A trip to Los Angeles costs roughly $80 to $160 per person per day for budget travelers, $220 to $350 mid-range, and $600 to $1,150 at the luxury end, before flights. Hotels are the biggest single cost, averaging $220 a night across City of LA hotels through the first half of 2026. The Metro day cap is $5.
LA is a strange city to budget for. Griffith Observatory is free, the beaches are free, and the Walk of Fame is a public sidewalk, so you can fill entire days here without spending much. Then there’s the hotel, the rental car, the parking, and the drive between Santa Monica and Hollywood every time you want to cross town.
This guide prices a Los Angeles trip line by line, all figures in USD. Hotels, flights, food, getting around, and attractions, with what each travel style spends per day and where the cheapest months fall.
We make seeing the best of LA the easy part. Our tours handle the driving, the parking and the route, so you can sit back and enjoy the city instead of working out how to cross it.
See Beverly Hills, the Santa Monica Pier, the Farmers Market at The Grove, and Griffith Observatory on the Half Day Best of LA Tour, four stops with time at each and no parking to worry about.
How Much Does a Trip to Los Angeles Cost Per Day?
The hotel line below is the price of the room. Everything else is what one person spends. Flights are not included.
| Per day | Budget | Mid-range | Luxury |
| Hotel room | $90 to $130 | $190 to $250 | $500 to $900 |
| Food and drinks, per person | $30 to $55 | $60 to $110 | $150 to $300 |
| Getting around, per person | $5 to $15 | $45 to $60 | $125 to $200 |
| Attractions, per person | $0 to $25 | $20 to $55 | $75 to $200 |
| Two people, per day | $160 to $320 | $440 to $700 | $1,200 to $2,300 |
| Per person, per day | $80 to $160 | $220 to $350 | $600 to $1,150 |
Daily Costs by Travel Style
A budget traveler sleeps inland, rides public transportation, eats tacos from the trucks and the food halls, and builds the week around free attractions. A mid-range visitor books a room near the city average, mixes rideshares with a rental car, dines out most nights, and pays for one or two ticketed attractions. At the luxury end, the room on its own can cost more than a mid-range couple spends in a whole day.
Solo travel costs more per person here, because the room is the biggest expense and there’s nobody to split it with. A dorm bed in a hostel runs $108 to $145 a night before tax, well above what each person pays when two share a budget-friendly hotel room inland.
LA Trip Budget by Length: 3, 5, and 7 Days
These estimates are per person, for two people sharing a room, before flights.
| Trip length | Budget | Mid-range | Luxury |
| 3 days | $240 to $480 | $660 to $1,050 | $1,800 to $3,450 |
| 5 days | $400 to $800 | $1,100 to $1,750 | $3,000 to $5,750 |
| 7 days | $560 to $1,120 | $1,540 to $2,450 | $4,200 to $8,050 |
Add the 14% transient occupancy tax to any City of LA hotel bill. A $220 room is $250.80 at checkout, and the tax covers mandatory resort and cleaning fees too, so read the total rather than the nightly rate. Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood are separate cities with their own rates.
Flights are on top of all of this. What you pay comes down to where you’re flying from and how far ahead you book.
Is 3 Days Enough Time in Los Angeles?
Three days covers the icons as long as you group them by area. Spend one day on the Westside, one around Hollywood and Downtown, and one on whatever you came for specifically, and you’ll explore Los Angeles without losing half your vacation to the drive between neighborhoods. Our guide to visiting LA for the first time lays out how to group them.
Flights, Hotels, and the Cheapest Time to Visit Los Angeles
Accommodation is the biggest single cost in an LA travel budget. The citywide average sits at around $220 a night, according to LA Tourism’s lodging data, and where you book moves that a long way in either direction.
Accommodation Costs in Los Angeles by Neighborhood
Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood are the pricey end, where 4-star hotels sit well above the citywide average. Koreatown, Culver City and the Valley are the affordable side, and plenty of those inland hotels include free parking, which is worth $20 to $50 a night on its own if a rental car is in your plans.
The Shoulder Season Brings Lower Prices
The month you travel makes a real difference. January and February bring some of the lowest hotel and flight prices of the year, and September and October are the other value window, with warm dry weather and the summer crowds gone.
Summer is the peak on both fronts, so a July trip and a February trip can land hundreds of dollars apart for the same hotel. Our season-by-season guide breaks down the whole calendar, and our fall guide covers October in more detail.
LAX is the main airport and has the most airlines competing on fares. Burbank, Long Beach and John Wayne also serve LA, and they’re smaller and quicker to get through, with fewer routes coming in.
Getting Around LA: Rental Cars, Rideshare, and Public Transportation
Here is what one day of sightseeing costs per person, covering three or four stops across the city.
| Option | Per person, per day | What it covers |
| Metro | $5 | Unlimited rides once the daily cap hits. Base fare $1.75, with two hours of free transfers on a TAP card |
| Rideshare | $25 to $45 | Two or three cross-town trips. LAX runs $35 to $55 on its own |
| Rental car, two sharing | $35 to $65 | $45 to $80 a day for the car plus $20 to $50 hotel parking, split two ways |
| Guided tour | $44 to $79 | Driving, parking, route and a live guide included |
Metro is the cheapest public transportation in LA by a wide margin, and it’s good on the routes it serves. The B Line links Hollywood, Universal City and DTLA, and the E Line runs Santa Monica to Downtown.
