First Stop of the World Trip: Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Venice Beach, Malibu Beach

Our first destination of the world trip was Los Angeles where we stayed from Wednesday night till Monday.

On Thursday we woke up super early (jetlag!) and first sorted out our car to drive around in LA and all the way to New Orleans! Given we are in the US, we thought it’s a good idea to get a US style car that could also be fun during endless hours in the car. The winner was the Dodge Challenger. Well, people here don’t drive that fast anyway (I have driven a car in Germany), so this car looked cool for cruising around

There is so much to do in LA and we did not get to do or see everything in a few days of course. Whilst I was rather disappointed with Hollywood which I expected to be very pretty (it’s not really) I loved Beverly Hills and the beach areas. The Walk of Fame was so touristy, worse than Piccadilly circus, and not particularly nice to look at (maybe I am biased having lived in London for the years..). It’s worth joining the bus tour for a ride through Hollywood to get some insights about where which movies were filmed which is quite interesting. There are also some cool bars in Hollywood and you will certainly have a good time but overall I just did not think it was that ‘pretty’.

Beverly Hill looks super beautiful and it’s easy to understand why people move there! Also there are lots of good restaurants and pretty cafes to relax. Apart from that I really liked the beach areas, e.g. Venice Beach. There are an entirely different vibe and crowd in Venice Beach than in Beverly Hills for instance (yup, as expected). Venice Beach is super relaxed and laid back – all a bit more alternative and hippie. We also went to Malibu beach which has beautiful houses and villas on the hill overlooking the sea – a bit similar to Cape Town’s Camps Bay.

Below some shots I took in Downtown LA, Hollywood and Beverly Hills:

And now the photos of Venice Beach. I really liked the street art and the general vibe of the area

We went to Venice Beach and Malibu Beach in one day. So after having spent a few hours at Venice Beach we drove over to Malibu Beach. The vibe is quite different and way less hippie. I really liked the Malibu Beach area – so much that I forgot to take many photos! We stayed in Malibu Beach for sunset – we had cocktails and watched the Sunset in the Moonshadows bar. Can totally recommend their Chocolate Martini