Beverly Hills

What you gain

• ↑Rodeo Drive is free to walk and photograph. The concentration of every global luxury brand within three blocks creates a streetscape that genuinely has no equivalent outside of Hong Kong's Canton Road or New Bond Street in London. The Beverly Wilshire hotel at the bottom of Rodeo (famous as the hotel from Pretty Woman) serves afternoon tea in its lobby that is accessible without a room booking.
• ↑The Beverly Hills residential streets north of Sunset Boulevard — Coldwater Canyon, Benedict Canyon, Angelo Drive — are driveable (not walkable) and deliver the best view of how serious old money lives in Southern California. Greystone Mansion's grounds are free to visit Tuesday–Sunday and the house itself is open for guided tours on select dates.
• ↑Spago Beverly Hills (Wolfgang Puck's flagship, opened 1982, widely credited with launching California cuisine as a global movement) and Matsuhisa (Nobu Matsuhisa's original Los Angeles restaurant, opened 1987, still considered one of the great Japanese restaurants in the US) are both in Beverly Hills and bookable with normal lead times outside of peak season.

What you sacrifice

• ↓Beverly Hills as a base is expensive — hotels range from the Beverly Wilshire ($600–$1,200/night) to smaller boutique properties at $350–$500. There is essentially no mid-range accommodation in the 90210 zip code.
• ↓The neighbourhood's retail focus and residential character mean that daytime Beverly Hills can feel quiet in ways that don't suit visitors wanting urban energy. After 8pm, the Rodeo Drive corridor is essentially closed — nightlife requires going elsewhere.