Santa Monica Pier & Beach

Santa Monica Pier is where Route 66 meets the Pacific Ocean — the western terminus of America's most famous highway and one of the most recognisable landmarks in Los Angeles. The pier, built in 1909, supports Pacific Park (a small amusement park with a solar-powered Ferris wheel), an aquarium, a historic carousel from 1922, and the kind of carnival atmosphere that has been drawing Angelenos and tourists to the beach since before Hollywood existed.

The beach stretching north and south from the pier is the quintessential Southern California experience — 3.5 miles of white sand, muscle beach workout stations, volleyball courts, and the boardwalk path that connects Santa Monica to Venice Beach. The sunset from the pier — the Ferris wheel silhouetted against an orange sky, the surf breaking below, and the Santa Monica Mountains visible to the north — is the Pacific Coast postcard that has been selling California to the world since the invention of photography.

Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, three blocks from the pier, is a pedestrianised shopping and dining street that provides the walkable urban experience that most of LA lacks. The farmers' market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings is one of the best in Southern California, and the concentration of restaurants between Ocean Avenue and the promenade makes Santa Monica the rare LA neighbourhood where you can park once and walk to everything.