Los Angeles in 2 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
Two days in Los Angeles: the budget version
Two days is not enough to see Los Angeles, and anyone promising otherwise is selling a bus tour. It is enough to do two neighborhoods properly: Hollywood and Griffith Park on day one, Santa Monica and Venice on day two, both mostly free once you get there. Skip the urge to add Downtown or Beverly Hills; a third neighborhood mostly buys you more time in rideshares and less time at the places you actually came for. Want more room? The 4-day plan adds Downtown and the Getty Center. Malibu and Disneyland are their own trips, covered in the SoCal itinerary , not this one.
| Day | Focus | Rough spend (per person) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Koreatown dinner | $60-100 |
| Day 2 | Santa Monica Pier, Venice Boardwalk, beach-town dinner | $50-80 |
Book these before you go:
- Your LA hotel : compare a Hollywood base against a Santa Monica one before committing to either neighborhood.
- A Hollywood and Griffith tour : worth booking if you would rather skip the transit math on day one.
- Santa Monica bike rental : the fastest way to cover the boardwalk down to Venice without renting a car for the whole trip.
Do you need a rental car for 2 days in Los Angeles?
No, and this is the one trip length where skipping it is the right call. LA overall is fundamentally car-dependent, but two areas confined to a weekend is the exception: rideshare, or the Metro E line between Downtown and Santa Monica, covers both days for less than two or three days of parking, which runs $15-25 at most Hollywood and Santa Monica lots. Budget $35-55 for the LAX-to-hotel ride, more during rush hour (7-10am or 3-7pm).
Where to stay for 2 nights
Hostel dorm beds in Hollywood or Santa Monica run $40-70 a night. A basic hotel room in either area runs $150-220 a night, with Santa Monica costing more for the same quality of room. Base yourself in whichever neighborhood matters more to you and rideshare into the other one for its day.
Day 1: Hollywood and Griffith Park
Get to Griffith Observatory before 10am if you can. Admission and parking are both free, but the lot fills fast on weekends and there is no overflow lot worth waiting for. The planetarium show is ticketed separately, roughly $10-15. Grab coffee and a pastry in Los Feliz on the way up, $8-12.
Do not pay for anything on Hollywood Boulevard itself. Walk the Walk of Fame for 30-45 minutes, get a photo at the TCL Chinese Theatre forecourt, and move on. It is a grittier, more crowded strip than the postcards suggest, with costumed characters angling for tip money and hawkers pushing “free” star maps. Skip both.
Lunch is an In-N-Out combo for $8-12, or a taco truck plate for less. For dinner, take a $10-15 rideshare out to Koreatown instead of eating on the tourist strip. Korean BBQ runs $30-50 a person all-you-can-eat, or keep it cheap with a single fried chicken plate for $12-18.
Rough Day 1 spend per person, food and admissions only: $60-100.
Day 2: Santa Monica and Venice
Santa Monica Beach and the Pier are both free to walk. Parking near the pier runs $10-20+ for the day depending on season, so if you skipped the rental, take the E line from Downtown, about 45-50 minutes for a $1.75 fare with a two-hour transfer window on a TAP card, or rideshare instead.
Rent a beach cruiser to ride the bike path down to Venice, $15-20 for a few hours, or walk it in 45 minutes to an hour along the boardwalk. Lunch is a burger at a boardwalk stand for $12-18, or a sit-down spot in Venice for more. Venice Boardwalk people-watching costs nothing: vendors, street performers, Muscle Beach. Budget $10-15 only if you want a caricature or henna tattoo.
Watch the sunset from the pier, then eat dinner in Santa Monica or Venice, $20-30 a person for something better than fast food.
Rough Day 2 spend per person, food and admissions only: $50-80.
Is 2 days enough time for Los Angeles?
Two days covers one Hollywood-area neighborhood and one beach neighborhood comfortably, but it skips Downtown, the Getty Center, and Beverly Hills entirely. That is the correct tradeoff for a first weekend, not a compromise: adding a third area turns a relaxed two days into a rushed three. If any of those matter, budget at least 4 days.
How much does 2 days in Los Angeles actually cost?
Figure $110-180 per person across both days for food and admissions, plus $70-110 in rideshares if you skip the rental car entirely. Lodging adds $80-220 a night on top depending on hostel versus hotel. Drop the Koreatown dinner for a taco truck plate both nights and the food total falls closer to $70-100.
Quick tip
Load $10-15 onto a TAP card before you need it, in the app or at a vending machine in any Metro station. Once you ride enough in one day, the fare automatically caps at $5, so there is no day pass to buy in advance.