- City: Los Angeles
- State: California
- Country: United States of America
- Time difference between the UK: Minus 8 hours
- Average June Temperature: 27℃ (although inland heat and traffic can combine to make it feel considerably warmer)
Los Angeles, California
Welcome to Los Angeles
Welcome to Los Angeles, where the distances are huge, the freeways are chaotic, and almost everybody seems to own sunglasses worth more than your match ticket. It’s a city built around cars, film studios, beaches, sport and endless urban sprawl, and during the World Cup it will become one of the biggest football hubs anywhere in the tournament. For the US, this is where the World Cup journey begins.
Located on the southern California coast, Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the United States, with nearly four million people living in the city itself and more than 12 million across the wider metropolitan area. The scale of the place catches many visitors out. Areas that look “fairly close together” on a map can still take well over an hour to reach once traffic gets involved.
LA is one of the most multicultural cities anywhere in the world. More than 180 languages are spoken here, and the city has huge Mexican, Korean, Armenian, Filipino, Chinese and Central American communities alongside almost every other nationality imaginable. Football support here is enormous, particularly within Latin American communities, and atmosphere around major international matches can be outstanding.
Sport in general is massive. The city is home to:
- NBA: LA Lakers and LA Clippers
- MLB: LA Dodgers
- NFL: LA Chargers
- NHL: LA Kings
- MLS: LA Galaxy and Los Angeles FC
The city also hosted the 1984 Olympic Games and will host the 2028 Olympics shortly after this World Cup, meaning large-scale sporting events are very much part of daily life here.
One thing supporters need to understand early: Los Angeles is not really a “walk everywhere” city. Public transport has improved significantly over recent years, but you will almost certainly still end up using Uber, trains, shuttle buses or taxis at some point.
© Alamy
Getting there
Los Angeles is one of the easiest host cities in the tournament to reach internationally, with direct flights arriving from across Europe, Asia, Latin America and the rest of North America. It will also likely become a major base for supporters travelling between West Coast host cities such as Seattle, San Francisco and Vancouver.
The main public transport operator is LA Metro.
Getting around
Los Angeles is spread out on a scale many first-time visitors genuinely underestimate. This is not Manhattan or central London. You cannot simply wander between most major districts without planning ahead.
The Metro system has expanded heavily in recent years and is now far more useful for visitors than many people realise.
The B Line (Red) is particularly useful for:
- Downtown LA
- Hollywood
- Universal City
The E Line connects Downtown with Santa Monica, which is extremely useful if you want beach access without paying frightening parking prices.
Public transport is much cheaper than constant rideshares, although trains and stations can vary significantly depending on area and time of day.
Uber and Lyft are everywhere in LA, but prices can surge massively after matches, concerts or nightlife closing times. Leaving a World Cup quarter-final alongside 70,000 other people all opening the same app at once is unlikely to produce financial happiness.
Walking is realistic within individual neighbourhoods such as:
- Santa Monica
- Hollywood
- Downtown LA
- Venice
- Pasadena
But travelling between districts without transport is generally unrealistic unless you particularly enjoy heat exhaustion beside freeways.
E-scooters and rental bikes are common across parts of the city, especially near beaches and tourist areas. They’re useful for shorter journeys, though LA drivers occasionally treat scooters as minor obstacles rather than fellow road users, so stay alert, and don’t ride drunk!
The main transport systems are:
- Metro Rail
- Metro Bus
- Uber/Lyft
- Metrolink commuter rail
Alamy
The stadium
Los Angeles World Cup matches will take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, officially referred to by FIFA as “Los Angeles Stadium” during the tournament.
The stadium is home to both the LA Rams and LA Chargers and is widely regarded as one of the most impressive modern sports venues anywhere in the world.
The World Cup capacity is 70,000.
The stadium itself is spectacular. Massive video screens, modern concourses and the enormous translucent roof make it feel more like a futuristic entertainment complex than a traditional football ground.
One major positive is that large parts of the seating areas are covered, which matters considerably in California heat.
Inside the stadium, facilities are excellent:
- Large concourses
- Huge food and drink selection
- Modern toilets
- Strong sightlines throughout
Prices, however, let’s just see.
Getting there, however, will still require planning.
It has already hosted:
Super Bowl LVI
Major boxing events
Huge concerts
College football championships
Getting to the stadium
SoFi Stadium sits in Inglewood, southwest of Downtown LA and relatively close to LAX.
The nearest train stations still require connecting transport to the stadium itself, unless you fancy a 45-60 minute walk from stations on the C & K lines. There is no station at the stadium, so it would mean walks from the likes of Inglewood, or a shuttle bus from Hawthorne and Lennox Station and Crenshaw Station.
There are shuttle buses from the following areas:
- Newport Transportation Centre
- ARTIC Anaheim Station
- Downtown Long Beach
- Harbor Gateway Transit Centre
- Torrance Transit Centre
- El Camino College
- Culver City Transit Centre
- Downtown Santa Monica
- Union Station
- North Hollywood Station
- Pierce College Station
Journeys cost $1.75 each way.
Traffic around the stadium can become absolutely brutal before and after major events. Leaving far earlier than you think necessary is strongly recommended because “we’ll just get there close to kick-off” can rapidly become a deeply regrettable sentence.
