A passionate getaway in Los Angeles

Where to start? Remember that the city, including the towns attached to it under its county, covers 1300 km2. The truth is, if the weather is good, it would be a shame not to start with the beach. Firstly, because you can never be sure that the weather won't turn bad (it's almost always sunny in L.A., but for only 3 days, let's not take the risk).

The promenade from Pacific Palisades to Venice Beach

The beautiful beach at Pacific Palisades makes you want to go for a run, walk with your feet in the water, play ball or have breakfast in good company while watching the city wake up. You're just a dozen kilometres from Beverly Hills. To the north, the mountains take centre stage.

As far as the hotel is concerned, the Beverly Hills Marriott is a good compromise location for those who want to enjoy the beach, but also Beverly Hills and other major attractions such as the Getty Villa, the Getty Center and Hollywood. You may find it cheaper, but the hotel offers its undeniable standing, its advantageous location and a very pleasant swimming pool when you return in the evening after your wanderings under the Californian sun.

A dozen kilometres separate Sunset Beach to the north from Marina del Rey to the south, where the fine sandy beach ends at a stretch called Charlie Beach. To be honest, it's a real pleasure to take this beautiful walk in the morning, when the weather is fine, on this immense beach in a single stretch. With the morning breeze helping, you can walk quietly to the sound of the waves dying away at your feet. The places you pass through are among the most famous in California. First there's Pacific Palisades, world-famous for the eponymous 90s soap produced by the producer of Beverly Hills 90210. As you head south, you'll pass Will Rogers Beach, then Will Rogers State Beach, then Will Rogers Beach State Park. Here, Will Rogers is everywhere! He was a famous actor from the silent era who died attempting to fly around the world. You'll soon arrive in Santa Monica.

It's tempting to stop off at the famous Santa Monica Pier, where you'll find a host of attractions, including the Pacific Wheel, which can be seen for miles around. Welcome to Pacific Park! The rollercoasters at the West Coaster are a delight for teenagers, and if you fancy a thrilling ride through the air, now's your chance. But if you want to admire the ocean and the vastness of Los Angeles, you'd better choose the Pacific Wheel - that's what it's there for!

It's a family venue, designed for all-day use. So keep your priorities straight. If it's midday and you're feeling hungry, you can choose between hot dogs, the indisputable cheese burger at Pier Burger, grilled lobster or prawns, or a Mexican restaurant serving generous, colourful plates. If you're looking for a typical place to eat, come and see us at Bubba Gump! What's Bubba Gump? Or rather, have you seen Forrest Gump? The famous film by Robert Zemeckis (the same man who gave us Back To The Future!) ends with Forrest going into shrimp farming with his friend Bubba.

That was all it took for a chain of restaurants specialising in prawns to spring up all over the country. Including the one on the pier. In this friendly atmosphere, choose a table near the bay window. You'll have a great view of the beach and ocean.

For lunch, a nice alternative is Perry's Cafe on the beach, about 1 km to the south. Here you can enjoy lunch on the sand, hire sun loungers, play beach volleyball and hire bikes to take you further south. Of course, you'll need to book in advance. It's top-of-the-range, with a tuxedoed butler at your service on the beach.

Another Perry's Cafe can be found a few steps from Santa Monica Pier, on the promenade beside the beach, but it's not as classy or complete as the one we've told you about. There are 4 in Santa Monica and 3 in Venice Beach.

Push a little further south. Venice Beach is a must-see beach in Los Angeles. Everything here is beautiful. The beach (the whole promenade is), the sea, the people doing all kinds of sports, and even their pets!

Now it's time to go home and jump in a taxi! Ocean Ave. will take you back to your hotel. Take a nice shower or dip your head in your hotel pool, and get ready for a visit to billionaire Getty. We'll take you to the Getty Villa!

The Getty Villa

You could have started with this tour in the morning, as the Getty Villa is on Pacific Palisades, but opens at 10am. (You could, however, start with the Getty Villa, then walk along the beach to Santa Monica, and have lunch on the pier).

