Universal CityWalk

Address:Los Angeles, California

Universal CityWalk, just adjacent to Universal Studios theme park, is a great place to have relaxing fun and do some shopping after a long day at the theme park. The open-air street has a variety of shops and dining options, plenty of entertainment and a movie theater.

Street performers entertain you as you make your way through CityWalk and choose your entertainment. Fun themed restaurants include the Memphis-influenced B.B. King's Blues Club with an authentic Creole menu. Bubba Gump Shrimp, Wolf Gang Puck Café or HardRock Café are fun for the whole family. Café Tu Tu Tango is an artist-loft themed restaurant featuring more than 1,000 paintings from local artists, a garden of colorful string lights and a welcoming outdoor patio. The café's eclectic, tapas-style menu is accompanied by live entertainment, including belly dancers and fortune tellers. The Saddle Ranch Chop House is CityWalk's only rock western steak house, whose Texas sized portions will never let you go hungry! With the largest bar and outdoor patio at CityWalk, you can either roast your own s'mores or enjoy a glass of wine by the fire. There's also a live music stage, outdoor dance floor and over 100 monitors and big screens showing all satellite sporting events. To really get you going, try taking a ride on one of their indoor or outdoor mechanical bulls!

After you eat, consider visiting the award-winning Gibson Amphitheatre, one of the most active live performance venues in the world, drawing artists like James Taylor, Nine Inch Nails, Juan Gabriel, Bette Midler, Keith Sweat, Beck, Wynonna and Kenny G. The Gibson Amphitheater is a great experience, with no curfew, no sound restrictions, and no seat more than 150 feet from the stage. Or take part in a singing, clapping, stomping, dance-on-the-piano, rock 'n' roll show at Howl on The Moon! It's part concert, part piano bar, all centered around audience interaction and two baby grand pianos. Get your groove on in the Rumba Room, a multi-level sizzling Latin dance club featuring live Salsa, Merengue, Latin Jazz and Rock en Español. There's also delicious tapas and two full bars.

For fun and games, go to Jillian's Hi Life Lanes, with a great restaurant, state-of-the-art video games, bowling electronic simulation attractions, dancing, music and broadcasted sports. To relax from all the noise, visit Zen Zone's oxygen bar, where you can drink tea or tonic and get a chair or a foot massage.

There's plenty of shopping at CityWalk. Its array of shops include many well-known mall chains as well as California specialty stores like Chocolaté Loco, LA's most unusual chocolate store which salutes the Aztec origins of Chocolate and Mexico. The store is pure chocolate heaven, with handmade Mexican dulces, chocolate-covered fresh jalapeños and jalapeño & habenero brownies. At the hot cocoa bar sample Mexican spiced cocoa, truffles and chocolates. Other themed novelty stores sell socks, magnets, comic books and toys.

Don't pass up CityWalk on your way to or from the theme park. Entrance is always free, though there is a fee for parking and certain clubs have cover charges.