Museums · Los Angeles · United States
6 best museums in Los Angeles
The collections worth your time, how long each takes and how to fit them together.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Edwardrhodes06, CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answer
Start with Getty Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and La Brea Tar Pits. Together the 6 picks below take roughly 13–16 hours across 4 areas; 2 are free.
Key facts
- Places in this guide
- 6
- Free entry
- 2
- Time to see them all
- 13–16 hours
- Areas
- Brentwood, Miracle Mile and Downtown LA
Museums in Los Angeles
Museum · Brentwood
1.Getty Center
Richard Meier's travertine-clad hilltop campus holds European paintings including Van Gogh's Irises, plus photography, sculpture and decorative arts, and Robert Irwin's Central Garden.
- Time needed
- 3–4 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Art
- Views
- Architecture
- Iconic
- Rainy day
Museum · Miracle Mile
2.Los Angeles County Museum of Art
LACMA's encyclopaedic collection runs from ancient and Islamic art to Latin American and contemporary work on Wilshire Boulevard's Museum Row.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- After dark
- Iconic
- Rainy day
Museum · Miracle Mile
3.La Brea Tar Pits
In Hancock Park, natural asphalt seeps have trapped animals for tens of thousands of years, and scientists still recover mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and dire wolf fossils.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- History
- Nature
- Rainy day
Gallery · Downtown LA
4.The Broad
Eli and Edythe Broad's contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue, opened in 2015 behind a honeycomb-like concrete veil, shows works by Warhol, Lichtenstein, Basquiat, Koons and Kusama.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Art
- Rainy day
- Architecture
Museum · Exposition Park
5.Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
In Exposition Park south of Downtown, the Natural History Museum has a dinosaur hall with a growth series of T.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- Rainy day
- History
- Nature
Museum · Miracle Mile
6.Petersen Automotive Museum
Wrapped in a red-and-steel ribbon facade on Wilshire Boulevard, the Petersen tells the story of car culture in a city built around the automobile, with Hollywood film cars, hot rods and supercars across three floors.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Rainy day
- Kids
- History
Grouped by area
| Area | Places | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Brentwood | Getty Center | 3–4 hours |
| Miracle Mile | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, La Brea Tar Pits and Petersen Automotive Museum | 2–3 hours + 2 hours + 2 hours |
| Downtown LA | The Broad | 1.5–2 hours |
| Exposition Park | Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County | 2–3 hours |
Booking and timing
Of these 6, 2 free, 2 low cost, 2 mid-priced. Book ahead for The Broad. The longest visit is Getty Center; group the rest by area to save travel time.
- The Broad: Free timed-entry reservations are released in advance and go fast for weekends; a standby line is available but can be long.
How to fit them into 4 half-days
Grouped by area and kept to about four hours each, so you walk more than you ride.
- Half-day 1 (Brentwood): Getty Center, at least 3 hours.
- Half-day 2 (Miracle Mile): Los Angeles County Museum of Art → La Brea Tar Pits, at least 4 hours.
- Half-day 3 (Miracle Mile and Downtown LA): Petersen Automotive Museum → The Broad, at least 4 hours.
- Half-day 4 (Exposition Park): Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, at least 2 hours.
The quietest months for queues
- May: highs of 24°C (75°F), about 1 rainy days, moderate crowds. Warm inland but often grey at the beach in the mornings ('May Gray'), usually clearing by afternoon.
- September: highs of 28°C (82°F), about 1 rainy days, moderate crowds. Still hot and often the sunniest month at the coast, with warm sea and fewer crowds after the school holidays; heat and fire risk can peak.
- October: highs of 26°C (79°F), about 2 rainy days, moderate crowds. Warm, dry days and clear air, but Santa Ana winds can bring hot, gusty spells and wildfire risk.
The neighbourhoods they are in
- Downtown LA — Grand Avenue museums, historic movie palaces and the Arts District's warehouses
- Beverly Hills — Rodeo Drive, grand old hotels and palm-lined residential streets
More of Los Angeles
All things to do in Los Angeles · Where to stay · When to go.
Questions travellers ask
+Where should I start in Los Angeles?
Getty Center. Richard Meier's travertine-clad hilltop campus holds European paintings including Van Gogh's Irises, plus photography, sculpture and decorative arts, and Robert Irwin's Central Garden.
+Which of these are free in Los Angeles?
Getty Center and The Broad.