Means of transportation

With a surface of 1200 square km (465 square miles) in the city alone, county excluded, Los Angeles is a huge city. This means that, whatever means of transportation you choose, you must accept the fact that it can take long to get where you want to go.

On foot

Makes almost no sense, unless you want to stay in a very restricted area and visit that only; LA is huge and the places you might want to see could be very far away from each other.

By car

The most practical option, in spite of the heavy traffic and pollution: if you need to move around the city without suffering strong limitations, you should rent a car. It is not too difficult to travel around the city if you stay on the main arterials; if you want to find your own route you’d better buy a detailed map. But to rent a car you need to be over 25, have a valid credit card and an international driving licence. And you’ll have to accept the idea of contributing to the general pollution, and take into account the possibility of getting stuck in a traffic jam.

By taxi

There are a plenty of taxis in LA, but they can be quite expensive. Useful if you’re on foot and want to go to a distant place and stay there.

Public transportation

Public transportation in Los Angeles doesn’t have the best of reputations in terms of extensiveness and quaity. There are four public bus operators: MTA, which covers almost the whole of the city; Culver City Bus, which covers Culver City and the Westside; Big Blue Bus, which covers the West Los Angeles area; and a minibus system called DASH, that runs four routes through the downtown centre. There are three main Underground/Subway/Metro Rail lines, with routes from downtown to Long Beach, from Union Station to Western Ave, from Norwalk to Redondo Beach.