Best Hotels in Los Angeles by the Beach

When you walk up to the Fairmont Miramar, you’ll inevitably say “This feels more like someone’s mansion than a hotel.” Amd it was. The property atop an oceanfront bluff was once the estate of Santa Monica co-founder John P. Jones, and is now the center of Southern California luxury hospitality. Warning: You’re definitely in splurge territory here. The Fairmont is no budget accommodation. But, if you’re looking for the ultimate in elegance, this is it. The meticulous landscaping frames the private bungalows and the abundance of ocean-facing rooms. The Fairmont is basically where you can rent an upscale beach house with all the amenities of a luxury hotel. The spa is also regarded as one of the best in Los Angeles, and will get you rejuvenated for a night at The Bungalow, the hotel’s sceney nightspot.

This Art Deco gem is one of L.A.’s rehabilitation success stories, a Roaring Twenties resort that’s been brought back to its original brilliance. Back in the day, you’d find Clark Gable, Rose Kennedy and even notorious mobster Bugsy Siegel lounging around. Now, inside this bright blue building along the Santa Monica skyline, you can gaze out on the Pacific, take in the colorful rooms or grab a bit at Sirena, the café on the ground floor. And The Georgian Room is a dark, upscale restaurant and bar where it’s easy to pretend you’re an old-timey celeb hiding from the paparazzi.

Anytime a hotel hands you a White Claw at checkin, you know they’re going to show you a good time. Such is the case at the Hotel Erwin, a beachfront hotel in Venice Beach that locals know more for its rooftop bar than its rooms downstairs. True, rooms can skew small at the Erwin, but the point of staying in a hotel literally on the Venice Beach Boardwalk isn’t to stay inside. Head up to the High Rooftop Bar and you’ll find plenty of well-heeled locals enjoying a cocktail with views of the ocean. It’s best at sunset, but if you’d like to while away the afternoon in the sun, minus the sand, you could do worse. When you feel like exploring, you’re just a few feet from the boardwalk and all the eccentric fun it brings.

Stately English gardens aren’t usually something you expect to find in the heart of Santa Monica. But step inside the walls of this hotel a couple blocks off the ocean and you’ll walk right into the English countryside, albeit with palm trees in the front yard. Animal heads hang on the lobby walls, surrounding overstuffed furniture that invites you to kick back with a book. Daily breakfast is best enjoyed in either of the hotel’s courtyards, which are a tranquil reprieve from sometimes-congested L.A. The Palihouse sits a few blocks north of the Third Street Promenade, and with that location comes a degree of quiet you won’t find in other beachfront hotels. You will have to take a short walk to get to the sand, but the seclusion is worth it.

The Pierside took over an old Holiday Inn next to the Santa Monica Pier in 2023, nabbing the hotel site most convenient to the landmark boardwalk and the Third Street Promenade. The high-rise leans into the city’s surf culture more than any other beachfront hotel in Santa Monica. You can rent boards from the front desk and test your skills at the area’s fabled surf breaks. You’ll also find surf-themed art everywhere inside, and a breezy, indoor-outdoor lobby that feels like an extension of the beach. The on-site restaurant, Surfing Fox, serves an intriguing fusion of Mexican and Japanese food, with outdoor tables ideal for pierside people-watching.

The old Loews hotel next to the Santa Monica Pier has been reimagined as Regent’s first North America outpost. Regent cut the number of rooms in half, turning each one into a two-room suite complete with massive bathrooms and walk-in closets. The rooms are big and bright, and have so much space you might never want to leave. However, venture out into the white stone hallways of this hotel, and you’ll find Ayesha Curry’s Sweet July for coffee and breakfast and a new Aegean restaurant from Michael Mina called Orla. The pool deck is a resort unto itself, with chairs facing the Pacific and a heated pool that’s far more hospitable than the ocean.

The glass balconies at Shore Hotel are the picture of “California vacation,” small private terraces where you can kick back on lounge chairs and watch the sunset. Every ocean-facing balcony feels like a private theater with the Pacific Ocean as the headlining act —  it’s a big reason why Shore is one of the most popular beachfront hotels in Los Angeles. Of course, you can’t spend your entire vacation on your balcony, and Shore puts you close to Downtown Santa Monica, the pier, Venice Beach and the Third Street Promenade. The pool is also a nice respite from the hustle of the beach, and if you can’t swing an oceanfront balcony, the ones overlooking the pool deck aren’t a bad second choice.

Shutters might be the most appropriately named beachfront hotel in Los Angeles: its white clapboard window coverings are indeed the resort’s signature element. They’re meant to evoke summer on the Cape more than Southern California, and every room is designed to feel like a New England beach house. Open your shutter doors and you’re on a private terrace with a small table and deck chair perfect for your morning coffee. Step outside early enough and you’ll have the Santa Monica boardwalk to yourself, and when that gets too crowded you can retreat to the hotel’s epic azure pool. For seaside dining, you’d be hard pressed to find a better spot in Santa Monica than 1 Pico, Shutters’ signature restaurant; the blue crab is always a must.

Down in the South Bay, the best hotel by the beach is this boutique a couple blocks from Hermosa Pier. The interior is a curious mix of light woods and bright neon, like a strip club somehow spilled over into a summer beach house. The aesthetic works, though, and sets the scene for a high-energy experience in otherwise laid-back Hermosa. The SW’s rooftop is its biggest draw; firepits and red couches make for postcard sunsets every night. The rooms, of which there are only nine, are each designed with a different theme, from the underwater ethos of the Agua Azul to the black-lacquer penthouse. Some rooms don’t have windows, so if that is a dealbreaker for you, make sure you ask about it when you book. If you’re planning to party hard during your L.A. vacation, the windowless experience may actually be a bonus.

No beach hotel in L.A. fuses history with cool better than the Venice V. Set in the Waldorf Building built in 1915, this landmark has been a hotel of some sort for decades, and its latest iteration may be its best. From the moment you walk in you’ll see how the place embraces Venice Beach’s quirky character, with a mural of Abbot Kinney made completely of skateboard wheels behind the front desk. The interior gives a peek back into the hotel’s Golden Age origins; dark woods, brass and an antique elevator harken to the 1920s. Rooms are a mix of modern cool and exposed brick, giving the Venice V just enough grit to befit the neighborhood. Every room has an ocean view, too, so even if the noise from the boardwalk rarely dies down, you can enjoy the tranquility of the Pacific right outside your window.