# The best family hotels in Los Angeles Written 2026-10-01 by Play Day. Twelve Los Angeles hotels that work with kids, from Santa Monica and Venice to Universal, downtown and Pasadena. See which ones have connecting rooms, a kitchen or a pool before you book. Picture the 405 at 5pm, two kids in the back seat, and a hotel that's forty minutes from the thing you promised them. That's the Los Angeles mistake, and it's easy to make, because the city isn't one place. It's about six, joined by freeways. So the best family hotel in Los Angeles is the one on the right side of town for your trip. This page checks twelve hotels on what decides the booking: connecting rooms, suites, kitchens, a pool. Each one says which room to ask for, what's near and what you give up. We left out any hotel we couldn't confirm anything family-specific about. It's sorted by where you sleep. Santa Monica and Venice are for the beach and the pier. Hollywood and Universal are for the studio park and a shorter drive to Griffith Park. Downtown is for Angels Flight and the museums, and it has the train. Beverly Hills and Pasadena are the quiet, grown-up options with space to roam. Short on time? The beach with a kitchen: Palihouse. A pool kids will remember: the Magic Castle Hotel. Universal on foot: the Hilton. Bunk beds and a trolley: the Garland. Downtown with a rooftop pool: the JW Marriott. A splurge with room to roam: the Langham. ## How we picked These are hotels we'd send a friend with two kids to. The facts under each come from the hotel's own pages where they'd load for us and from official listings in search where they wouldn't, plus the Play Day listing. If something isn't said, we couldn't confirm it (which isn't the same as no). The listing shows the pool, cribs and the rest as rows, so the writing here sticks to rooms, location and trade-offs. ## Santa Monica and Venice, for the beach Stay here if the trip is the pier, the aquarium under it and sand at the end of the day. Santa Monica is the easiest base with kids, and the Metro E Line runs from here to downtown. What you give up: Griffith Park and Universal are a real drive, and how long depends entirely on traffic. ### [Shore Hotel](https://ourplayday.com/places/shore-hotel-santa-monica) Neighborhood: Santa Monica The easy one by the pier. The beach is across the street, the Third Street Promenade is a walk and the hotel has six connecting rooms, so ask for them early. Rooms with a king and a sleeper sofa, or two queens, sleep up to five. The pool is solar-heated and in a courtyard, open all year. It's a grown-up-looking pool, though, with no kids' pool and not much room to run. - Connecting rooms: Yes - Pool: Yes, heated ### [Palihouse Santa Monica](https://ourplayday.com/places/palihouse-santa-monica-santa-monica) Neighborhood: Santa Monica The apartment pick. It's an old 1927 building a few blocks from the beach, and the suites that sleep four (the One Bedroom and Two Bedroom Residences, and the Penthouse) have kitchens, so milk and leftovers are handled. Know that there's no pool. If your kids need one every afternoon, this isn't the one, and the Shore is a few minutes down the road. - Suites: Yes - Fridge: Yes - Kitchenette: Yes ### [Shutters on the Beach](https://ourplayday.com/places/shutters-on-the-beach-santa-monica) Neighborhood: Santa Monica The splurge, right on the sand. It leans grown-up, but kids are welcome and it's built for people who want a suite: one and two bedroom suites with galley kitchens and a sleeper sofa, plus connecting rooms you can request through the reservations team. The pool deck looks at the ocean. There's no kids' club, so the beach, beach bikes and paddle tennis are the entertainment. - Suites: Yes - Kitchenette: Yes - Pool: Yes ### [Hotel Erwin](https://ourplayday.com/places/hotel-erwin-los-angeles) Neighborhood: Venice Venice, a few miles down the coast, and a lot more Boardwalk than Pier. The hotel is steps from the Boardwalk, the skatepark and Muscle Beach, which older kids will like and toddlers might find loud. The room to ask for is the two-bedroom suite: a king with a queen sofa bed, a room with two queens and a balcony. There's no pool, so it's the beach or nothing. - Suites: Yes - Kitchenette: Yes ## Hollywood and Universal This is the side of town for Universal Studios, and it's closer to Griffith Park than the beach is. You give up the sand: the ocean is a long drive from here. From Hollywood, the Metro goes to Universal in one stop. ### [Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City](https://ourplayday.com/places/hilton-los-angeles-universal-city-universal-city) Neighborhood: Universal City The close one: a short walk to the park gates and CityWalk, and a shuttle if little legs have had enough. If you're doing Universal for more than a day, you'll be glad you're not parking. The pool is heated and outdoors, with lawn games next to it. Ask about connecting rooms when you book. Everything else in the area is a drive. - Fridge: Yes - Pool: Yes ### [The Garland](https://ourplayday.com/places/the-garland-north-hollywood) Neighborhood: North Hollywood The retro one, with the best kid-room idea on the page. The kids rooms have a bunk bed (a full on the bottom, a twin on top, so it sleeps three) partitioned off from a king for you. An open-air trolley runs to Universal and stops at the Metro on the way, and the pool shows dive-in movies at sundown. It's about two miles from the park, so you give up the walk but not the ride. - Pool: Yes ### [Magic Castle Hotel](https://ourplayday.com/places/magic-castle-hotel-los-angeles) Neighborhood: Hollywood A canary-yellow old apartment building a