Hollywood on Location: Five Days in Los Angeles

Overview

Two studio lots and the streets in between

The studios are where films are made, but much of what we remember was shot on the city's streets. This tour does both. You get two full studio tours, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood in Burbank and the Paramount Pictures Studio Tour on Melrose Avenue, with tickets booked for you. Between them you see the public places that keep appearing on screen, from the Chinese Theatre to the waiting room of Union Station.

Lena Kowalski, our Los Angeles tour leader, plans every day around the traffic and the light. Hollywood Boulevard is best before 9 in the morning, Downtown on a weekday morning, Griffith Observatory at sunset. We stay four nights in one central Hollywood hotel, so you unpack once, and there is a free afternoon for a museum or the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Itinerary

Five-day Hollywood tour: day by day

A 14-seat Mercedes Sprinter van with a professional driver, plus one ride on the Metro B Line to Downtown with your tour leader. Ticketed times shift with the season; your final timetable comes two weeks before departure.

Day 1HollywoodArrive in Los Angeles

• Our driver meets you at LAX and brings you to the hotel in Hollywood, 45 minutes to 1 hour 30 depending on traffic.
• Check in from 3 p.m.; bags can be left earlier.
• At 6 p.m. Lena meets the group in the lobby for a short walk to the Chinese Theatre and a welcome dinner nearby.

Meals: dinner

Day 2Burbank and Griffith ParkWarner Bros. and Griffith Observatory

• 8 a.m. walk along Hollywood Boulevard before the crowds: the Walk of Fame, the Egyptian Theatre and the Chinese Theatre forecourt.
• Drive to Burbank, 25 minutes, for the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, about 3 hours, ending at Stage 48.
• Late lunch in Burbank, then a rest at the hotel.
• Drive up to Griffith Observatory for sunset and the James Dean bust, back by 8:30 p.m.

Meals: breakfast, lunch

Day 3Downtown Los AngelesBlade Runner Downtown

• Metro B Line from Hollywood to Downtown, 20 minutes, with Lena.
• The Bradbury Building lobby, then Angels Flight and lunch at Grand Central Market.
• The movie palaces of Broadway from the street, among them the Los Angeles Theatre and the Million Dollar Theatre.
• Union Station and its 1939 waiting room, then Olvera Street; the van brings you back to Hollywood.

Meals: breakfast, lunch

Day 4HollywoodParamount and a farewell dinner

• Morning Paramount Pictures Studio Tour on Melrose Avenue, about 2 hours by cart, on the one major lot still inside Hollywood.
• Free afternoon: the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, a rest at the pool or shopping on Melrose.
• Early evening Lena takes anyone who missed something back to a favorite stop, such as a second ride on Angels Flight or the Chinese Theatre forecourt after dark.
• Farewell dinner together in Hollywood.

Meals: breakfast, dinner

Day 5HollywoodDeparture

• Breakfast and checkout by 11 a.m.
• Transfer to LAX, timed to your flight; allow 1 hour 30 for the drive at busy times.
• Staying longer? We can book extra nights at the same hotel.

Meals: breakfast

On screen

Films and series on the five-day Hollywood tour

The productions behind the stops on this tour, where they filmed and what you see there today.

Filming spots change over time: storefronts get new owners, sets are rebuilt and some interiors were shot on stages elsewhere, so your tour leader tells you on the day what is still there.

Hotels

Hotels on the five-day Hollywood tour

4 nights, rooms with private bathroom, breakfast every morning. We name the class and the area; the exact hotel, or a similar one, is confirmed with your booking.

What is included

What the five-day Hollywood tour price includes

Meals: daily breakfast, 2 lunches, 2 dinners. The price is per person sharing a double or twin room. Flights to the start of the tour and home are not included.

• 11 things in the price
• 4 hotel nights
• Daily breakfast, 2 lunches, 2 dinners
• 7 productions on the film list

Dates and prices

Five-day Hollywood tour departures and prices

Price per person sharing a double room. Single room: +$480.

• $250 deposit

  Confirms your booking after the free 72-hour hold. The balance is due 60 days before departure. See the booking terms.

• Guaranteed means it runs

  A guaranteed departure goes ahead whatever the final numbers.

• No surcharges

  The price you book is the price you pay. No fuel surcharges after booking.

• Free date change

  Move to another date of this tour up to 30 days before departure, once, at no fee.

Before you book

Straight talk about the five-day Hollywood tour

What the days are really like, so there are no surprises.

• Pace and walking

  Easy, 2 of 5. Two to three miles on foot on the walking days, on flat city pavements with a few stairs at Griffith Observatory and the Bradbury Building.

• What can change

  Filming, events and closures can move a stop or close an interior on the day. Your leader swaps in another location nearby and tells you why.

• Inside or outside

  Museums, studio tours and open businesses you enter as a visitor. Working businesses that ask for quiet, and every private home, are seen from the public street or not at all.

• Getting there

  Flights are not included. Plan to land in Hollywood by mid afternoon on day 1 and to fly home from Hollywood after lunch on the last day.

Practical information

Before you go on the five-day Hollywood tour

Your travel pack, with ticket times and hotel addresses, arrives two weeks before departure. Weather, airports and the best months are on the Los Angeles page.

• Weather

  Spring and fall are 70 to 80 F by day. The coast is cooler and often gray until noon in June. Evenings on the Griffith Observatory terrace can drop to the high 50s F.

• Studio tour rules

  Both studios ask for a photo ID at the gate and limit photos on some stages. Large bags are not allowed on the Warner Bros. tour, so bring a small day bag.

• What to wear

  Comfortable walking shoes, layers for the evening and a hat. The studio lots are large and the backlot streets get hot in the afternoon.

• Arriving early

  If you land in the morning, the hotel holds your bags and you can walk to the Walk of Fame. Extra nights before the tour are easy to add.

• Money

  Cards are accepted almost everywhere. A little cash helps for street parking tips, shoe-shine stands and the Angels Flight fare if you ride it twice.

Tour FAQ

Five-day Hollywood tour: questions and answers

More answers on the FAQ page and in how to book.