LA + California in 2 Days on a Budget
Two days, and the point is Southern California, not the city
Two days is not enough to add Griffith Park, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice and Malibu all separately, so this plan deliberately keeps day one light and gives day two entirely to the Pacific Coast Highway. Rent a car for day two specifically; nothing else in this plan needs one. See the LA base camp guide for the full distance and cost table behind this plan.
Book these before you go
- Rent a car for the Malibu drive through Discover Cars; day two does not work without one.
- Check Los Angeles hotel rates on Booking.com and pick a base with free or cheap parking over a walkable one.
| Day | Focus | Distance / drive time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Griffith Park, Koreatown | Free admission | $30-50pp dinner |
| Day 2 | Malibu + PCH | 36 mi / about 1 hr | Free drive; $10-20+ parking |
Day 1: Griffith Park, then Koreatown
Land, settle into a Koreatown or Culver City base with free or cheap parking, since you will want the car again tomorrow, and spend the afternoon at Griffith Observatory. Admission and the parking lot are both free, but arrive before 10am or after 6pm since the lot fills fast; this is also the best Hollywood Sign view you will get, since there is no close-up visitor access to the sign itself. Skip the Walk of Fame unless you genuinely have time to spare; it is a gritty commercial strip with costumed characters angling for tip money, and the payoff rarely matches the 45 minutes it costs. For dinner, all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue in Koreatown runs $30-50 a person, or Guelaguetza’s Oaxacan cooking is the better sit-down pick over anything on Hollywood Blvd. If you would rather spend two full days actually inside the city instead of pushing straight out to the coast, the Los Angeles 2-day itinerary covers Griffith Park, the Getty and Downtown in far more depth than this plan does.
Day 2: Malibu and the Pacific Coast Highway
Pick up the rental car and drive Santa Monica Pier and the Venice boardwalk first, both free to walk with $10-20+ parking nearby, then push north on PCH into Malibu rather than turning back, since that drive is the entire point of having a car today. Stretches near the Palisades and Malibu corridor are still recovering from the January 2025 fire, so check the Caltrans QuickMap for current road status before you commit to the full run. The coastline itself and the pullout beaches cost nothing beyond parking. There is no realistic transit substitute for this day; LA Metro’s rail map makes it obvious how little of the county its corridors actually cover, and Malibu is not one of them.
Is two days enough for LA and a Southern California day trip?
Enough for a taste of both, not more. One light day in the city plus one full day trip is a realistic two-day plan; trying to fit Hollywood, the beach cities and Malibu all into two days just means a rushed version of all three instead of a good version of two.
Do you need a rental car for this two-day plan?
Only for day two. Day one works fine on rideshare or a short Metro ride, but Malibu has no meaningful transit connection from LA, so the PCH drive genuinely needs a car, even if you drop it back at the airport the same evening.
Fill the tank before you leave Malibu; gas stations thin out fast once you are past the built-up part of the coast, and running low on a Sunday evening drive back into LA traffic is the wrong way to end two good days.