Getty Center

The Getty Center is one of the greatest art museums in the world — a billion-dollar campus of Italian travertine buildings designed by Richard Meier on a hilltop above the 405 freeway that houses the Getty collection of European paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and photography in a setting that uses the Southern California landscape as an integral part of the museum experience. The approach — a tram ride up the hill through a Mediterranean garden — is itself an event, and the view from the hilltop terraces extends from the Pacific to downtown.

The collection includes Van Gogh's 'Irises' (purchased for $53.9 million in 1990, a record at the time), Rembrandt portraits, illuminated manuscripts, French furniture, and one of the finest photography collections in any museum. The Central Garden, designed by artist Robert Irwin, is a living sculpture that descends the hillside in a stream of water, stone, and over 500 plant varieties — Irwin and Meier famously disagreed about the garden's design, and the creative tension between architectural geometry and botanical exuberance is visible in every path and planting bed.

Admission is free (parking costs $20, which is the Getty's way of extracting money from visitors while claiming free admission). The museum's hilltop isolation — accessible only by tram — creates a separation from the city that makes the visit feel like a pilgrimage to a temple of art. The sunset view from the terrace, looking west over the Bel Air hills to the ocean, is one of the most beautiful perspectives available in Los Angeles.