Things to do / Travel Guide
On the whole, living in southern California can be quite expensive, but visiting doesn't have to be.
Shopping, for instance, can be more expensive in some parts of towns than in others; the same can be said of dining. It is possible to find, for example, a fantastic and inexpensive hole-in-the-wall restaurant or café in Little Tokyo than a top-end French café in West Hollywood.
Rental cars are competitively priced and deals can always be found, but remember that gas is expensive in southern California. Due to the large volume of cars on the roads, the drivers of southern California, on average, spend anywhere from one to three extra days per year stuck in traffic. Simple arithmetic will tell you this is going to trickle down to spending more money on gasoline than compared to the rest of the country.
The entry costs for attractions, especially the well-known ones such as Universal Studios, Hollywood, Disneyland, or Legoland in San Diego, can generally be expensive, sometimes costing upwards of $40 per person (not including food, drinks, and souvenirs). If you want to save some money, it's therefore probably best to choose one or two favorite attractions to visit, and to bring your own snacks.
As southern California is a large geographical region and as hotel costs run the gamut from high luxury to economy inns, visitors to the region with specific itineraries should carefully consider where they might want to stay. In general, average hotel prices usually start at about $65 a night. More reasonably priced hotels can be found near LAX or in the peripheral suburbs of Los Angeles, while expensive and exclusive hotels can be found in Beverly Hills, for example.
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