Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Downtown Los Angeles

For my first full day, I decided to go first to Santa Monica and Venice, two coastal cities that belong to Greater Los Angeles. You should know that Los Angeles is HUGE! Even if the map you'll have in hands will have the "same size" than a San Francisco map, check the scale, it has nothing to do! A lot of people say that you can't do anything in LA if you don't have a car, but actually the Bus Metro transit is growing more and more each year and you do can visit all the places you want to by only taking bus and metro. It is 1.25$ a ticket, and the driver can makes transfers. There are also one-day passes for the metro, 5$ each. A bus map is available at the hostel.


So Santa Monica. It is first-known for being the final destination of the famous US 66 Route that goes through the USA from Chicago to Los Angeles, passing 8 different states with its 2451 miles. Santa Monica is not much a big city and as a consequence there are not a lot of things to see. Though, it has the oldest amusement Pier of the West Coast, with an Amusement Park (Pacific Park) which has roller coasters and carousel. It has also a lot of tourist shops and restaurants. The downtown of Santa Monica is grouped along the 3rd street promenade, a car-free street where you can find dinosaur fountains and homeless artists singing nice and old rock and roll. Last but not least, the beach of Santa Monica is huge! It is very large, and you cannot actually see the ends of the seaside because it continues south to Venice Beach 3 miles away. Santa Monica Beach and Venice Beach are considered to be the main beaches of Los Angeles.




Going South on the boardwalk that boards the beach, you will reach after a 45 minutes walk Venice Beach. There is a big contrast between the two beach fronts. If Santa Monica's looks friendly and touristic, you will be amazed to see the reggae style of Venice's. A lot of homeless artists trying to make money, a lot of cheap stores to buy souvenir T-shirts, add to the whole thing a Marijuana smell and then you can picture how Venice Beach looks like. But I don't criticize it as I liked the atmosphere a lot! I stopped my beach front walk on Washington Boulevard. Then from here, the closest bus stop to go Downtown is about 2 miles away (or more) on Venice Boulevard and Lincoln. The walk is surprisingly long for the small distance that is showed on the map.


I arrived Downtown at 5:30PM, at the edge of the city at Union Station. I came to El Pueblo of Los Angeles, a Mexican area where you can go through a mini "Mexican tourist street market" with a lot of tourist souvenirs and pretty cheap guitars. I then come on Grand Avenue, the principal avenue of LA Downtown. I saw the Walt Disney Concert hall and its amazing design, and all the financial district, which is much less distracting than New York's or San Francisco's or even Miami's. I walked until the 7th street and the metro station center, to finally go back to the hostel at 7:30PM.

West Hollywood - First Day in Los Angeles

So like I said, the hostel is ON the walk of fame which means that I didn't have to do too much walking to visit Hollywood! I walked on the walk of fame, taking pictures of all the celebritiy stars I knew such as Nicole Kidman, Nicolas Cage, Harrison Ford... The walk is approximately 1 mile long or less.


I went in front of the Hollywood museum, the Kodak Theater, where the award ceremony occurs every year, with columns where you can read the movies that has won the oscar. Then I went in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theater, where you can see the hand prints of celebrities, I took pictures of the Hollywood signs from the viewing bridges at the Hollywood & Highland complex, even if it is not really good (the signs are far!), I visited the tourist shops such as Hollywoodland (a huge store with every tourist gift you can dream of). And that's it. Afterwards, you have to pay to go into the different museums or attraction. I think the Madame Tussaud Museum looks really good even but I didn't have the chance to go inside. Hollywood like you imagine it is not really big, the main touristic parts are located between Highland Avenue and Dr. Orange Avenue.



There are a lot of "Hollywood Tour Companies" employee that will harass you to come to their tour. They propose you a visit of the famous spots of Los Angeles: Beverly Hills and the Celebrity Houses, Santa Monica & Venice Beach, Hollywood Signs... for around 25$.

Then I had my first party the coming night. We started the warm-up in the common room, ideally to meet the other hostellers by playing pool and beerpong. I met especially three pretty German girls that made my night great. We all went to a rock and roll club on Las Palmas Avenue, quite close to the hostel. It was free for the girls and 5$ for the others. A good club, with a large out-door dance floor and particular music not quite usual for a nightclub (no dance, really). The beers were 3$ to 7$ which was quite affordable. We came back at the hostel around 3:00AM.

