City at a Glance
Los Angeles is less a city and more a low, sprawling galaxy of neighbourhoods stitched together by motorways and palm trees. The city proper is around four million people, but the wider LA metro pushes thirteen million, spread across an area roughly the size of Yorkshire. There is no single centre. Downtown LA exists but does not dominate. Instead you get a constellation of distinct places — Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice, Silver Lake, Pasadena, Long Beach, Beverly Hills, Inglewood — each with its own character, its own restaurants, its own personality, and its own traffic jams.
For an English visitor used to walkable European cities, the scale takes a couple of days to wrap your head around. Distances that look short on a map will take an hour to drive in rush hour. You will spend a lot of time in cars or on trains, and that is just the deal. The reward is genuine variety: surf beaches and snow-capped mountains within an hour of each other, Korean barbecue and Salvadorian pupusas and Persian kebabs and proper Mexican tacos all within a couple of miles, and an outdoor lifestyle made possible by 280-plus days of sunshine a year. By June the rainy season is well and truly over, the days are long and warm, and the city is at its best.
LA has not historically been America's biggest football town — basketball, American football and baseball loom larger — but the city does have a significant Mexican, Salvadorian and Argentine population for whom proper football is the only football, plus the LA Galaxy and LAFC of MLS pulling strong crowds. For the tournament the city is hosting eight matches at SoFi Stadium, including knockout round fixtures, and the local appetite for the tournament is enormous.
The Stadium & Match Day
SoFi Stadium opened in 2020 in Inglewood, about twelve miles south-west of downtown LA and four miles inland from the coast at Manhattan Beach. It is the most expensive stadium ever built, at roughly $5 billion, and it shows. The signature feature is the translucent ETFE roof that lets sunlight through but blocks the heat — technically the stadium is "indoor-outdoor", which means the sides are open at the upper levels and there is no traditional climate control, but you are comfortably shaded from the southern California sun. Capacity for FIFA matches is around 70,000, configured with seats wrapped on all sides and an enormous double-sided suspended video board running the length of the field.
Match-day access is genuinely good by LA standards. The Metro K Line (the light rail formerly called the Crenshaw/LAX line) has a station, Downtown Inglewood, less than a mile from the stadium. From there it is a short walk along well-signed match-day routes, or a quick shuttle. From downtown LA, the trip is about forty-five minutes by train; from Santa Monica it is more like an hour by combining the E Line and the K Line. There is also a free shuttle from the Hawthorne/Lennox Metro station for big events. Driving is possible — there are huge car parks around the Hollywood Park complex — but the traffic on the 405 and the 105 motorways will test your patience, and parking is expensive ($60-$120 for prime spots on match days).
Inside the stadium, the bag policy is strict (clear bags only, roughly A4 envelope size, with limited exceptions). The venue is fully cashless. The food and drink offer is genuinely impressive, with proper LA restaurants running concessions — Pizzeria Mozza, Howlin' Ray's hot chicken, a Roy Choi taco stand — and the prices are in the usual American stadium territory of $14 for a beer and $20 for a burger. Allow plenty of time on the way out: the Metro will queue and the Uber pickup zones get gridlocked.
A practical note about weather: June in LA can be deceptively cool in the mornings due to the marine layer — a low overcast known locally as "June gloom" — but burns off by early afternoon. Day matches will be warm, evening matches genuinely pleasant. Sun cream is essential for anyone sitting on the south-facing side of the bowl in daytime fixtures.
Where to Stay
Santa Monica — $250-$500/night. The classic choice for a first-time visitor to LA. Santa Monica gives you the beach on your doorstep, the pier, the pedestrianised Third Street Promenade, decent restaurants and a properly walkable centre that does not really exist anywhere else in greater LA. Pros: beachfront, walkable, easy Metro E Line into downtown, plenty of hotel options at every level. Cons: most expensive part of the metro, and you are 45-60 minutes from SoFi on match day.
Hollywood / West Hollywood — $200-$400/night. Central, tourist-friendly, near the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Sign viewing spots and Griffith Park. WeHo specifically has the best concentration of bars and restaurants for an evening out. Pros: iconic, lively, good Metro access on the B Line, decent restaurant scene. Cons: tourist crowds, some areas seedier than others (Hollywood Boulevard itself has rough patches), longer trip to the stadium.
Inglewood / El Segundo / Manhattan Beach — $180-$450/night. If you want to be near the stadium, the South Bay coastal towns are the smart play. Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach are proper laid-back beach towns with cracking restaurants. El Segundo is quieter and cheaper. Inglewood itself is right next to SoFi and rebuilding fast. Pros: short trip to the stadium, beach access, generally lower prices than the Westside. Cons: less to do at night than central LA, you will still need cars or ride-shares to get to anything tourist-y.
Downtown LA (DTLA) — $180-$350/night. The actual downtown has had a serious renaissance in the last decade. You get the Arts District, Little Tokyo, Grand Central Market, the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the best Metro access in the city. Pros: walkable nightlife, decent food, best public transport links, easy K Line trip to the stadium. Cons: still some rough blocks, particularly around Skid Row, and the area can feel deserted at weekends in the financial blocks.
Getting Around
The single most important thing to know about LA is that the public transport is much better than the city's reputation suggests, and it is currently the best it has ever been thanks to a decade of Metro expansion. The Metro rail network now has six lines covering most of the places a tourist actually wants to go: downtown, Hollywood, Pasadena, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Inglewood and LAX (via the K Line and the new Automated People Mover that opened in 2026). A standard fare is $1.75 with free transfers within two hours. Get yourself a TAP card at any station, load some money on it, and you will save a small fortune compared to ride-shares.
For anywhere the Metro does not reach — which is still a lot of LA — Uber and Lyft are your default option. A trip from Hollywood to Santa Monica is typically $25-$45 depending on traffic. Hire cars are easy at LAX but consider whether you actually want to drive: parking is expensive everywhere, the traffic is genuinely awful, and the experience is more stressful than scenic.
LAX, the main airport, is twenty minutes from SoFi Stadium in good traffic but can take an hour at peak times. The 2026 opening of the Automated People Mover finally connects LAX directly to the Metro system without a bus transfer, which is transformative. Plan to arrive at the airport at least three hours early for international departures — LAX is notorious for slow security and chaotic terminals.
Food & Drink
In-N-Out Burger — Yes, you have to. The classic west coast fast-food chain has been doing simple, fresh, properly cooked burgers since 1948. Order a Double-Double, animal style, with fries and a chocolate shake. Total cost about $12. There are branches everywhere across the metro, including a famous one near LAX where you can watch planes land overhead from the car park.
Grand Central Market (Downtown LA) — A century-old covered food hall that is the single best lunch destination in the city. Eggslut for breakfast, Wexler's Deli for pastrami, Sari Sari for Filipino, Belcampo for burgers, Villa Moreliana for tacos. Wander, point, eat.
Guisados — A small chain of taquerias doing slow-braised meat tacos on hand-made tortillas. The Boyle Heights original is the spiritual home but the Echo Park, DTLA and Silver Lake branches are equally good. Order the sampler. Total bill for two people stuffed: about $35.
Howlin' Ray's — Nashville-style hot chicken, ferocious queues, a cult following, and the original location in Chinatown is worth the wait at least once. Order at "medium" unless you genuinely enjoy pain. They also have a stand inside SoFi for match days.
Republique — On La Brea, in a stunning historic building that was once Charlie Chaplin's studio offices. Brilliant pastry programme in the morning, French-Californian dinner at night, and one of the best brunches in the city. Book ahead.
Things to Do Beyond the Match
Griffith Observatory — Free to enter, perched on the south side of Griffith Park, with one of the best views of the Hollywood Sign and the LA basin. Go at sunset, stay for the planetarium show. Bring a coat — it gets cool at night even in June.
The Getty Center — A genuinely world-class art museum perched on a hilltop in Brentwood, with strong European painting collections, beautiful gardens, and views over the entire west side. Free entry, $25 to park, accessible by Metro and a short bus ride.
Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach Boardwalk — The classic LA beach day. The Pacific Park funfair on the pier, the Pacific Park Ferris wheel, the bike path running south to Venice, the muscle beach gym, the buskers and oddballs of the Venice boardwalk. Hire bikes for the full experience.
Hollywood Walk of Fame and TCL Chinese Theatre — Touristy, slightly scruffy in places, but you came to LA so you may as well see it. Combine with a stop at the Egyptian Theatre or the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel for a properly old-school cocktail.
The Broad and MOCA (Downtown) — Two of the city's best contemporary art museums, walking distance apart on Grand Avenue. The Broad is free with timed entry; book in advance for the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirror Room.
Universal Studios Hollywood — Working studio plus theme park. Pricier than Disney but smaller and more manageable in a day. The studio tour itself is the bit that justifies the ticket.