block off Hollywood Boulevard, and the pool is the reason to book. There's a red phone by the water: pick it up and someone brings popsicles on a silver tray. The pool is heated and open around the clock. Ask for a one or two bedroom suite, since they have full kitchens. The hotel will even do the grocery shopping on a longer stay. It's close to Griffith Park, and Hollywood/Highland Metro is a short walk. - Suites: Yes - Fridge: Yes - Kitchenette: Yes - Pool: Yes, heated - Free breakfast: Yes ## Downtown The hotels here are big, the pools are on roof decks and the Metro E Line brings you in from Santa Monica. Angels Flight, Grand Central Market and the museums are close. What you give up: it's the farthest from the beach, and it empties out at night. ### [Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza](https://ourplayday.com/places/omni-los-angeles-hotel-at-california-plaza-los-angeles) Neighborhood: Bunker Hill The one that does the welcome. Kids get a backpack of snacks and things to do when you check in, and the staff will point you to what's nearby. It's on Bunker Hill, right at the top of the Angels Flight funicular, so a train ride is the first outing. The pool is outdoors and has a hot tub. - Cribs: Yes - Pool: Yes, heated ### [JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE](https://ourplayday.com/places/jw-marriott-los-angeles-l-a-live-los-angeles) Neighborhood: L.A. Live The rooftop pool pick. The heated pool is on a big fourth-floor deck above L.A. Live, and it's open year round except in bad weather. Connecting rooms are offered, so ask. The area is made of movie theaters, restaurants and arenas, so dinner is easy with a tired kid. It's a walk or a short ride to the museums at Exposition Park. - Pool: Yes, heated ### [The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles](https://ourplayday.com/places/the-westin-bonaventure-hotel-suites-los-angeles-los-angeles) Neighborhood: Financial District A giant, with glass elevators that shoot up the outside of the building. Some kids will call that the best part of the trip. The heated pool is outdoors on a fourth-floor deck. The hotel has adjoining rooms, but you can't reserve them in advance, so ask at the desk when you arrive. - Suites: Yes - Fridge: Yes - Pool: Yes - Laundry: Yes ## Beverly Hills and Pasadena Two quieter bases, one on each side of the city. Both are grown-up and polished, and both give you room to unwind after a long day. What you give up: they aren't close to anything on a kids' itinerary, so plan on driving. ### [Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel](https://ourplayday.com/places/beverly-wilshire-a-four-seasons-hotel-beverly-hills) Neighborhood: Beverly Hills The splurge that plans for kids. There are cribs, rollaways, kids' robes and a kids' menu, and a star-shaped cookie with your kid's name on it shows up at check-in. Connecting rooms are available, and two-bedroom suites are the room for two kids and you. The pool is outdoors. It's a drive to Griffith Park and Santa Monica. - Cribs: Yes - Connecting rooms: Yes - Suites: Yes - Pool: Yes ### [The Langham Huntington, Pasadena](https://ourplayday.com/places/the-langham-huntington-pasadena-pasadena) Neighborhood: Pasadena The one with space: a grand old resort on 23 acres of gardens, and kids describe it as a castle. There are two pools, tennis and bikes, and suites that sleep up to six. Connecting rooms are a maybe, since sources disagree, so ask before you count on them. You give up the beach and the coast. Pasadena is a drive from everything else in the plan. - Pool: Yes, heated ## Where to stay if you only have a few days Pick one side of town and stay there. Our 3 days in Los Angeles plan sleeps in Santa Monica, with downtown or Hollywood as alternatives, and you can read it at [3 days in Los Angeles](https://ourplayday.com/itineraries/3-days-in-los-angeles). ## Parking and fees Ask about parking before you book. In LA it's the line that surprises people on the bill, and most of the hotels here charge for it. If you can, pick a hotel near a Metro line and skip the car for a day. ## Questions ### Where should we stay in Los Angeles with kids? Santa Monica, if the trip is the pier and the beach, since you can walk to most of it. Hollywood or Universal, if the trip is the studio park and Griffith Park. Downtown, if you want Angels Flight and the museums and the train. Pick one side of town, because LA traffic decides everything. ### Which Los Angeles hotels have a pool for kids? The Magic Castle Hotel has a heated pool open all day with a popsicle hotline. The JW Marriott and the Westin Bonaventure have heated rooftop-deck pools downtown, and the Hilton Universal City has a heated outdoor pool. The Langham in Pasadena has two. The Shore Hotel's pool is solar-heated, but there's no kids' pool. ### Which Los Angeles hotels have kitchens or connecting rooms? Palihouse, the Magic Castle Hotel and Shutters on the Beach have suites with kitchens. Shore Hotel has six connecting rooms, and the Beverly Wilshire and the JW Marriott offer them too. The Garland has bunk-bed kids rooms that sleep three. ### Which Los Angeles hotel is closest to Universal Studios? The Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City, a short walk from the gates. The Garland, in North Hollywood, runs a trolley to the park and the Metro. ### Which Los Angeles hotel is best for a splurge with kids? The Beverly Wilshire, for the kids' amenities and the two-bedroom suites. The Langham in Pasadena, if you want room to roam. Shutters on the Beach, if you want to be on the sand. Page: https://ourplayday.com/guides/los-angeles/family-hotels