The 7 Best Walking Tours to Take in Los Angeles

As the name might imply, these tours focus on the Los Angeles art scene. However, you won’t be heading to storied museums or other well-trodden destinations. These unique experiences explore Downtown’s graffiti and murals, the Brewery Art Complex where numerous artists have set up live/work space and studios, and other off-the-beaten-path, art-centric locations. The graffiti tour is particularly interesting, with insight into both quick works and elaborate murals from street artists. This walking tour generally last around two hours.

This historic beginnings walking tour is geared towards historic and architecturally significant landmarks across LA. Tours are led by knowledgable guides that will expose you to everything from specific neighborhoods, architectural styles (Art Deco, for instance) or, in some cases, single locations. See the murals and vaulted ceiling at Union Station, browse souvenirs as you stroll historic Olvera Street, then visit the concert halls, cathedral, and park that have reenergized Downtown L.A. See the site of the Angels’ Flight funicular, which once ferried Los Angeles’ elite into the city’s most sought after neighborhood.

Explore old and new downtown Los Angeles with tour that encompasses it all. This 2-hour walking tour will guide your small group to some of the finest architectural sites from the city’s golden era: the Pantages, the Bradbury Building, Grand Central Market and the Broadway Theater District. There’s no better way to get a feel for the City of Angels than exploring it on foot, so let a local guide lead the way as you absorb the colorful street scenes, history, and people.

On this walking tour, guides will lead you to various eateries where you can sample a variety of unique and quintessentially Los Angeles bites. The focus is primarily on Downtown L.A., with a trip to landmarks including the Bradbury Building (notable for its appearance in Blade Runner) and the gem that is Downtown’s century-old food hall, Grand Central Market. You can sample from various GCM vendors, plus you’ll pop into recommended restaurants to have a taste of the very best that Downton LA has to offer. All tours include six stops that, when combined, should fill you up.

This tour offers a robust history of bustling Hollywood. But, wait, isn’t Hollywood crowded and loud? Yes, it is, and that’s what makes this tour unique: each guest wears a headset that allows them to hear their microphoned guide directly in their ears. The guide is doing a live tour, not a pre-recorded one, which you can hear from up to 300ft (90m) away – crucial for when you need to stop and snap a photograph or tie your shoelace. Their Hollywood Tour features landmarks including filming locations, Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre, the Walk of Fame and the TCL Chinese Theatre, with plenty of history about the neighborhood and the industry thrown into the mix.

The ultimate tour for the very best of Downtown LA’s architecture. This walking tour through Downtown LA will take you on a journey through the city’s finest architectural monuments including the city’s tallest building, the Broadway Theater District, Central Library, the NoMadHotel, and much more. As you explore, you’ll hear a guide discuss the history and architecture of this vibrant city, making you truly appreciate and understand the magnificence of these significant buildings. Throughout the tour you will see examples of beaux arts, renaissance revival, art deco, and modernism. You will also have the opportunity to spot landmarks like the LA Central Library and the Fine Arts Building. A wonderful tour that encompasses sight seeing with history and architecture, perfect for first-time visitors to Los Angeles

Although you can’t hike directly to the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles, there is a legal trail that allows you to look out over the sign, which dates back to the 1920s awhen it was used as an advertisement for a real-estate venture. The sign originally read “Hollywoodland.” When the Great Depression hit, maintenance on the sign stopped, and eventually, the “land” part was taken down. This 2.5-hour walking tour combines sightseeing in the hills of Los Angeles with a vigorous but exciting walk up to the Hollywood sign. Learn about the history of Los Angeles on an entertaining hike that takes in Griffith Park, the Hollywood Hills neighborhood, and the Hollywood sign, and offers views of Burbank, the San Fernando Valley, and all of Los Angeles.