A major travel hub for the Pacific Rim region, Los Angeles International Airport - usually called by its three-letter code, LAX - is the third busiest airport in the world. It's located about 20 miles (30km) southwest of downtown LA. If you can, try to avoid LAX gridlock by flying into one of the region's domestic airports: Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (BUR) is about 15 miles (25km) northwest of downtown, Long Beach Airport is about 25 miles (40km) south, John Wayne Airport/Orange County (SNA) is about 40 miles (65km) southeast in Santa Ana, and Ontario International Airport (ONT) is about 40 miles (65km) east. With all these options, finding a flight or connection to just about anywhere on the continent is never a problem.

Airport map - click at the pic to enlarge

Greyhound bus lines serve Los Angeles from cities all over North America. The main LA depot is in a seedy district east of downtown, south of Little Tokyo. The area is rough, but the station itself is safe inside. Other LA-area stations are found in Hollywood, Santa Monica and Anaheim. The alternative to Greyhound for West Coast travelers harks back to the 'Magic Bus' of the 1960s: Green Tortoise Adventure Travel. Weekly Tortoise trips cruise up and down the West Coast, and there are summer jaunts to Alaska and the East Coast, winter tours to Mexico and Baja California and a Mardi Gras road trip between LA and New Orleans. Buses stop at several LA-area destinations.

Amtrak, the national rail system, operates up and down the California coast. In Los Angeles, trains arrive and depart from Union Station, an impressive Art Deco depot one block from El Pueblo in downtown LA. From Seattle and San Francisco, the Coast Starlight operates several times weekly in each direction, running inland as far as San Luis Obispo, where it follows US 101 down the coast. There is also regular service from Los Angeles to Phoenix, New Orleans and points beyond, as well as several trains daily to and from San Diego.

The LA area is a web of highways and byways, so if you have your own wheels, there are always several routes to choose from. From the San Francisco Bay Area, Interstate 5 runs south through the scenic void of the San Joaquin Valley. A somewhat curvier and far more picturesque alternative, US 101 follows the coast much of the way down and joins I-5 in the LA city center. For travelers with time to kill, the prettiest choice is the Pacific Coast Hwy (PCH), or Hwy 1, which clings to the cliffs in the Big Sur area and follows the coast down to San Luis Obispo, where it joins US 101. While the views are spectacular, curvy PCH is subject to fog, landslides and other potential delays. From San Francisco, plan on six hours to drive I-5, eight hours via US 101 and at least 12 hours via Hwy 1.

Driving from San Diego and Mexico, I-5 is the obvious choice. At Irvine, I-405 (San Diego Fwy) branches off I-5 and heads west to Long Beach and Santa Monica, avoiding downtown LA entirely and rejoining I-5 near San Fernando. If you're coming from Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon, take I-15, which veers south at Riverside and continues on to San Diego; it hits I-10 near Ontario, which connects to downtown LA and Santa Monica.

Freeway speed limits are normally 55mph (90kph) in greater LA, 65mph (105kph) on the open road. Most drivers push their speed 10mph (15kph) higher than the posted limits; more than that, they can expect to be pulled over by the ever-vigilant officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). As in the rest of the US, driving is done on the right.