Day Trip to Santa Monica and Venice Beach, California

By alantvuong on January 6, 2024

I have always wanted to visit Santa Monica and Venice Beach, California as I seen those places on TV and movies growing up. Since I booked 3 nights with a friend in Los Angeles, after spending a full day at Universal Studios Hollywood, we had a full day to do a day trip to these 2 cities.

Getting There

We were staying at the Hotel Hollywood, and it took our accessible taxi guy about a 30 minute drive from the hotel to near the Santa Monica Yacht Harbor sign which is the landmark entrance to the pier. It was a bit of a cool windy day but we were still excited to check out the area for the day and make the best of it.

got our accessible taxi driver to drop us off just a block away from here

Santa Monica

After getting dropped off, we headed straight to Santa Monica Pier. One of my favorite classic sitcoms was Three’s Company which takes place in Santa Monica. The show’s intro was filmed on the pier which I have always wanted to visit and take a picture in.

classic sitcom Three’s Company used the boardwalk and the pier in their show’s opening

Santa Monica Pier is about 1600 feet long and is at the foot of Colorado avenue. It contains Pacific Park, which is a family amusement park that has a roller coaster, Ferris wheel, a few each of family, thrill and kids rides. There is also the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, shops and restaurants.

Pacific Park which was right on the pier did not have any wheelchair accessible rides

We didn’t go on any rides as they were not wheelchair accessible but it was good to go through it to see whats there. Entry is free while rides cost between $6 to $12 per ride. The pier was mostly wooden which can be a bit uneven but there are accessible mats used as pathways throughout.

the pier was mostly wooden but did have accessible mat pathways throughout

We did see some street performers on the pier and we took a bunch of pictures at the end of it. After about 90 minutes on the pier we were pretty hungry and wanted to eat at one of the restaurants and not fast food or a food kiosk.

enjoying the pier

Bubba Gump

We chose to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company which is an American seafood restaurant that was founded in 1996 and was inspired by the 1994 movie Forrest Gump. I had the Jambalaya bowl which was so amazing with plump juicy shrimps.

right on the pier across from Pacific Park

I have eaten at Bubba Gump’s in other cities and it has always been great. My friend did buy a hat at the attached souvenir gift shop. We then headed out to continue our day.

my Jambalaya was so good

Boardwalk

There is a nice paved boardwalk that connects Santa Monica to Venice Beach. It is about a 45 minute walk/stroll so we wanted to do this. On our stroll, there were nice beaches with beach volleyball nets, a skateboard park, the original location of Muscle Beach and many many shops and restaurants.

the original location of Muscle Beach was in Santa Monica

Venice Beach

Muscle Beach Venice

Venice Beach is known for its surf, skate and beach culture. We did see Muscle Beach Venice right on the boardwalk but no one was really using this enclosed out gym. Maybe since it was a bit cool and windy outside. It started to rain so we quickly went to a nearby coffee shop to get a hot drink and snack before getting an accessible Uber back to our hotel.

some art on Venice Beach

Final Thoughts

another pic on Venice Beach

Our day to Santa Monica and Venice Beach was great and am glad they were so close and accessible to do both in one day. We only spent just over 4 hours total and would have stayed longer if not for rain. I would like to revisit when the weather was hotter to spend time on the beach more.