Parking at the stadium can be booked direct with FIFA, starting at ONLY $211 per parking spot. We know.
There are a few options to get to the stadium, so bear with us.
Shuttle buses
Uber/Lyft
Driving
Metro connections plus shuttle services
Eating and drinking
Los Angeles has one of the best food scenes anywhere in North America, largely because almost every culture imaginable is represented somewhere in the city.
If Miami is Cuban food and Mexico City is tacos, Los Angeles is effectively everything all at once.
One thing supporters will quickly notice is that some of the best food in LA often comes from places that look fairly unremarkable from the outside. A tiny taco stand beside a petrol station may genuinely produce one of the best meals of your trip.
Areas worth exploring include:
Koreatown – excellent Korean BBQ, late-night food and bars
Downtown LA – breweries, sports bars and newer food halls
Santa Monica – beach bars, restaurants and more relaxed nightlife
Venice Beach – lively bars, casual food spots and complete unpredictability
Hollywood – tourist-heavy but packed with nightlife options
Arts District – breweries, restaurants and trendier venues
Sports bars are everywhere throughout the city, particularly around Downtown and Hollywood.
American sports bars here generally involve:
- Huge screens
- Massive portions
- Wings appearing in industrial quantities
- Several games showing simultaneously
- Beer lists longer than some restaurant menus
Food worth trying:
- Street tacos
- Korean BBQ
- In-N-Out Burger
- California burritos
- French dip sandwiches
- Fresh seafood
One warning: LA prices vary wildly. You can eat brilliant tacos for a few dollars or accidentally spend £30 on a cocktail containing smoke, flowers and disappointment.
Tipping remains standard throughout California, with around 20% generally expected unless already included.
The city is particularly famous for:
Mexican food
Korean BBQ
Street tacos
Burgers
Japanese food
Food trucks
Seafood
Things to see and do
Hollywood is the obvious starting point, even if most locals spend half their lives pretending they avoid it. The Walk of Fame, TCL Chinese Theatre and Hollywood Sign are all worth seeing once, even if the reality is often slightly less glamorous than films suggest.
Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach remain some of the city’s best-known areas and will almost certainly be packed with travelling supporters during the tournament.
Venice in particular feels like somebody attempted to turn the internet into a beachfront neighbourhood:
Street performers
Skaters
Bodybuilders
Musicians
Tourists
People who definitely own at least one drone
Griffith Observatory offers some of the best views across the city and towards the Hollywood Sign, especially around sunset.
Downtown LA has improved enormously over recent years and now includes:
Crypto.com Arena
LA Live entertainment district
Breweries
Sports bars
Museums
Concert venues
Football supporters may also want to visit:
BMO Stadium – home of LAFC
Dignity Health Sports Park – home of LA Galaxy
If you went to Orlando and didn’t get enough Disney and Universal, or if you missed out on the Orlando friendly and want your fill, you can also get these here, with the original Disneyland based in Anaheim.
If you want a break from the city itself, beaches along the Pacific Coast Highway provide a far calmer atmosphere than central LA traffic.
FIFA Fan Zone
There will be an opening fan zone in LA at the Los Angeles Memorial Museum from June 11-14, with tickets costing $10.
There are multiple other fan zones set up around the city on different dates;
June 18-21: The Original Farmers Market
June 20: City of Downey
June 25-28: Union Station
July 2-5: Hansen Dam Lake
July 4-5: LA County’s Earvin “Magic” Johnson Park
July 9-11: Los Angeles County Whittier Narrows
July 10-11: Venice Beach
July 14-15 & 18-19: Fairplex
July 14-15 & 18-19: West Harbor
July 18-19: Downtown Burbank.
British consular
assistance
The British Consulate-General in Los Angeles is located in Century City.
Address: 2029 Century Pk E # 1350, Los Angeles, CA 90067, United States
Phone: +1 310-789-0031
British Consulate staff will be on hand and we will be in constant contact with them should you need any help.
Accommodation
Los Angeles accommodation is expensive even without a World Cup taking place, and prices during the tournament are likely to become fairly painful.
One major thing to consider when booking is location. Staying somewhere “cheap” on the opposite side of the city may end up costing you hours every day in transport and traffic.
Santa Monica and beach areas naturally come with heavier prices, while Downtown may prove more practical for transport and matchday travel.
Hotels near the stadium in Inglewood will likely book extremely quickly.
One thing to watch carefully in LA is additional hotel costs:
Parking fees
Resort fees
Taxes
Destination charges
Valet charges that somehow cost more than some flights
If using Airbnb, check transport links carefully because Los Angeles is absolutely not a city where “we’ll just walk everywhere” tends to survive contact with reality.
Overall, Los Angeles should be one of the biggest and most entertaining host cities at the World Cup. The football culture is huge, the weather is excellent, the food scene is ridiculous and the sporting atmosphere should be outstanding.
Just remember three things:
leave earlier than you think necessary, wear sunscreen, and never trust Google Maps when it says “only 22 minutes away.”
Areas worth considering include:
Downtown LA
Santa Monica
Hollywood
Pasadena
Culver City
Long Beach
