10 Things to Do in Los Angeles in Summer

Sun, sea and music! Los Angeles is one of the favorite summer destinations in the United States for its beach atmosphere and warm temperatures. But the truth is that in the summer there are plenty of things to see and do in the city, so if you're going to spend a few days there, the least you'll do is get bored.

Whether it's spending a day at Venice Beach, taking a hike or just having a drink on a rooftop: Los Angeles is really full of activities to do all the time in the summer. The city completely adapts to your tastes and hobbies and I promise you 'll have a great time during your entire vacation. Are you up for ten things to do in this great California city during the summer?

If there is a symbol in Los Angeles, it is Venice Beach. But Venice is not just a beach, but a group of beaches, accompanied by canals, buildings and other constructions. At times, Venice seems like a city in itself, so I recommend you spend a day in this fantastic place, from morning to night. Here you can eat well, swim, relax, surf and party.

Venice Beach is four kilometers long, so you can walk it from end to end for a little exercise before going into the water. You can also rent a bike and use it all day long. But that's not all you can do. When the sun is not so intense, I invite you to tour the canals of Venice with a rented boat or on one of the best boat tours in the city that you can hire directly from Venice Beach.

When you visit the canals, you will realize that this is also a tour of the homes of the rich and famous, because these are located on the edge of the canals. At the end of this tour and as the end of the day approaches, I recommend that you sit on the sand and watch the sun go down, with maximum relaxation.

Did you think Los Angeles only had parties in the summer? That's because you haven't hiked to the waterfalls. The area around Los Angeles is a perfect place to hike, because they're low mountains that allow you to cool off a bit from the heat. But the best part is that there are some small waterfalls and streams with fantastic pools where you can take a dip.

The best part is that these hikes can be done by anyone, because their difficulty levels are extremely low. One of the best is Millard Canyon Falls, which is part of the Angeles National Forest, in the Altadena area, where you can even have a view of the ocean. But also in Malibu you can do the Solstice Canyon Falls tour, where you can enjoy a waterfall of almost 10 meters, to cool off from the summer heat.

When you're in Los Angeles, you'll notice the huge Asian influence in the city. The Lotus Festival is your chance to check it out. This festival is held in the beautiful Echo Lake Park, during two days in the month of July when the imposing lotus flower blooms in that park and where you can also take one of the best boat rides in Los Angeles.

The lotus flower is just an excuse to exalt the Asian heritage in California in a two-day festival where there will be a lot of music, cultural activities and film shows, but not only. If you decide to go to this festival you can also eat delicious Asian food and also, with some luck, you can ride on a traditional dragon boat for a canoe race. Don't you think it's amazing?

Practical information

• Location: 751 Echo Park Avenue, Los Angeles, 90026

• Price: Free admission

• Hours: Saturday and Sunday mid-July, 12 noon to 9 p.m.

The icon of music festivals in Los Angeles is Hard. This is an electronic music festival, mainly focused on alternative and emerging artists, although every year there are big stars on the roster. The Hard Summer is a festival that usually takes place in Downtown Los Angeles, so the beach atmosphere will be the order of the day.

Come on, if your thing is to be, in summer, in a crowded event listening to electronic music, then the Hard Summer is for you. The best thing is that it is a three-day festival: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with a different lineup each day for you to have a great time. The festival usually starts at about 4 pm and ends at dawn, so recharge your batteries that night and don't miss any of the two days.

Practical information

• Location: usually in Downtown Los Angeles, although on occasion it has been held in San Bernardino, a suburb of Los Angeles.

• Price: you can buy a general admission ticket for approximately 230 € which will be valid for all three days.

• Hours: Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the last week of July, starting at 4 p.m.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is one of the most important museums in the city, but in the summer it is recognized because the museum hosts some very special jazz evenings. If you go, you can enjoy the museum, take pictures at the famous Urban Light lamp sculpture and then walk to the museum's plaza, where there will be a constant jazz performance every Friday.

There are no big seats here: you can sit on the floor or wherever you can and watch the different groups play the most classic jazz, as well as different modern manifestations of this wonderful musical genre. Admission is totally free and there will be no excuse for you to miss it, because it is an event that is repeated every Friday night, so you can go at least once during your stay.

Practical information

• Location: in the plaza of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, 90036

• Price: admission is completely free

• Hours: every Friday during the summer, starting at 6 p.m.

Have you ever seen Hollywood movies set in Los Angeles, where the characters lie down on a rooftop to watch a movie? Or stay for a movie show in the middle of the street? Well, this is not the invention of Hollywood movies, it really happens every summer in Los Angeles. For example, you can go to the Rooftop Cinema Club, a franchise that is in different cities, but in Los Angeles has one of its main ones and where you can see the best movies from a rooftop.

In this case, you can buy tickets for three different sites: the club in the Arts District, the one in Downtown Los Angeles and the one in El Segundo. I recommend doing so because it's one of the symbols of California summer, but if you're a little scared of rooftops, then perhaps events like the StreetFood Cinema are the best for you. Here you can combine food and movie screenings that are set up on public thoroughfares or in museums like the Autry. This event usually takes place between June and July and will be a great cultural evening.

