Layover adventure: Transit destination - Los Angeles

When transiting through any airport in the United States,travellers will need to set aside ample time to go through immigration and security. This could take up to two hours at Los Angeles International Airport, a large and notoriously difficult one to navigate. Tour agents recommend that transit tourists have at least an eight-hour layover if they want to leave the airport.

It is admittedly a bit of a hassle, but travellers will have the warm rays of the Californian sunshine and dozens of unique activities in Los Angeles as a reward.

The airport itself does not offer transit tours, but a company called LA City Tours does.

It has two itineraries to choose from. One leaves the airport by coach at 9.30am and takes the tour to Venice Beach, downtown Los Angeles, the Hollywood Walk of Fame for lunch, the Hollywood Sign and Rodeo Drive to ogle at Hollywood homes before heading back to the airport about five hours later. The tour costs US$89 (S$114) an adult and US$69 a child.

The second tour is shorter. It starts at 10.30am and takes about three hours, during which tourists will stop at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Sign and Rodeo Drive for the same price as the longer tour.

Travellers can also choose to tour Los Angeles on their own.

The LAX FlyAway buses run every hour between each airport terminal and five locations, including Santa Monica and Hollywood for under US$10 each way.

Santa Monica is the closest attraction to the airport. There, visitors can lie on Los Angeles' most popular beach, play carnival games or ride the ferris wheel at the famous 100-year old Santa Monica Pier, or take a walk down Third Street Promenade to people-watch and do some shopping. It takes about 45 minutes to get there, depending on traffic.

Hollywood is about an hour to 90 minutes away, depending on traffic, but once there, travellers can visit a number of iconic attractions, such as Grauman's Chinese Theatre (now known as the TCL Chinese Theatre), Ripley's Believe it Or Not museum and Universal Studios, a movie studio and theme park where travellers can enjoy thrill rides and take a behindthe-scenes look at special-effects techniques.

LA City Tours also has tours departing hourly from its office on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Travellers who join one get a free ride back to the airport.