The site is interesting for several reasons. Firstly, it was designed by the billionaire J. Paul Getty, who was passionate about ancient art and knew it inside out. The property was modelled on the Villa dei Papyri in Herculaneum, Campania, which was buried by the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius at the beginning of our era. So it's likely that the billionaire wanted it to rise from the ashes, as it were, here in California.

This lost villa is remarkable not only for the collection of beautiful bronzes that were found there, but also because it contained an impressive library of papyri, particularly Epicurean ones, of inestimable historical value. This background is essential to understanding the Getty Museum. Its collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities is so vast that the museum's managers had to imagine extending it. The Getty Center was designed and built in Brentwood, a few kilometres away. Another opportunity for a visit.

The villa and its gardens alone are well worth a visit. It's a luxury of ponds and fountains, finely-trimmed shrubs, sculpted marble benches and Doric columns. Ancient Italy meets 21st-century California.

If you have time later, head to the Getty Center in Brentwood. This is a museum of classical art covering periods prior to the 20th century that complements the ancient period represented at the Getty Villa. Insofar as the former is an extension of the latter, the two exhibition centres are known as the J. Paul Getty Museum. The two sites are 25km apart by road.

In the evening, you can stroll along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. This city is a spectacle in itself.

That's the only reason your children have come to Los Angeles! Disneyland. The original. THE amusement park that makes the whole world dream and that we cross the Atlantic for. Located in Anaheim, a town in the Los Angeles metropolitan area known primarily for its magic, this park covers 34 hectares. When it was created in 1955, it was the largest amusement park in the world.

The smartest way to be there when it opens is to have slept in Anaheim. We therefore recommend that you book a hotel in the area.

If you know music, you won't feel out of place. You'll pass the entrance, its good humour, its cheerful tunes played by brass instruments and its brass band. Then there's Mainstreet and Sleeping Beauty Castle. You're all familiar with this avenue, which has a Middle West feel from the 1930s. Once past the castle, it's all about adventure!

Adventureland is a section of the park where Tarzan took refuge, in the gigantic 23-metre-high tree, Tarzan's Treehouse, accessed by a rope bridge, as well as the Swiss Robinsons. The old-fashioned world of Jungle Cruise, featured in the film of the same name in 2021, can also be found here.

Frontierland then takes us to the cowboys, with a rollercoaster ride through the rocks, the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. You can take a ride on a paddle-steamer on a river that thinks it's the Mississippi. And there's much more.

Tomorrowland takes you into the future! This is the space of the Space Mountain rocket and the Orbitron interstellar shuttles. With the Star Tours, you can go on a mission on the big screen in the world of Star Wars, which belongs to Disney, just like Marvel!

New Orleans Square will take you to Bourbon Street where you can visit the Haunted Mansion, Disneyland's haunted house!

And if you're still there in the evening, Fantasmic will feature the Disney characters of our childhood: Mowgli and Baloo from The Jungle Book, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, or The Lion King, under a joyful display of fireworks and lights.

The next day, back to Disney, this time at Disney California Adventure Park.

With this second theme park, Disney is banking on the world of Pixar, creators of the humorous and inventive cartoons in the Toy Story saga, featuring Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear. But also Monsters Inc, Wall-E, Cars, Dory's World, The Incredibles and Ratatouille. All box-office hits!

Disney California Adventure Park is dedicated to them. What's more, Disney is also adding odysseys from the House of Ideas (Marvel) to the park, such as Guardians of the Galaxy. In all, there are 35 attractions for you to enjoy in this park, based around the Pixar (Cars Land), Marvel (Avengers Campus) and Star Wars franchises!

Added to these are the Grizzly Peak areas, based around California's national parks, where you can take a trip on a river full of life (Grizzly River Run), Paradise Gardens Park and Pixar Pier, featuring seaside attractions, notably around The Little Mermaid and Toy Story, and Pacific Wharf, which recreates small Californian fishing ports.

This attraction, whose counterpart exists in Marne-La-Vallée under the name Tower of Terror, consists, in the heart of the galaxy, in a tower strewn with pitfalls whose course will lead you to the top to better appreciate the fall. A guaranteed hit!

And don't forget that, as in France, you can also use FastPasses. These are paying ticket-cutters that allow you to significantly reduce your waiting time in the queues at certain attractions.