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What to see in LA

The best things to do in LA high are mostly free, mostly weird, and way better after a sesh at home base. Here's the list we actually send friends.

LA is huge and it does not care about your plans. Pick one area, smoke before you leave, let somebody else drive, and go see one great thing instead of five mid ones. Half of these cost nothing to walk into, which helps when the munchies budget is already spoken for. New here? Start with our first-timer guide.

Everything here was checked for 2026. That matters this year, because a few classics are in flux: the La Brea Tar Pits museum building is closed for a long renovation, Point Dume Beach is shut over erosion, and the Palisades fire is still shaping what you can visit on the Westside. We flag all of it below so you don't drive 40 minutes to a fence.

Smoke first, then go

Have your sesh at home base and leave the lighter in your pocket once you're out. Every spot on this page is a museum, a park, a cemetery or a sidewalk, and lighting up at any of them is a ticket waiting to happen. Our where to smoke guide covers where it's actually cool.

Best views in LA, day or night

If you only do one thing high in this city, make it a view. Watching the grid flicker on from a hillside is the whole reason people move here.

  • Griffith Park / Los Feliz

    Griffith Observatory

    2800 E Observatory Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

    The building, grounds, exhibits and public telescopes are all free. Only planetarium shows cost money, and the dome after a sesh is worth it. Inside there's a Foucault pendulum proving the Earth spins and a Tesla coil demo loud enough to snap you back into your body.

    The real show is the terraces: the whole basin laid out flat plus a side view of the Hollywood Sign. Closed Mondays. Parking up top is paid and fills fast, so plenty of people park lower or take the DASH Observatory bus.

    TipGet there before sunset and stay through it. The moment the city lights come on is the whole point.

  • Brentwood

    Getty Center

    1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049

    Admission is free with a timed-entry reservation, so book before you leave the couch. Parking is not free, though it gets cheaper later in the day. You ride a tram up the hill from the lot, which is a top-tier high experience on its own.

    Robert Irwin's Central Garden is the move: a stream walk down through trees to bougainvillea on rebar trellises and a big lawn built for lying down. Some galleries are closed while the Getty modernizes, so treat the art as a bonus.

    TipGo late in the day. Cheaper parking, softer light, smaller crowds.

  • Hollywood Hills

    Lake Hollywood Park

    3160 Canyon Lake Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90068

    About as close as you can comfortably get to the Hollywood Sign without hiking: a lawn, the sign looming above you, and a lot of tourists taking the same photo. It's street parking only on residential hill roads, so keep it quiet and don't block driveways.

    TipWalk a little ways up the road for a slightly different angle on the sign.

Free museums that hit different

The best museums in LA include some of the best free things to do in LA, period. Book where reservations are needed and you can wander for hours without opening your wallet.

  • Downtown LA

    The Broad

    221 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012

    General admission is always free, and the honeycomb building on Grand is a great place to stare at one piece way too long. The headliner, Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room, is free too but needs its own reservation. Extra slots drop every evening for the next day. Closed Mondays.

    TipGrab the Infinity Room slot first, then book general admission around it.

  • Miracle Mile

    LACMA and Urban Light

    Chris Burden's Urban Light is 202 vintage street lamps lined up on Wilshire Boulevard, and it's out in the open 24 hours a day. The lamps switch on at dusk, which makes this one of the easiest things to do in LA at night. Walk the rows slowly. It gets trippy fast.

    Big news for 2026: LACMA opened the David Geffen Galleries, its new Peter Zumthor building, on April 19, 2026. Even without a ticket there's a ton of free outdoor art on campus, including Michael Heizer's Levitated Mass, the giant boulder you walk underneath, and the Rodin bronzes in the sculpture garden.

    TipHit Urban Light right after dark, then go eat. See our eat guide.

  • Exposition Park

    California Science Center

    700 Exposition Park Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90037

    The permanent galleries are free. Space Shuttle Endeavour now stands upright in launch position inside the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which opens to the public November 13, 2026. Entry is free with a timed reservation and a small booking fee per person.