Hollywood Hostel

I am really surprised. This is the best hostel I went to, ever. It is the cheapest youth hostel you will find in Great Los Angeles (31$ a night, the prices displayed online are not the right ones), located in West Hollywood, close to the Highland Avenue and on Hollywood Boulevard. It is just in front of the famous Kodak Theater and Chinese Theater, and on the walk of fame! The best location you will find, much better than the USA Hostel in Hollywood also. The hostel is huge, with free coffee all-day, a very nice common room lighted by colorful spotlights, with a pool, a bar, coaches and kitchen. There is a small basement room ideal to play poker, a TV-room with a huge TV, a free internet-access room open 24/24. The dorms are great, 4-beds dorms with lockers and space. There are three "public" showers for the men cleaned every day. They are 2 floors. You can drink anywhere in the hostel at anytime, there is no curfew, and there are parties almost every night in the common room; actually there is even a beer pong table! The staff is ok, the guy who organizes the parties knows every good places in Hollywood and I guess Los Angeles in general, so feel free to ask. There are markets all around to buy whatever you want to. And if you are lucky, you will also see from the window the cops come to make an arrestation. It happens when I was at the hostel, about 10 police cars, two ambulances and two fire-truck came because a guy has been snaped with a knife just on the other side of the street! Welcome to Los Angeles, welcome to hostel Hollywood!

PS: in the main hall close the front desk, there is a poster signature where you can add comments. If you check in the middle, you will see <3 Paris, MC with a french flag. That's me!

Santa Barbara to Los Angeles

As usual, I took the greyhound bus to go to Los Angeles. It 13$ the trip, and there are 3 daily buses that go to Los Angeles. I took the one that leaves at 10:00AM, making me leave the hostel at 9:00AM. I decided actually to stay in Hollywood instead of LA Downtown, because the Hostel is cheaper. The bus-ride lasts 2hours 50 minutes.

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara is known as a "student city" because of its well extended nightlife and the incredibly number of bars that board State Street (don't be surprise to see drunk people at 2:00AM a Saturday Morning). The city is quite similar to Santa Cruz, with a touristic Wharf with shops and restaurants too expensive for travelers on a budget, a "one street" downtown that goes from the Wharf to Mission Street, a really nice beach, no sunset on the sea (the beach faces south). I didn't do much in Santa Barbara honestly, I went to see the very nice Mission/Church up to Mission Street, but you have to pay 5$ to see the intra-mural garden. I spent most of day on the beach, getting some sunburns. I thing the best part of the city is the nightlife, but as I didn't really met "partying people" I just stayed in the hostel during the night and so on. But it is worth a day-stand, definitely.

Santa Barbara Tourist Hostel

First thing to know about this hostel, it is incredibly expensive during summer (May to September): 37$ a night, plus 20$ cash deposit for the key and 2$ cash to rent a towel.

Like Santa Cruz, the hostel is very well located, next to the beach after you pass the interstate HW101. It is three blocks away from the beach, 20 meters from the Amtrak station and 800 meters from the Greyhound Station. It has only one floor, compare to the building-typical-hostels that you find in the big cites. The front-desk is very welcoming like the "living room" with comfortable coaches and open spaced areas. The dorms are however hella small, something like 4*7 meters with 12 beds in eat! There are no lockers, no space to put your luggage and it is hard to get to the top buck-beds! For the price I paid, I thought it was ridiculous.



But it has its own charm, and I guess you will get use to it pretty quickly. Moreover, you never plan to stay more than 2 or 3 nights in those kind of hostels. There are 4 "public" showers for the men, free wifi and some computers to access internet if you don't travel with your laptop. There are like everywhere washers and dryers.

I liked the atmosphere of the hostel, which fortunately and obviously didn't have any curfew policy. The music keeps playing in the common room, and it is really easy to meet people and starts hosteller conversations. The hostel is close to the State Street, which is boarded by all the best bars and night clubs of Santa Barbara, so if you want to party, this hostel (and city) is definitely for you!

Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara

Once again, I chose to take the Greyhound bus to go to my next destination, Santa Barbara. There are 3 daily buses that do the connection, at 8:20AM, 1:30PM and 10:55PM. It is 43$ while the train is 45$. The ride lasts 6 hours.


