Planning
Hollywood studio tours compared: which lot to pick
Four public studio tours in Los Angeles, four very different mornings. What each one is like, how long it takes and how to choose, from a tour leader who has done them all many times.
Photo: Scenes Found
I have lived in Los Angeles for twenty years and lead our Hollywood tours, so I have been through the studio gates more times than I can count. Guests always ask me which studio tour is "the best". The honest answer is that they are four different experiences, and the right one depends on what you watch. Here is how I explain them.
A word first on how this works. Each of these is the studio's own public tour. Anyone can book a ticket, and that is exactly what we do for our guests: we buy the tickets and take you to the gate. We have no special access and no arrangement with any studio. Prices and hours change, so check the studios' own sites when you plan.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
The Warner Bros. lot is in Burbank, about 20 minutes over the hill from Hollywood without traffic. It is a working lot, and the tour shows you that. A guide drives a small group around the backlot in an open cart, past the streets and facades used in dozens of shows, and usually into at least one soundstage. What you see on the day depends on what is shooting.
After the guided part you are free to wander a large exhibit building at your own pace. The big draw for many people is the Central Perk set from Friends, where you can sit on the orange couch. There are also costumes, props and Batmobiles from the Batman films.
- Length: about three hours in total, roughly one guided and the rest at your own pace.
- Feels like: a real working studio, with the most television history of the four.
- Best for: fans of Friends, sitcoms and the DC films, and anyone who wants to see a backlot in daily use.
Universal Studios Hollywood: the Studio Tour tram
Universal is different, because its Studio Tour is a ride inside a theme park. You board a long open-sided tram with a guide and drive down into the backlot. Along the way you pass the Bates Motel and the house from Psycho, Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives, the town square from Back to the Future and the wrecked airliner set from War of the Worlds. Then come the special effects: a flash flood, the shark from Jaws, an earthquake in a subway station and a 3-D King Kong.
- Length: about an hour on the tram, but it comes with park admission, so most people make a full day of it.
- Feels like: part show, part studio. The real backlot is there, but the effects are the main event.
- Best for: first-timers, people who like rides and anyone who wants a full day out.
Paramount Pictures Studio Tour
Paramount is the only one of the big studios still on its original site in Hollywood itself, on Melrose Avenue. Coming through the Bronson Gate, the arched gateway seen in Sunset Boulevard (1950), feels like stepping into film history. The tour is guided, on carts and partly on foot, and covers the New York street on the backlot, the stages and the stories of the people who worked here.
- Length: about two hours.
- Feels like: the most old-Hollywood of the four, with a lot of history and a guide who knows it.
- Best for: classic film lovers and people who want to understand how the studio system worked.
Sony Pictures Studio Tour
The Sony lot in Culver City, about 30 to 45 minutes from Hollywood depending on traffic, was MGM for most of the twentieth century. The Wizard of Oz (1939) was shot on its stages, and the tour leans on that history. It is a walking tour with a guide, through the lot and, when they are not taping, past the stages used for long-running game shows such as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
- Length: about two hours, all on foot.
- Feels like: a quiet, well-told history tour, with fewer crowds than the others.
- Best for: MGM musicals, The Wizard of Oz and game show fans.
So which Hollywood studio tour?
- If you only do one and you watch a lot of television, choose Warner Bros.
- If you love old Hollywood, choose Paramount or Sony.
- If you want a fun day with thrills and you are less interested in the working side, choose Universal.
Our Hollywood tours build one public studio tour into the program and fill the rest of the time with real locations: Griffith Observatory, the Bradbury Building, Union Station and Hollywood Boulevard. Seeing a fake New York street in the morning and a real downtown building in the afternoon is the best way I know to understand how films are put together.
Tips for any studio tour
- Bring photo ID for every adult. Security checks it at the gate.
- Travel light. Large bags go through screening, and some lots limit what you can bring.
- Photos are allowed in most areas but not on some stages. Your studio guide will tell you where.
- Sets change all the time. Nobody can promise which stages or sets will be open on your day, because the studio is making shows.
- Book early for weekends and holidays, when tours sell out.