Disneyland (Anaheim, 45 min south) — Technically in Orange County, technically a day trip, but worth mentioning here because it is the original Disney park and a quintessential American experience. Allow a full long day or two days.
Hollywood Sign Hike — Several routes up. The Brush Canyon trail from Bronson Canyon is the most accessible. Two hours up and back, mostly fire road, no shade. Go early.
Hidden Gems
The Last Bookstore (Downtown LA) — A vast independent bookshop in an old bank building, with a famous book tunnel upstairs and a vinyl section in the vault. Free to browse, easy hour or two of wandering.
Olvera Street — The historic core of LA, a Mexican-style market street in the original Pueblo de Los Angeles, just north of Union Station. Touristy but charming, with proper taquitos and old buildings dating to 1818.
Smorgasburg LA (Sundays, Arts District) — Brooklyn's famous open-air food market has an LA branch every Sunday from 10am. Forty or so independent food stalls, picnic tables, beers. The single best lunch in LA on the right day.
The Theme Building at LAX — The Jetsons-style 1961 spaceship sitting in the middle of LAX has been closed to the public for years but is gorgeous to look at on the drive in or out. Worth knowing the name when you spot it.
Day Trips
Disneyland, Anaheim (45-60 min south) — Original Disney park, charming and manageable in a single day if you start early. Drive or take Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to Anaheim.
Joshua Tree National Park (2.5 hours east) — Surreal high desert landscape, giant boulders, the famous Joshua trees. Best done as a sunrise-to-sunset trip with a car. Properly otherworldly.
Santa Barbara (1.5-2 hours north) — Whitewashed Mission-style architecture, a beautiful waterfront, wine bars on State Street and a properly relaxed afternoon. The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner is one of the most scenic train rides in America.
Sports Culture
LA is a properly serious sports town, even if the relationship is complicated. The Lakers and the Clippers play NBA basketball at the Intuit Dome and Crypto.com Arena respectively, the Dodgers play Major League Baseball at Dodger Stadium (one of the most beautiful sporting venues in America, and worth a visit even for a casual cricket fan), the Rams and the Chargers share SoFi for NFL games, the LA Kings play NHL ice hockey downtown.
For football specifically, LA has two MLS clubs and they hate each other in proper derby style. The LA Galaxy, the older and more traditionally famous club (David Beckham's old team), play at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, south of downtown. LAFC, the newer and more aggressively trendy club, play at BMO Stadium next to USC and have arguably the best atmosphere in MLS — their supporters group, the 3252, runs a proper European-style ultras section behind the goal. The El Tráfico derby between the two is genuinely heated.
For watching matches in pubs, the safest bets are The Cock and Bull in Santa Monica (proper British pub, full Premier League schedule, decent fish and chips), Ye Olde King's Head also in Santa Monica, and Tom Bergin's on Fairfax which has an Irish slant but pulls a serious matchday crowd.
Practical Tips for English Fans
- Tipping is 18-22% in restaurants, $1-$2 per drink at the bar, $1-$2 per bag for porters. Tipping culture in LA is intense — a 15% tip will get visible eye-rolls.
- Drinking age is 21, and bars and restaurants will ID anyone who looks under thirty-five. Carry your passport.
- Sales tax in LA County is 9.5%, added on at the till. Restaurant bills will also sometimes add a 3-5% "healthcare" or "service" surcharge — read the small print before you tip.
- June weather is warm and dry: average highs around 22-25°C inland, cooler at the coast due to the marine layer. Mornings can be overcast and cool ("June gloom"), afternoons sunny. Pack layers.
- Sun is fierce when it does come out, especially at the beach. The marine layer hides UV that will still burn you. Wear sun cream.
- Drinking in public is illegal — open alcohol on the street, beach or in a park will get you a fine.
- Cannabis is legal for recreational use over 21 but consuming in public is still illegal.
- Traffic is real. Build serious buffers into match-day journeys and trips to LAX. Apple and Google Maps both give honest live estimates.
- Marijuana smell is everywhere — get used to it. It is not a sign of trouble.
- Air conditioning is set very cold indoors. A light layer in your day bag is sensible.
- Tap water is safe to drink but heavily chlorinated; restaurants will bring filtered water if you ask.
- Avoid Hollywood Boulevard late at night if you can — it gets rough. Stick to West Hollywood, Silver Lake or Santa Monica for evening strolls.