The Greyhound Bus Station opens at 8:00AM, so you don't need to be there one hour before the departure time if you plan to take the 8:20AM bus. It takes only 10min to go to the station from the hostel.

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is a lovely central coastal city located at the North end of the Monterey Bay, 1h30 drive-ride south of San Francisco. It can be divided mainly in two parts, the beach front and the downtown with between the third Avenue. If you never read a thing about Santa Cruz, I can bet that you will be surprised to see the big attraction/amusement park that boards the beach (it is almost on the sand) with its roller coasters, its haunted house and its huge arcade rooms! Indeed, Santa Cruz is well known for its Boardwalk Park (the name of the attraction park) which offers a lot of distraction for the tourists and locals. It has the 6th oldest roller coaster of the United-States, the Giant Dipper, painted in red and white. It is a wooden coaster that is 0.5 miles long. You will see it from anywhere on the beach as it is the biggest structure of the park and the city itself. The fares are not too expensive, from 3$ to 5$, 5$ being the price for the biggest attractions. There are also a lot of shopping stores in the park, and fast-food and candy stores to feed the hungriest tourists. You will also find a very attractive mini-golf, and a bunch of arcade games for very cheap.


Once the surprise of the Boardwalk Park gone, you will admire the very nice (and kind of long) beach of Santa Cruz, which faces South (no sunset on the beach unfortunately). On the right side of the beach there is a long wharf which has, like the 39th Pier of San Francisco, a lot of restaurants (a little bit expensive) and tourist stores to buy all kind of souvenirs.


I only visited the beach front and the downtown, so I cannot tell what there is around Santa Cruz (I didn't see for instance the University of California Santa Cruz). The downtown is pretty lovely and typical I thought of the coastal cities of California. It boards the Pacific Avenue for 2 miles, but it is not really big neither interesting.

Santa Cruz is quite small, and I think a one-day stand is enough to visit the city, even if you plan on spending all your money at the Boardwalk Park. Every Friday, there are also free concerts of old Rock bands that gather all the population during 3 hours. The people start to take their seat on the beach at 4:00PM while the concert starts at 6:30PM.

The Hostel International of Santa Cruz

The Santa Cruz HI-Hostel is ideally located, between the downtown and the beach front (you have to walk two blocks to reach the beach). It is quite different from the classic hostel you may have been to, it is a group of small century-old cottages of 2 rooms each (one for girls one for boys). Each room has 6 beds, and each cottage has a nice living room with piano and TV, a bathroom with two toilets and one shower. It is really relaxed compare to the big cities, for a price starting at 25$ (or 28$ if you are not a HI member) a night. However, I didn't really like the hostel because of the Curfew which is at 11:00PM, the non-alcohol policy and the fact that you cannot really meet the people of the other cottages because there are not really common rooms (despite the kitchen). Moreover, the hostel is closed between 11:00AM and 5:00PM, hence you have to leave and find something to do in Santa Cruz.

I have however met some nice people from my little cottage, but surprisingly they change everyday! Don't be surprised if you wake up at 10:00AM and everybody has left the hostel to go to another city. You'll meet new people at 5:00PM!

San Francisco to Santa Cruz

I left San Francisco after 4 unforgettable days and nights, to go to Santa Cruz. I decided to take the bus, even if the train is also an option but as usual more expensive and not really faster. I took the Greyhound bus. A couple of buses leave San Francisco daily to Santa Cruz, I took the one that left at 10:30AM (I woke up at 8:30AM at the hostel to arrive on time at 9:20AM at the bus station). The bus does some stops before to get to Santa Cruz, the principal one being San Jose. I arrived at Santa Cruz at 1:05PM. The bus station is located in the middle of the city, which really not too big. The hostel is between the 2nd and 3rd avenue on Main Street, close to the bus station, and close to the beach too! Unfortunately, the check-in doesn't start before 5:00PM, but the hostel offers lockers where you can put your luggage before to take a look at the beach or visit whatever you want to kill the time!

The Victorian Houses of San Francisco

A typical postcard of San Francisco is the photo of the 5 or 6 Victorian Houses called the Painted Ladies that are on Fulton St and Steiner St. I thought they were beautiful, and if you go up to the Alamo Square, you can have a really nice picture with the houses and the financial district towers behind. However, once again bring a jacket because it is incredibly windy!

