Los Angeles and the surrounding area is home to the movie industry and movie stars, DisneyLand, beautiful beaches, fabulous weather and much, much more. It’s a destination visited by countless travelers each year.

But it’s a sprawling metropolis, with attractions in every direction, and visitors are often at a loss when trying to decide precisely where in L.A. they should book a room.

Thinking of heading over to LA but where do I stay it’s so confusing. I want to be in the main tourist area, so would that be Hollywood? Or would I be better in Beverley hills? Or even Santa Monica? ~sarahjayne87

Needless to say, though other travelers offering assistance to sarahjayne87 do say it, to answer this question one needs to know what a visitor wants to do/see in Los Angeles.

Looking for some beach time? Santa Monica or Venice would probably be a good option.

Disneyland on the itinerary? Somewhere around Anaheim would be the most obvious choice.

Have a lot of money and looking to do some shopping? Load up the truck and head to Beverly … Hills that is.

But jeffy encourages today’s visitors to give serious consideration to downtown L.A. – something he wouldn’t have recommended not all that long ago:

Downtown LA is another option. No one would have ever made this recommendation a decade ago but it’s a very different place today. Right in the middle of the Metro system so it’s an easy train ride to Hollywood, Universal City, Culver City, Koreatown, Long Beach, and Pasadena. Lotsa great bars and restaurants.

And in case you hadn’t already heard this – I’m not sure how common this knowledge is to non-US residents – Hollywood might not be quite what you would expect:

I personally found Hollywood dirty and a bit seedy, not the type of place I’d like to have stayed. ~pammy_robertson

Read the thread in its entirety: Where to stay in LA

And my apologies to Wang Chung for butchering their song title to create a blog post title. As it turns out, there are surprisingly few words that rhyme with “live” – with the short vowel pronunciation of “i”.

As a form of apology to the band, please enjoy this “To Live and Die in L.A.” classic music video: