In the immortal words of Sheryl Crow, “All I want to do is have some fun until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard“. I recently did exactly that. I enjoyed nine days in Santa Monica, California.  Sorry that I wasn’t up early enough to get a pic of the sun rising over Santa Monica Boulevard for you. What can make up for that would be you taking a vacation in Santa Monica. It’s basically a suburb of Los Angeles. But if you’re planning to go to Los Angeles, for your own happiness, stay in Santa Monica.

Santa Monica is many things and all of them good. The most epic and unmissable things in Santa Monica is the pier and Benny Blanco who walks around there incessantly.

When you get to the end of Santa Monica Boulevard, you’ll find Pallisades Park, where the ocean meets the land. If you like beaches, this is one to put on your bucket list.

The beach is fantastic, but it’s not the whole show. When you’re at the beach you can’t miss a stroll on the Santa Monica Pier. It’s got food and entertainment for everyone. There’s of course the iconic ferris wheel and the roller coaster.

For real travel buffs and thousands of people who like to traverse the country in cars or by motorcycle, the Santa Monica Pier is also the end of the world famous Route 66.

The Pallisade Park is great but if you keep walking south, you’ll run right into Venice Beach. It’s a blending of any and every type of person and everyone is proud to be showing off whether it be the skateboarders, artists, musicians, street corner evangelists,  and weight lifters at the Venice Beach outdoor gym. Occasionally you might even find me there.

The great thing about Santa Monica is that you can enjoy it without going into the big city of Los Angeles. It’s near but not near enough that you ever feel like you’re in the city. For those of you who love shopping, Santa Monica has a couple nice malls and one street that is blocked off from traffic and you can spend a nice, warm evening with a drink in your hand walking, shopping, and eating. And apparently, if you’re in Santa Monica long enough you’ll probable run into Benny Blanco (music producer and Selena Gomez‘s husband) whom we saw twice in one day just strolling around talking on his phone. We were like, “Doesn’t this guy have something else to do? Isn’t Selena wondering where he is?”

If you’re visiting anywhere in Southern California, do yourself a favor and stay in Santa Monica while you take day trips to all the touristy stuff.

And where else in the world are you going to find a big, teal hotel that overlooks the ocean?

I didn’t stay here, but I vow to do so the next time I go back to Santa Monica. If you have any specific questions about Santa Monica, feel free to put them in the comments.

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend! ~Phil