    Standing under a real orbiter pointed at the sky is a lot for a sober brain. High, it's a religious experience. IMAX and special exhibits are ticketed, and parking costs extra.

    TipBook the Endeavour slot early. Opening months will be packed.

  • Miracle Mile

    La Brea Tar Pits

    5801 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036

    Heads up: the museum building closed on July 7, 2026 for a roughly two-year renovation, aimed at reopening before the 2028 Olympics. The good news is the park around it stays open, and the outdoor pits are free to visit.

    You can still stand next to bubbling asphalt in the middle of the city and smell it. It's a short walk from Urban Light, which makes an easy two-stop afternoon.

    TipPair it with LACMA's free outdoor art next door.

Trippy places in LA

When you want your brain gently scrambled. These are the spots locals take friends to when they want to see their faces change.

  • Culver City / Palms

    Museum of Jurassic Technology

    9341 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA

    Founded in 1988 by David Hildebrand Wilson and Diana Drake Wilson, it calls itself dedicated to "the Lower Jurassic." It's a dim, whispery cabinet of curiosities where you're never fully sure what's real. Don't read about it first. Just go.

    Upstairs is the Tula Tea Room, where they offer tea and cookies, and a rooftop courtyard with live doves moving through the plants. Not free, and a timed reservation is recommended.

    TipGo on a weekday and take your time. The exhibits reward slow, stoned reading.

  • Glendale

    Museum of Neon Art (MONA)

    216 S Brand Blvd, Glendale, CA 91204

    Founded in 1981 and in downtown Glendale since 2016, MONA bills itself as the only museum in the world devoted exclusively to art in electric media. Over 100 neon signs and pieces, vintage and new, glowing in the dark. It's next to the Americana at Brand, so food is easy after.

    TipCheck current hours before you go. It's not open every day.

  • Watts

    Watts Towers

    1727 E 107th St, Los Angeles, CA 90002

    Simon Rodia spent 34 years building these towers by hand from broken glass, sea shells, pottery and tile. The scale doesn't make sense until you're standing under them. Guided tours run through the Watts Towers Arts Center Campus, and schedules shift, so confirm before heading out.

    TipTake the tour. The details you miss from the sidewalk are the best part.

  • Hollywood

    Hollywood Forever Cemetery

    6000 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

    Open since 1899, and self-guided visits are free. Wander past Rudolph Valentino, Mel Blanc and a bronze statue of Johnny Ramone. Peaceful, a little spooky.

    In summer, Cinespia screens movies on the Fairbanks Lawn after sunset, usually Saturdays, and tickets sell out. The Día de los Muertos celebration with altars, bands and a procession is one of the best nights of the LA year.

    TipCinespia: buy ahead, show up early, bring a blanket and low chairs.

Downtown on foot

DTLA is the one part of LA where walking between sights actually works. Take the train in, grab a ride home. More in our Downtown LA guide.

  • Downtown LA

    The Last Bookstore

    453 S Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

    A huge used and new bookstore in an old bank building. Upstairs there's a tunnel of stacked books, a labyrinth of used stacks and a room built around an old vault. No goal, just wander. You'll end up deep in a section you never cared about, which is correct.

    TipHead straight upstairs. The ground floor is just the warm-up.

  • Downtown LA

    Bradbury Building

    304 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA

    Built in 1893, with a skylit atrium of iron railings and open-cage elevators that looks like a dream sequence. You probably know it from Blade Runner. It's still an office building, so you can step into the main floor and part of the staircase for photos, but upper floors are off-limits and security is there.

    TipStand in the middle and look straight up. That's the shot.

  • Bunker Hill

    Angels Flight

    351 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA

    A 298-foot funicular billed as the world's shortest railway, first opened in 1901 and rebuilt in 1996. It climbs from Hill Street up to California Plaza on Grand. The ride is short and cheap, and the little cars feel like a toy.

    TipRide up, then walk over to The Broad.