Where it falls short is Beverly Hills, the celebrity neighborhoods and Mulholland Drive, none of which sit near a rail line. Our guide to getting around Los Angeles without a car covers which routes work and which ones need a workaround.
A rental car’s daily rate is only the start of it. Hotel parking in Hollywood, Santa Monica and West Hollywood typically runs $20 to $50 a night, attraction lots charge their own, gas is on top, and a $60 car often ends the day closer to $110.
Guided Tours Through Beverly Hills and the Hollywood Hills
Our Celebrity Homes Open Air Tour is $44 from Hollywood and $59 from Santa Monica for two hours. The Half Day Best of LA Tour is $79 and covers 5.5 hours with four stops, with a live guide on both.
Check today’s departures and book the two together if you want the full day.
Where to Dine and What Food Costs in Los Angeles
Tacos from the trucks, Koreatown lunch counters and the city’s food halls will feed you well for $10 to $15 a meal, and some of the best eating in the city is down at that end.
Sit-down dinners climb quicker. California sales tax and a 20% tip land on every bill, and some eateries add a service or healthcare surcharge on top, so check the bottom of the receipt before you work out the tip.
Budget $30 to $55 a day for food and drinks if you’re eating casually, $60 to $110 if you dine out most nights, and $150 or more in Beverly Hills and along the Westside.
Attraction Prices and Free Things to Do in Los Angeles
The biggest names here cost nothing to walk into. Griffith Observatory is free, and so are Venice Beach, every hiking trail and the Walk of Fame. Our roundup of free things to do in Los Angeles has more of them.
The Getty Center and the Getty Villa are free museums too, though each needs a timed-entry reservation you book ahead. Parking is $25 per car, dropping to $15 after 3pm and $10 after 6pm, and one fee covers both Getty sites if you visit them the same day.
Driving the Pacific Coast Highway up to Malibu is a free day trip, and the coast road past the beaches is one of the hidden gems every tourist should have on the list.
The paid tier is where the money sits. Universal Studios Hollywood starts around $109 for a one-day adult ticket with parking on top, and the price changes by date, so midweek in January costs less than a Saturday in July.
Our Universal CityWalk guide covers the parts of the film studio complex you can visit without a park ticket. Disneyland is a bigger day again, and it sits an hour south in Anaheim.
Is $5,000 Enough to Travel to Los Angeles?
For two people on five mid-range days, $5,000 is comfortable. Ground costs land somewhere between $2,200 and $3,500, which leaves $1,500 or more for flights, and that works from anywhere in the US.
For one person, $5,000 covers a generous LA getaway at any level short of luxury. You could stay on the Westside, dine out every night and still have room left over.
For a family of four in two rooms, the same five mid-range days run $4,400 to $7,000 before flights. The budget holds if you book inland with free parking, build days around the free attractions, and keep it to one theme park.
How to Save Money and Plan Your Trip to Los Angeles
Five things that move the number most:
- Book inland with free parking. A Koreatown or Culver City room with parking included often beats a beach hotel charging $40 a night for the space.
- Use the Metro fare cap. $5 a day, or $18 across seven days, however many rides you take.
- Travel in the shoulder season. January, February, September and October all bring lower prices on hotels and flights than the summer peak.
- Build days around the free attractions. Griffith, the Getty, the beaches and the canyon trails cost nothing between them.
- Group your days by neighborhood. Fewer cross-town trips means fewer fares, and less time and gas spent getting anywhere.
Beverly Hills, the Santa Monica Pier, the Hollywood Sign views and Griffith Observatory all sit on one route, and you can see them without a car, a map or a parking fee.
Grab a seat and book direct here, and keep your cameras ready, you might spot a celebrity!
FAQ
How much does a trip to Los Angeles cost per day?
Expect $80 to $160 per person per day for budget travelers, $220 to $350 for mid-range visitors, and $600 to $1,150 at the luxury end, with two people sharing a room and flights excluded. Accommodation is the biggest single cost, with the citywide average around $220 a night.
How much does a 3-day trip to Los Angeles cost?
Three days in LA runs $240 to $480 per person on a budget, $660 to $1,050 mid-range, and $1,800 to $3,450 at the luxury end, before flights. Add the 14% City of LA hotel tax to any room rate when you compare totals.
Is $5,000 enough for a trip to Los Angeles?
Yes, for most trips. Two people on five mid-range days spend $2,200 to $3,500 on the ground, which leaves plenty for flights from anywhere in the US. A family of four on the same trip runs $4,400 to $7,000 before flights, so that travel budget needs an inland hotel and one theme park day at most.
What is the cheapest month to visit Los Angeles?
January and February bring the lowest hotel and flight prices of the year in LA, with mild weather and thin crowds. September and October are the other shoulder season window, with warmer, drier days than June and the summer tourists gone.
How much should I budget for getting around Los Angeles?
Metro caps at $5 a day and $18 across seven days on a TAP card, which makes public transportation the cheapest option by a wide margin. Rideshares run $25 to $45 a day for two or three cross-town trips, and a rental car lands at $35 to $65 per person once parking is split between two. A guided tour covering several neighborhoods runs $44 to $79.
Is Los Angeles expensive to visit?
LA is pricey on hotels and cheap on attractions. Griffith Observatory, the Getty museums, the beaches and the Walk of Fame are all free, so the parts of an LA trip that cost real money are the room and the way you cross the city.