San Francisco by Walking

The third day, I continued to visit San Francisco but without a bike this time. I first went to Union Square, a nice place close to Market Street where you can find the usual shopping stores such as Macys, Levis, Nike Town, French Connection... The plaza is rounded by four colorful heart sculptures representing the city, and every Wednesday (I think) there are free dance sessions with various kind of music. I then went to China Town, I started from Pine Street and Grant Street. The China Town is much less busy than New York's, and the prices are really cheaper. You can find correct tourist T-shirts for 1.88$! Everything is cheap, and the whole China Town is actually really cute! It boards Grant Street until Columbus Avenue.


Then starts the Mexican & Italian town, with a lot of Italian restaurants which will be glad to diffuse for you the Italian soccer games. Longing Columbus Avenue, if you turn right on Stockton street, you will pass the Washington square and arrive on the Fisherman's Wharf District, at the famous 39th Pier. The 39th Pier is famous for its shopping stores, its crazy restaurants, chocolate and candy stores, its arcade room... It looks like a Attraction Park without the attractions. You will find all the tourist products, like the mugs, the t-shirts, the hats, the hoodies, for really affordable prices. You have also the best view of the San Francisco Sea Lions, which are grouped on a small wharf all together. At the very end of the 39th Pier, you will also have a very nice spot to take pictures of the Alcatraz Prison. I really loved this Pier, with sweet smells and smiling people (most of them tourists), just happy to be in this really beautiful town.


I kept going on the Fisherman's Wharf district, passing other tourist stores, the Boudin Bakery, the In and Out fast food of San Francisco, and then I took the famous Cable Car on Taylor Street (it is 5$ for a one way ticket in every Cable Car, the driver makes you pay once everybody has a seat in the car), to go back on top of the San Francisco Hill.



I finished my day by visiting the Central Library (Hyde Street and Market Street), and I took some pictures of the City Hall, which is worth a look. Just outside the Library on Market street you will find a Burger King, if you are still up for an American Fast Food.It was once again a really nice day. The fog came over the Golden Gate bridge and the high towers of San Francisco, and even over Alcatraz!

San Francisco by Bike

For my second day (actually my first full day) in San Francisco, I decided to rent a bike for the day, because even if San Francisco is a walkable city, the golden gate bridge for instance is 8 miles away from downtown, and the golden gate park (west side) at least 15 miles away. I was lucky because it was a sunny day, but even if you think it is going to be a hot day, bring a jacket, or at least an anti-wind sweater because you will quickly notice that San Francisco is a very (ultra) windy city!


There is a bike rental store really close to the Hostel, just above the Jack in The Box fast-food on Mason and Geary. It was 32$ a day to rent the bike, which was great and totally enough for the day. However if you feel lazy, keep in mind that you can also rent an electrical-helped bike for 70$ a day. When you will pay, you will have also to make deposit with a credit card to prevent robs. The store has a 24 hours "give-back-your-bike deposit" so you can bring back the bike at 11:59PM if you need to!

So my main objective was obviously to cross the Golden Gate bridge and take a bunch of souvenir pictures! I first went to the other infamous Bay bridge that I found pretty nice. I went down to Market Street, to arrive in front of the port of San Francisco. I went to the third or fourth Pier and take my first pictures!


Then I kept going on to the Fisherman's wharf area, taking other pictures of the Alcatraz Prison, the 39th Pier, the Coit Tower and the sun. I then entered the Marina Disctrict and started to take pictures of the Golden Gate bridge, even if I was still far far away from it.


The ride to the bridge was not that easy, because of the wind that was continuously tiring me. I finally arrived after approximately 2 hours of ride (making a lot of stops for the pictures) at the Warming Hut store (souvenir gifts & food store) to have some rest. You have also there a fantastic view of the bridge, which is at this point only 100 meters (or less) away from your feet. I then continued to Fort Point before to go on the bridge. The Fort gives you the opportunity to take pictures almost under the bridge, which is really nice. I then went up on to the bridge (it is really sloping, I had to step off of my bike and walk to go to the bridge), and I finally crossed it!




