Are Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach worth it?

[u/Party-Wolverine8668]

I'll be in LA only two days...I'll start from here for my road trip. I was thinking of spending a day in Manhattan Beach and one in Santa Monica, what do you think? Are they nice and quiet places?

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[u/TigerSagittarius86]

Kinda far apart. If you’ve never been here before, Santa Monica and Venice will offer more for you.

Quiet in the mornings.

[u/Party-Wolverine8668 → u/TigerSagittarius86]

The first day after a 13 hour flight I would go to Manhattan Beach to relax a bit…the next day I would go to Santa Monica and also visit Venice

[u/littlebittydoodle → u/Party-Wolverine8668]

That’s fine. You don’t need two days in Santa Monica/Venice.

[u/Maximum-Wall-6843 → u/littlebittydoodle]

You don't need a full day in Manhattan Beach either. I think a full day of Manhattan Beach, Venice and Santa Monica is good and will keep you mostly busy.

[u/littlebittydoodle → u/Maximum-Wall-6843]

They are literally saying they don’t want to be busy. They want to relax somewhere quiet and peaceful by the beach. It’s so weird how everyone is trying to cram so much into this person’s day after a 13 hour flight.

[u/Maximum-Wall-6843 → u/littlebittydoodle]

Go touch some grass dude. All their OP says is: "I'll be in LA only two days...I'll start from here for my road trip. I was thinking of spending a day in Manhattan Beach and one in Santa Monica, what do you think? Are they nice and quiet places?"

It's so weird how weird you got over an innocuous comment.

[u/Life-Government-2619 → u/Maximum-Wall-6843]

Whoa you need relax there man! These crazy itineraries of ::checks comments:: Manhattan Beach to Santa Monica might crush this poor soul's spirit before they even get started! How will they ever survive!

[u/getwhirleddotcom]

Is the intention to actually go in the water or just walk around? Manhattan Beach will be nicer/quieter but less to do outside the beach than SM.

If you only have two days I’d do one day beach and one day something else like Griffith Observatory or one of the Getty’s. Even downtown with The Broad.

[u/No_Commercial4074]

Or rent a bike one day and ride to SM/Venice from MB. It’s a 45 minute ride and most of it along the strand. See both in one day and everything in between. Hermosa pier area is also worth a stop (a mile south of MB pier).

[u/calamititties → u/No_Commercial4074]

I like this idea. It would be a good way to recover from a long flight. Also lots of places to stop for snacks/drinks/oddities along the way. Rent an e-bike if you want to be real leisurely with it.

[u/lakersforever21]

Santa Monica is more of an attraction where MB is more beach

[u/thebone13]

I prefer Manhattan of the two, smaller scale and very nice city.

[u/Rebelgecko]

Might be a bit redundant because they're both cool but similar towns. Both beach towns, SM is a bit more touristy.

[u/flicman]

100% depends on what you like. Are you obsessed with beaches? What is your planned route after that? Do you want to say you visited LA when you go home from your trip, or is it like a "i drove the coast of California" thing? To me, it seems redundant to spend your only 2 days in 2 different beach towns, but I'm not a west sider.

[u/BKWK79]

Sounds like a good plan to me! Manhattan Beach is pretty small so you could also check out Hermosa Beach while you’re there. I have lived in LA over 20 years and I still like to go on the Santa Monica Ferris wheel on occasion. It’s a great way to see the view, especially right when the sun starts to set (magic hour). Have fun!

[u/SkullLeader]

Really depends on you. Manhattan Beach the beach itself is great but unless you actually want to hang out on the beach all day I think you'd get bored after a half a day or so there. Even though its part of our big city it has a somewhat small town feel to it. Santa Monica is a bit more of a "big city meets the beach" type of place, its less quiet and there's a lot of stuff right by the beach - the pier there has a big carnival on it with a huge Ferris Wheel and a couple of Roller Coasters, and right off the beach there's a huge outdoor mall.

[u/Fine-Hedgehog9172]

Definitely Santa Monica. Palisades Park, Montana Avenue, Main Street, ect. Skip Manhattan Beach. Very small, generic restaurants, and chain stores.

[u/death_wishbone3]

Santa Monica is full of tourists, traffic and homeless people now. Depends what you’re looking to do but I no longer find Santa Monica worth it. Their tolerance for homeless people screaming at pedestrians is too high.

[u/ferret_hunter702 → u/death_wishbone3]

I was there 3 days ago with my young kids and a crazy homeless bitch was walking around screaming the N word at everyone walking around, I was pretty annoyed.

[u/death_wishbone3 → u/ferret_hunter702]

Yeah kids are the worst. I don’t want to explain drugs and why people do them to a seven year old. I don’t want to explain why nobody else cares. It’s cruel on a lot of levels and I’m embarrassed to show my kids we live somewhere that thinks it’s ok or not as bad as the 90s 🥴

[u/poophoto]

Skip Santa Monica and kick up to Malibu hit any beach and then grab lunch at the Malibu country mart you’ll have lots of options

[u/anon_user221]

You could probably do Manhattan and Santa Monica on the same day. Then have your other day free.

[u/Party-Wolverine8668]

Santa Monica I thought was a beautiful place and an absolute must see but I see many negative opinions…

[u/Fine-Hedgehog9172 → u/Party-Wolverine8668]

Santa Monica is beautiful. Check our Montana Avenue.

[u/babs1789]

I love Manhattan beach. Go to the strand, have some lunch, some drinks, go to the shops, and then just walk to the ocean and hang out for a bit. I personally hate SM.

[u/socal55677]

Manhatten is much nicer

[u/senor_gring0]

Go to Manhattan Beach. It’s way nicer.

[u/KevinTheCarver]

Manhattan Beach is cute but I don’t think you need to spend an entire day there.