Are you going to be in Los Angeles at the end of August to close out the summer? Do you want to experience an all-out festival that combines electronic music with indie and rap? Then what are you waiting for to buy your tickets to go to This Ain't No Picnic? This is a festival that takes place at the Rose Bowl, one of the largest soccer stadiums in the United States with 95 thousand spectators, so you will not lack company.

The lineup of this festival that has already become a tradition, is very varied and conquers all kinds of musical tastes. In addition, it lasts two days, Saturday and Sunday, so you will have a night to rest and continue enjoying the best indie and electronic artists that will vibrate the entire audience of the Rose Bowl. Get ready to dance, enjoy and scream this weekend at the end of August.

Practical Info

• Location: at the Rose Bowl, a soccer stadium located in Pasadena, Los Angeles.

• Price: you can buy a general admission ticket for around $300 for both days or $160 for one day only

• Hours: Saturday and Sunday of the last weekend of August, from noon onwards

Every June 28th is commemorated around the world as LGBTI Pride Day. That's why one of the first activities of the summer you will have in Los Angeles will be the LGBTI Pride rally and parades And is that Los Angeles makes one of the largest parades in the United States and the world where there will be no way you will get bored with so much color and floats.

This is the main event and usually takes place on Hollywood Boulevard, but it is not the only one. In fact, the whole month of June is Pride Month and with that theme you can attend all-day festivals like La Pride! In The Park, where all kinds of pop stars will be singing. Also, if you are interested in shopping, the weekends of June will be the Made With Pride, where art and music will be sold, in a cultural and vindicative environment for the LGBTI community. It's a perfect excuse to take a stroll.

One of the biggest neighborhoods in Los Angeles is Chinatown, both in importance and number of tourists. But there are three days in the summer where Chinatown takes on an amazing relevance in the whole city: Chinatown Summer Nights, a series of street parties where you can eat the best food in food trucks, drink beer and see the best DJs and bands of Californian artists. You can also shop for vintage clothing and even collectibles.

Chinatown Summer Nights is an event where art and food come together just for a different kind of night out, right in the middle of Chinatown, making it one of the best things to do in Los Angeles at night. There is a Chinatown Summer Night at the beginning of each month of the summer: June, July and August, so it is likely that your stay will coincide with one of them. Don't you dare to spend a different night?

Practical Information

• Location: in the streets of the Chinatown neighborhood.

• Price: it is a public event in the middle of the street, so it is free. However, you will be able to buy food, drinks and clothes.

• Hours: usually one Saturday night in early June, July and August, starting at dusk.

The sun sets in the west which is just the position of the sea in Los Angeles. That's why this city has some incredible sunsets where the sun hides behind the ocean. And what's better than watching one of these sunsets from a rooftop bar? In Los Angeles there are many rooftop bars, as rooftop bars are known in English, where the most classic thing to do is to order a cocktail and watch the sun go down.

But not just a cocktail. Actually many of these bars are on rooftops, but very close to the beach, in iconic areas like Santa Monica. Among them I recommend the ONYX Rooftop Bar, rooftop bar of the Shangri Hotel in Santa Monica. Here you can also try the best beach drinks like piña coladas. This is a way to simply relax after a super busy day and admire the immensity of the sun. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it is one of the best places to watch sunsets in the whole world.

Los Angeles is hot, very hot. This city is located quite far south, so the temperatures are quite warm all year round, but in summer it is even worse. In addition, it is a fairly flat and arid city, which makes the heat even more pronounced. In general, the average for the month of August is around 25°C, but many times the wind chill is even higher and depending on the time, the temperature can exceed 30°C.

If you ask me, summer is the best season to visit Los Angeles, because everything in the city is designed for that heat. If you go in late June and early July, the temperatures will be quite a bit more pleasant, but there will also be fewer activities and the day will last less. But in August you will have almost 15 hours of sunlight and that means you can do a lot of activities in the late afternoon, when temperatures rarely go above 25°C.

Los Angeles receives many people all year round, but the favorite time to receive tourists is in the summer. We are talking about a city that receives more than 50 million visitors a year, so throughout the summer there are several million tourists visiting the city. The good thing is that the whole city is adapted to it, so you will surely find space to stay and enjoy.

However, you should be very aware that there will be many tourists everywhere, particularly if you go in summer. Sometimes you will have to wait in line to access certain services. My advice is to book in advance the tickets for the activities you want to do, because there are sure to be a few hundred or thousands of tourists who want to do the same as you.

Very loose clothing, sunscreen and a swimsuit. If you visit Los Angeles in summer, I recommend you to fill your suitcase with comfortable t-shirts, shorts, shorts and everything that does not increase the heat, because the temperatures are really hot. In addition to that, it is essential that you bring at least one sunscreen that you should use all the time, because the sun in the city is inclement.

You can't escape from bringing at least one swimsuit; the kind you want, but that dries quickly, so you won't have problems to store it. A pair of sandals or any kind of beach shoes will be important, as well as a pair of sneakers that will be useful for the excursions and walks you will have to do. Finally, I recommend a hat to protect you from the sun, both on your walks and if you take a tour in a tourist bus, where you will want to admire the city and not get sunburned by the intensity of the sun.