Things to do in North America · Los Angeles
Los Angeles in October: the studio tours, the Hollywood Sign walk rated 4.9, whales, and the Hammer for free
Warner Bros. against Universal, the Hollywood Sign hike with comedians and dogs, a full-day city tour, the Petersen, and the Hammer Museum's free October.
- For visitors from the US
- For Europeans
- For visitors from East Asia
October is Los Angeles's clearest month, which matters in a city whose best paid hours are views: the studio backlots, the sign, the coast. The bookings below are from our partner's Los Angeles catalogue, 191 experiences as read on October 1, ranked by how many people booked and how they rated them. Prices are "from" prices in dollars. The free programme around them is almost entirely one building, the Hammer Museum in Westwood, which charges nothing and runs a serious October; it is on Glentio's Los Angeles page today.
While you're in Los Angeles
A few things to do in Los Angeles from our partner GetYourGuide. Booking happens on their site.
Glentio earns a small commission when you book through these links, at no extra cost to you. Prices as shown on GetYourGuide on 1 Oct 2026; today's price and availability are on their site. More things to do in Los Angeles
The two studios, and which
- Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, from $79. Rated 4.6 by 8,700, the most-booked experience in the city. A working lot with a guide, three hours, and the one to take if the question is how films are made.
- Universal Studios Hollywood general admission, from $100, 4.5 from 4,300. A theme park with a studio tram inside it; the one to take if the question is what the children want. In October the park runs its Halloween nights, which are a separate ticket and a different crowd.
Hollywood, the honest way
- Hollywood Sign tour with comedians, dogs and epic photos, from $22, two and a half hours, rated 4.9 by 1,290. The best-rated experience in the Los Angeles catalogue with more than a thousand reviews, and the cheapest on this page: a hike to the sign led by stand-ups, with dogs. It is exactly as good as that sounds.
- Hollywood, Beverly Hills and celebrity homes open-air bus, from $33, 4.5 from 2,800, the most-booked of the bus tours.
- Hollywood and Beverly Hills celebrity helicopter tour, from $199, 4.9 from 920, the best-rated tour in the catalogue and the splurge.
The whole city, and the coast
- Full-day city tour of LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the beaches, from $93, 4.8 from 1,370. The best-rated day trip, and for a visitor without a car the one day that makes the city make sense.
- Best of LA city tour with stops and free time, from $59, 4.6 from 2,440, the shorter version.
- Two-hour whale-watching tour, from $40, 4.3 from 1,500. October is between the grey-whale seasons, which the rating reflects; dolphins are the likelier sighting.
- Group surf lesson with all gear, from $75, 4.8 from 525, while the water is at its warmest.
- Petersen Automotive Museum admission, from $22, 4.8 from 830, the best-rated ticket in the catalogue, on Wilshire, for the afternoon that rains, if one does.
Booking happens on the partner's site; Glentio earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Free around it: the Hammer's October
The Hammer Museum charges no admission and this month opens two retrospectives at once: the Fall Exhibitions Celebration on Saturday October 10 from 20:00 keeps the galleries open late with music in the courtyard, for Huguette Caland and Mavis Pusey. Curator Hannah Feldman walks the Caland show on Sunday October 11 at 15:00; the lunchtime art talks run Wednesdays at 12:30, a half-hour on one artist; and on Sunday October 18 at 11:00, 826LA's game-writing workshop has children aged eight to fourteen invent a game a cheating monster could not break. On Wednesday October 28 at 19:30 the Hammer's Billy Wilder Theater hosts Chef Marcus Samuelsson in conversation, free with assigned seats. Downtown, the Central Library celebrates Diwali on Sunday October 25 from 14:00. The Hammer is a mile from the Petersen; book the museum for the afternoon and the talk for the evening.
For visitors from the US
The Warner tour, the sign hike and the Hammer are a weekend without a freeway. The full-day tour on the Saturday and the Petersen on a Sunday afternoon make it a long one. Las Vegas is the standard add-on and runs the same format.
For Europeans
Dates are written month first: 10/10 is October 10. Prices are in dollars before tax except the partner tickets, which are all-in. Los Angeles is the one city on this list where the full-day tour is the right first booking rather than the last.
For visitors from East Asia
Mid-October sits between Golden Week and Thanksgiving, so flights are at their calmest. Cards and phones work everywhere; there is no VAT-style refund in the US. Universal runs multilingual guides; the sign hike is in English and the jokes do not translate, which is part of the experience.
Sources
- The partner catalogue for Los Angeles, as read on October 1, 2026, for every price, rating and review count.
- Hammer Museum and the Los Angeles Public Library, checked October 5, 2026, for the free listings.