIP, night, and celebrity-homes options — what each costs, what you actually see, and who it fits. To walk the Boulevard itself — the Walk of Fame, the Chinese Theatre forecourt, the Dolby Theatre — see Things to Do below; it's free to explore at your own pace.
BestsellerHollywood, Beverly Hills & Celebrity Homes Open-Air Bus Tour
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From $33Book on GetYourGuide →
Curated July 2026
Photo: Sebastien LE DEROUT / Unsplash
Los Angeles City & Bus Sightseeing Tours
Los Angeles is famously spread out and car-dependent, which is exactly why a guided city bus tour makes sense — one ticket links neighborhoods that are miles apart. The full-day flagship strings together Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the beaches with live narration along the way, so a visitor without a rental car can cover a metro this size in a single day. For a run built around the Hollywood corridor specifically, see the Hollywood sightseeing tours.
Los Angeles Studio Tours
A working-studio tour goes behind the gates of a real production lot — soundstages, backlot streets, prop houses, and sets from shows currently in production. The Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood in Burbank is the working-lot tour you can book here, and with 8,000-plus reviews it's the most-visited of them all. Paramount (the last major studio still in Hollywood proper) and Sony (on the historic former MGM lot in Culver City) run their own lot tours too, booked directly with the studio. One clarification worth making: Universal Studios Hollywood is a theme park with a backlot tram ride, not a walking studio tour — and the real studio tours are small-group and sell out, so book ahead. To pair a lot tour with the wider city, the Hollywood sightseeing tours cover the Boulevard, Beverly Hills, and the celebrity-homes loop in one ride.
Los Angeles Architecture & Walking Tours
For all its car culture, LA has genuinely walkable, architecturally rich pockets that reward exploring on foot. Downtown walking tours cover the historic core — the Bradbury Building's wrought-iron atrium, the Broadway theater district, Grand Central Market, and Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall — while architecture-focused tours trace the city's Art Deco and mid-century modern legacy, from the Eastern Columbia Building to Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House. The nonprofit LA Conservancy runs acclaimed docent-led walks, and several tip-based free walking tours cover Downtown and Hollywood — both book direct with the organizers rather than through us. We're lining up vetted operators here; in the meantime, the LA city sightseeing and Hollywood tours are ready to book.
No tour here has met our standards yet.
Los Angeles Ghost, Haunted & True-Crime Tours
Behind the glamour, Hollywood has a famously dark history, and evening ghost and true-crime tours lean into it — the hauntings of the Hollywood Roosevelt and the notorious Cecil Hotel, celebrity death sites, and the unsolved cases that shaped the city's noir reputation. These small-group walking and bus tours run after dark for atmosphere.
Los Angeles Helicopter & Aerial Tours
From the air, LA finally reads at the scale it actually is. A helicopter tour banks past the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory, over the Downtown skyline, and out along the coastline from Santa Monica to the South Bay. Daytime flights are best for the sign and the mountains; night flights trade them for the sprawl of city lights from horizon to horizon. Flights are short and premium, so compare operators on air time and route before booking.
BestsellerHollywood & Beverly Hills Celebrity Helicopter Tour
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From $199Book on GetYourGuide →
Curated July 2026
Photo: Andrew Jooste / Unsplash
Celebrity Homes & Beverly Hills Tours
The celebrity-homes tour is an LA institution, and it helps to know what it actually is: an open-air minibus or van winds through Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Holmby Hills, and the Hollywood Hills while a guide points out the gates and exteriors of current and former stars' residences — you see the properties from the street, not the insides. Most routes also fold in Rodeo Drive, the Beverly Hills sign, and the mansions of Old Hollywood. Starline is the long-running operator most searches are looking for. Several of the open-air Hollywood bus tours fold the same celebrity-homes loop into a wider Hollywood sightseeing run, if you'd rather see the stars' streets and the Boulevard in one ride.
Things to Do in Los Angeles
Beyond the guided tours, Los Angeles spreads world-famous landmarks, beaches, and neighborhoods across a metro that's bigger than first-timers expect. Here is how to make the most of a trip to the entertainment capital — from the Walk of Fame to the coast.
Hollywood Boulevard & the Walk of Fame
Hollywood Boulevard is where most first visits to LA begin, and the marquee stretch is free to walk at your own pace. The Walk of Fame runs more than 2,700 terrazzo-and-brass stars along the Boulevard and down Vine Street; the forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre holds the handprints and footprints of film legends; and the Dolby Theatre a few doors down is the home of the Academy Awards. It's a busy, crowded corridor — go in the morning for the cleanest photos.
