When's the best time to visit Los Angeles in 2026?

October is the month to book. Downtown highs average around 79°F (26°C) and nights drop into the low 60s, so a light jacket covers an evening at the Hollywood Bowl, whose season still runs this late (an Aerosmith tribute night was on its bill for 29 October). After a summer of sun, the Pacific at Santa Monica and Venice is near its warmest, about 66 to 68°F, and the water feels silky rather than bracing. US schools go back after Labor Day, so the queues at Universal Studios Hollywood and the fight for Griffith Observatory parking both shrink. Hotel rates in West Hollywood and Santa Monica tend to fall 20 to 30 percent from August levels, though that gap narrows in weeks when the Los Angeles Convention Center downtown has a large show booked.

The catch in autumn is the Santa Ana wind. Between October and January, hot, dry gusts blow from the inland deserts to the coast, humidity can fall below 10 percent, and the air carries the smell of dust and dry sage. On red-flag days, the city may close parts of Griffith Park and canyon roads in the Santa Monica Mountains. The Palisades and Eaton fires of January 2025 showed how fast a wind event can wipe out a plan. Check the National Weather Service Los Angeles forecast the night before a hike toward the Hollywood Sign, and keep one museum day in reserve. The Getty Center in Brentwood, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Wilshire Boulevard, and the La Brea Tar Pits next door, with their faint tang of asphalt, all make easy swaps for a hike.

March and April are the second-best window, and the stronger choice if green hills matter to you. Winter storms between December and March soak the Santa Monica Mountains, so by April the slopes along Mulholland Drive have turned green and wild mustard lines the trails above Griffith Observatory. Highs run from the high 60s into the low 70s, though the ocean stays cold, around 58°F, and you will want a fleece on the Venice Beach boardwalk after 5pm. For about two weeks around Easter, spring break crowds fill Universal and Disneyland in Anaheim, so buy timed tickets early or go midweek.

Skip July and August unless the beach is the whole point of the trip. Burbank and the rest of the San Fernando Valley regularly pass 95°F (35°C), and summer traffic slows the 101 and the 405 to a crawl, while the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard becomes a sweaty crush of costumed characters who ask for tips after every photo. May and June bring the marine layer locals call May Gray and June Gloom, which can keep Santa Monica grey and in the mid-60s until early afternoon and disappoints first-timers who packed for sunshine. December through February is underrated: after a storm the air is clear enough to see snow on Mount Baldy from the Getty's travertine terraces, and hotel prices hit their low for the year. The exception is Rose Bowl week in Pasadena around 1 January, when rates jump.