  • El Pueblo

    Olvera Street

    10 Olvera St (Avila Adobe), Los Angeles, CA

    The historic heart of LA, just west of Union Station. The Avila Adobe from 1818 is the oldest surviving house in the city, the marketplace dates to 1930, and Siqueiros's 1932 mural América Tropical, covered up soon after it was painted, was later restored and has its own interpretive center.

    TipCome hungry. The street is lined with food stalls and you will not leave empty-handed.

Gardens and slow walks

For days when the sesh was strong and you want trees, water and nobody yelling.

  • San Marino

    The Huntington

    1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino, CA 91108

    Library, art and acres of themed gardens. It's normally paid, but admission is free on the first Thursday of every month with an advance ticket. Those drop the last Thursday of the month at 9 a.m. through a virtual waiting room and disappear quickly.

    TipSet an alarm for the ticket drop. Seriously.

  • La Cañada Flintridge

    Descanso Gardens

    1418 Descanso Dr, La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011

    A hillside botanical garden with more than 600 camellia varieties, best in January and February, plus about five acres of roses. Not free, but calm in a way most of LA isn't. Seasonal night events like Carved (through November 1, 2026) and the winter Enchanted Forest of Light are ticketed separately.

    TipWinter is camellia season. Go on a weekday morning.

  • Pacific Palisades

    Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine

    17190 Sunset Blvd, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

    A lake ringed by gardens and shrines, run as a meditation retreat by the Self-Realization Fellowship. The January 2025 Palisades fire destroyed some buildings, but the legacy structures around the lake survived.

    The Meditation Gardens reopened in August 2025 and are free with an online reservation. The museum, gift shop and retreat were still closed for remediation at last check.

    TipReserve first and keep your voice low. People are actually meditating here.

Slow strolls in Venice and Fairfax

Low-commitment strolls with snacks built in.

  • Venice

    Venice Canals

    Abbot Kinney dug these in 1905 for his "Venice of America." Most were filled in by 1929, but a handful survive, with sidewalks, footbridges and boats tied up out front. It's a quiet residential loop a few blocks from the boardwalk chaos, with Abbot Kinney Boulevard's food and shops right after. More in our Venice guide.

    TipGolden hour on the footbridges. Don't block them for photos.

  • Fairfax

    Original Farmers Market and The Grove

    6333 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90036

    The Farmers Market has been feeding people at 3rd and Fairfax since 1934: a maze of old stalls and counters basically designed for the munchies. The Grove sits right next door if you want to keep walking. Our eat guide has more on where to graze.

    TipDo a lap before you buy anything. You'll want three things, not one.

Questions people ask

What are the best free things to do in LA?

Griffith Observatory, The Broad, the Getty Center, the California Science Center, Urban Light at LACMA, the outdoor pits at La Brea Tar Pits and a self-guided walk through Hollywood Forever are all free. The Getty, The Broad's Infinity Mirrored Room and the Science Center's Endeavour building need reservations. The Huntington is free on the first Thursday of the month with an advance ticket.

Is Griffith Observatory free?

Yes. The building, grounds, exhibits and public telescopes are free. Planetarium shows are ticketed, parking up top is paid, and it's closed Mondays.

Where is the best view of LA at night?

Griffith Observatory, hands down. Get there before sunset and watch the whole basin light up from the terraces. For something closer to the ground, Urban Light on Wilshire glows from dusk and is out in the open around the clock.

What are the best things to do in LA high?

Pick something slow and visual: the Museum of Jurassic Technology, the Museum of Neon Art, Urban Light after dark, the Getty tram and gardens, or the book tunnel at The Last Bookstore. Smoke at home base first and let somebody else drive.

Is the La Brea Tar Pits museum open in 2026?

The museum building closed July 7, 2026 for a roughly two-year renovation. The surrounding park and outdoor excavation sites stay open, and the outdoor pits are free to visit.

Is Lake Shrine open after the Palisades fire?

The Meditation Gardens reopened in August 2025 and are open by free online reservation. Some buildings were destroyed and others were still closed for remediation at last check, so reserve and check status before you go.

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