Santa Monica is a beautiful city to experience Southern California. The beaches, shops, and views are stunning to soak up what the West Coast has to offer. Fresh ocean air and walks on the beach, what more could you ask for?
📅 Trip Dates: January 18-22, 2023
How to Get to Santa Monica
There are several forms of transportation you can take to get to Santa Monica. Modes of transportation include the Metro, rideshare services such as Uber/Lyft, or by rental car.
For my solo day trip to Santa Monica, I used the Metro. I recommend this public transportation option because the Metro E Line (Expo) goes from Downtown LA to Santa Monica. It is the most cost-effective and least-traffic involved.
Navigation Tip: Use Google Maps to track train arrivals, departures, and stops status’. It is also very helpful to navigate walking to places!
Is Santa Monica Safe?
I solo adventured all day, and felt very safe in Santa Monica. The area is full of people running, walking, biking, rollerblading, etc.
However, when walking alone always be attentive and aware of your surroundings.
At night, you need to be careful where you are in the city. In California, the homeless population is apparent so just be mindful of this. Most of the time they are near the train stations or on the trains. Typically, if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.
With that being said, please be attentive, on-guard, and stay close to groups of people. I carried a pepper-spray with me everywhere I went.
Always trust your gut instinct.
Safety Tip: I would caution and not recommend a solo female traveler to walk alone after sunset because that is when it gets unsafe. Carry a pepper-spray with you for an added level of defense.
Navigate Around Santa Monica
Santa Monica is a the perfect city to walk around! There’s Santa Monica Beach and Downtown Santa Monica—3rd Street Promenade—for shopping and restaurants. The area is safe and well-populated! I felt very comfortable solo walking around for hours.
Things to Do in Santa Monica
Walk Around Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica beach is beautiful! I walked Santa Monica beach to Venice beach, and I loved it! I prefer Santa Monica beach over Venice beach.
Santa Monica beach is very calm and the community consists of active individuals walking, running, biking, skateboarding, roller-skating, etc. The beach environment is very relaxing, whereas Venice beach is more attraction-heavy.
Santa Monica is my favorite beach that I visited. However, I visited in January so it was not warm enough to swim.
Mindfulness Tip: Walk Santa Monica beach, and listen to the waves or queue up a podcast to gain some inspiration from.
See the Santa Monica Pier
The Santa Monica Pier is definitely an a must-see when visiting Santa Monica. There are many vendors on the pier, but I think the fun part of the experience is seeing the amusement park and the ocean view.
Get Coffee and Walk Around 3rd Street Promenade
3rd Street Promenade is the cutest shopping village that caters to both your food and clothing desires. From coffee shops, brunch spots, to elegant dinner options, there is much to choose from!
Blue Bottle Coffee
I have always wanted to try Blue Bottle Coffee and it was so good! To my coffee lovers, you must try it. I romanticized my life by walking Santa Monica beach with my Blue Bottle Cold Brew in hand. It truly was a divine experience soaking up the sunshine and getting some movement in.
Recommendation: Order the Bold Cold Brew for a lovely robust, chilled coffee experience—thank me later!
Walk to Venice Beach
Take a nice stroll to Venice Beach! The walk is around 30 minutes, so it’s a great way to get some exercise in and listen to a podcast. It sprinkled here and there from my walk from the Santa Monica Pier, but it still was really fun to see how the different beaches compared! Personally, I loved Santa Monica more!!
See the Venice Canals
The Venice Canals are so beautiful! It makes you feel like you are walking around Venice, Italy in a way! This was my favorite experience of visiting Venice beach.
Downtown Sunset Seafood Dinner at Water Grill
I had nicest dinner of my life at Water Grill in Downtown Santa Monica. Water Grill is known for it’s fresh seafood off the coast. I ordered the Live California Spiny Lobster because when in California…
I strongly recommend going to Water Grill! The view of the water and sunset was beautiful from the restaurant, and it was such an elegant dining experience.
Order Recommendation: Order the Live Char-Grilled California Spiny Lobster and 7-cheese Mac and Cheese. I paired this with Chardonnay, Sean Minor, Sonoma Coast, California 2019, which was magnificent.
carpe diem,
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