Fly to Los Angeles

Covering some 500 square miles of coastline, mountains, desert and packed city streets, Los Angeles feels less like a single city than a collection of a dozen separate ones tied together by sunshine and freeways. Pasadena, Malibu, East LA and Venice Beach each carry an identity all their own.

A first trip usually takes in Santa Monica Pier, the Getty Center, Griffith Observatory and Hollywood, but the LA that residents are fond of goes further. Downtown has remade itself around food and art, with Grand Central Market, The Broad and the Arts District. Echo Park and Silver Lake are the heart of the indie music and coffee crowd, and Koreatown serves some of the best food in the nation whatever your budget.

Along the coast, every beach town has a distinct feel. Santa Monica is tidy and polished, while Venice, with its Boardwalk and canals, is bohemian and a little unruly. Manhattan Beach has the air of a small seaside town, and Malibu, half an hour north, brings dramatic cliffs and the surf breaks that helped define American beach culture.

The main West Coast gateway for international travel, LAX is also the second-busiest airport in the country. Smaller options such as Long Beach (LGB), Burbank (BUR) and Hollywood Burbank frequently have lower fares and shorter security lines. Traffic is famously bad, so build in 30 to 90 minutes for any trip across town.