Griffith Observatory
Griffith Observatory sits on the south slope of Mount Hollywood, and it's one of the best free things to do in the city — no admission to enter, a working planetarium, and a terrace that gives you the definitive Hollywood Sign view along with a sweep of the Downtown skyline and the coast. It earns its place after dark, when the city lights come up — which is exactly what the guided Hollywood Night Tour we list (Hollywood Night Tour with Griffith Observatory) is built around.
Seeing the Hollywood Sign
The Hollywood Sign is closer than it looks but harder to reach than you'd expect — there's no public road to the letters. The clearest free views are from the Griffith Observatory terrace and Lake Hollywood Park, and several trails in Griffith Park climb toward the ridge behind the Sign for the up-close version. Wear real shoes and bring water — the popular routes are exposed and longer than they look. Guided hikes to the ridge behind the Sign also run.
The Sunset Strip & West Hollywood
Just west of Hollywood proper, the Sunset Strip is the mile-and-a-half of Sunset Boulevard that made LA's music history — the Whisky a Go Go, the Roxy, and the Rainbow are still here, under the oversized billboards the Strip is known for. By day it's a walkable stretch of design shops and cafés; by night it's the city's rock-and-roll spine. Our LA VIP tour runs the Strip as part of its loop, and West Hollywood around it is the nightlife heart of the city.
Landmarks & Iconic Views
Beyond the Hollywood corridor, LA's essentials include the Getty Center's art and architecture, the Santa Monica Pier, and the boardwalk carnival of Venice Beach. Downtown's Broad museum and Walt Disney Concert Hall anchor a walkable arts district that surprises first-timers expecting only freeways.
Neighborhoods Worth Your Time
LA is a city of distinct districts: Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive for luxury window-shopping, West Hollywood for nightlife and the Sunset Strip, Santa Monica and Venice for the beach scene, and Downtown's revived core for food and culture. Plan by neighborhood rather than crisscrossing the basin — the distances are deceptive and traffic is real.
Getting Around Without a Car
LA rewards a car, but you don't strictly need one. The Metro rail network keeps expanding and connects Hollywood, Downtown, Santa Monica, and (as of the 2020s build-out) more of the Westside, while a guided city bus tour is the simplest way to link the marquee sights in a day. For the studio tours and celebrity-homes tours, hotel pickup or a rideshare to the departure point is the norm.
Best Time to Visit
Southern California is mild almost year-round, but spring (March–May) and fall (September–November) bring the clearest skies and the smallest crowds. Watch for 'June Gloom' — a low coastal overcast that can grey out beach days in late spring and early summer, usually burning off by afternoon. Summer is warm and busy; winter is quiet, cooler, and often the clearest of all after a rain.
Los Angeles Travel Guides
- Prefer to explore on foot? How to Walk Hollywood Boulevard: A Self-Guided Walking Route
- Weighing your options in Los Angeles? The Best Hollywood Tours: Which One Is Actually Worth It
Frequently Asked Questions
Which studio tour in Los Angeles is the real behind-the-scenes one?
The genuine working-studio tours are the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood in Burbank, the Paramount Pictures Studio Tour in Hollywood, and the Sony Pictures Studio Tour in Culver City — all take you onto real production lots. Of the three, Warner Bros. is the one bookable here; Paramount and Sony are booked directly with the studio. Universal Studios Hollywood is a theme park with a backlot tram ride, which is fun but different. The working-studio tours are small-group and sell out, so book ahead.
Do celebrity homes tours actually go inside the houses?
No — celebrity-homes tours are open-air van or minibus rides through Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and the Hollywood Hills where a guide points out the gates and exteriors of stars' current and former homes from the street. You won't go inside, but the tours also cover Rodeo Drive, the Beverly Hills sign, and Old Hollywood mansions along the way.
What's the best way to see Los Angeles without a car?
A guided city bus tour is the most practical option — LA is spread out, and one ticket links Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the beaches with a guide narrating along the way. The expanding Metro rail network covers many of the same corridors, and guided tours handle pickup for the studio and celebrity-homes experiences.
How do I see the Hollywood Sign?
The classic free viewpoint is Griffith Observatory, which also offers city and coastline panoramas at no charge. Many city bus tours and most helicopter tours include a Hollywood Sign photo stop or fly-by, and several hiking trails in Griffith Park lead to closer views if you'd rather see it on foot.
Curated by Darko Marsalek · Updated
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