I wanted then to go down to Sausalito, the first city that you meet after you cross the bridge, but I was missing some energy and the wind was really strong. I decided so to turn back, to reach Backer Beach. To get to this beach you have to go through the Presidio Park (one of the national park of SF), a ride that offers you the greatest view of the Pacific Ocean from SF. Once again, it is not easy to reach Baker beach because of the up and down hills, and it is 3 or more miles away from the bridge. Once you get here, I hope you will have kept a lot of energy because, whatever the way back you decide to take, it won't be easy.


Because I was already far, I chose to keep going to the west part of the city, direction the Cliff House and Ocean Beach, at the very west side of San Francisco, next to the West Entrance of the golden gate park. It was around 6:00PM, (I started my ride-day at 11:00AM) and the view was breathtaking. I took the best pictures of my trip for sure.


I finally made my way back through the Golden Gate Park, which was for me more beautiful than Central Park in New-York city. Once I was off the Park, it was almost a straight line on Page Street and Market street to get back to the rental store, at 8:00PM.


It was a long day, really tiring (it was the only night I didn't join the party group), but definitely worth it and I encourage everybody to do that if you don't have a car and a limited time to stay in San Francisco. It was my best day.

Amsterdam Hostel

Some appreciations about the Amsterdam Youth Hostel of San Francisco. It is the cheapest youth hostel that you will find in San Francisco, if you reserve online. Indeed, it is 18$ for a 4 beds room while it gets up to 25$ for the HI Hostels of USA Hostels. Each room, dorms or privates, has a individual bathroom. The shower is completely fine for a hostel, and the dorms I went to are cleaned everyday at noon. There is free WIFI available, however if you are in the rooms up to 309 or 310, you won't get any signal and you'll need to go down to the common rooms (i.e TV room). There is a free breakfast everyday, between 7:30AM and 10:00AM, with free coffee and unlimited waffles. The Hostel crew is really nice and knows everything about San Francisco, so if you have any questions to ask, don't hesitate. The kitchen closes at 10:00PM because of the neighborhood which complains sometimes. You can drink in the Hostel, in the common rooms, which is great to have fun with all the different people you will meet (and you are going to meet a lot of hostellers!). You can play guitar all night and finish your bottle of vodka. There are a lot of bars all around the hostel, most of the time very cheap (3.50$ a beer), and also 2 daily one block down on Sutter, so you can buy whatever you need. There is a subway just next to the hostel, and a fast-food "Jack in the box" (pretty cheap too) on Mason Street and Geary Street (2 block away). There are also a lot of restaurants of any kind (asian, mexican, french...) so you will have the choice.

I had a lot of fun in this hostel during the four days I stayed, and I would encourage everybody to go there. It is very easy to meet the people and most of them are international students looking for fun. It is really well located, in the middle of everything. 7 blocks West you'll find the Victorian Houses of the Post Cards, 4 blocks East you will arrive in China Town, a long walk up and down through Taylor Street North you will arrive on Fisherman's Wharf, and the other way you will be on Market Street. Enjoy!

San Francisco Map

Here is a nice map of the San Francisco Neighborhood where you can see the principal district's names. The Amsterdam Hostel is around Nob Hill.

San Francisco - Day 1

So I arrived at the Amsterdam Youth Hostel, which is located at Taylor and Sutter Street, around 2:00PM. I'll speak about the hostel in another article.

I have been walking for three hours around the hostel, which gave me the opportunity to have a nice overview of the downtown/middle town of San Francisco and all I was able to think of was that SanFran is the most beautiful city I went to in the USA! Maybe the sunny weather helped (bye bye cold Northwest of America), but everything looked nice and alive! I went from the hostel to the highest point of the downtown, between California St and Sacramento St ("top of the world views" Lonely Planet.). I took a bunch of pictures of the city, seeing the fisherman's wharf, the golden gate bridge, I visited the small Washington Square where there were a festival, I went to the Coit tower (where you have another great view of Downtown San Francisco), where I met three funny Bulgarians with who I spent the night later on. I went to see quickly the pier 39, the most crowded pier of San Francisco (that you must visit!). All the port side of SF is divided in Pier(s), the very first one being next to the Bay Bridge (down Market Street), and the last one at the end of the Fisherman's Wharf "district". I spent the night in a bar where the barman (french) doesn't check for the IDs. We played pool for 2 hours, then we finished our beers to go to a hookah bar before going back to sleep. Such a first great day!