How to Hike to the Hollywood Sign (Secret Shortcuts!!)

Last week, when I was visiting LA, we decided to hike to the Hollywood sign! I’ve been to Los Angeles close to a dozen times, yet I’ve never had the chance to get this close to the famous landmark. We knew we would be indulging in many cocktails, tacos and. basically any delicious Cali food we could get our hands on- so this felt like the perfect & fun workout!

Boy, is it a hike y’all! but soooo worth it!

It was so fun and thanks to some secret tips, we we’re able to hike it in about 2 hours vs. the 7 hours many people experience! Here’s a breakdown of the Hollywood Hike + our VIP tips.

*We followed this video sent to me by a sweet reader. This is our experience/edits with it below! I recommend watching the video a couple of times & writing down street names, etc. in advance. This is also a great website with more in depth directions. 

If you’ve never hiked to the Hollywood sign before, you are probably naive like we were! The Hollywood sign sits above a nice Beverly Hills neighborhood and they hate being disturbed by the traffic (the streets are narrow and windy, so I don’t blame them!). If you just type ‘The Hollywood Sign’ into Google Maps, it will take you to the observatory, which is a VERY far hike (6 miles) from the sign.

Instead, type ‘Lake Hollywood Park‘ into your GPS. This will bring you to an adorable park with great views of the Hollywood sign. You can absolutely drive right to this place and there is ample free parking. There is also a few different spots to get some great photos with the Hollywood sign. Like the one of me jumping! If you do not care about hiking or going to the top, I suggest stopping here and snapping a few photos, no need to continue to the next location. If you are going the top, there will be more places for you to take even closer pictures with the sign.

After parking, continue up the hill. We were really lucky and were able to drive up the hill and park at the next location, a random intersection where we started our hike. Parking was extremely limited, so I do not recommend trying to park here unless you come really early. Since this is a neighborhood, we wanted to be extremely careful not to disturb the locals. If you try to find somewhere past Lake Hollywood Park for parking, please be sure it’s legal, not going to get you a ticket and not blocking any driveways, etc.. Also You may see a few signs that say ‘No Access to Hollywood Sign‘ but you just ignore those! We were hiking on a Thursday and parked around 10 am. Your ultimate goal is to get to the intersection of Mulholland Dr and Deronda Dr., where the official hiking trail begins on Mount Lee but there is no parking at the intersection!

*I know this is a little confusing, I like to think of our hike as three parts 1. Lake Hollywood Park (the best place to park), 2. Random intersection between Lake Hollywood Park and Official Trail (we just happened to stumble upon this intersection  I don’t even know the names! I would not plan on parking here) 3.Mulholland Dr. & Deronda Dr. – the Official Trail Start (NO parking here at all)

After we parked, we were able to follow a dirt trail around to the entrance to the official hiking trail (Mulholland Dr. & Deronda Dr.). From here, you can take more photos with a very close up view of the sign (see selfie below) or you can start on the trail to the top!

Once you find the trail, it is self explanatory! It is quite steep and winding to the top, but totally worth it! There are so many great views on the hike and you really get to see how gorgeous LA is. I’ve seen so many people go to the Hollywood sign in movies, so it was really cool to do it ourselves. It can be confusing, but with the article & video I linked, you can definitely figure it out! Just remember to be respectful. If you have any questions, let me know below or on Instagram (@YesPleaseDaily). XO 

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