Transportation from LAX to Your Hotel: Private Car to Los Angeles and Beverly Hills

Transportation from LAX to your hotel is a different problem from getting out of the airport. The terminals are the easy part. The hard part is that Los Angeles hotels are scattered across a basin about 50 km wide, the airport sits on the western edge, and the only two practical routes north and east are the 405 and the surface streets beside it. This page covers LAX first, because most guests land there, then Hollywood Burbank (BUR) and Long Beach (LGB), which are better starting points for some hotels. Where a driver and a vehicle help, Onroutz.ca books a licensed local transfer partner to meet you and take you to the hotel entrance on a fixed fare.

If your first question is about the airport itself (terminals, the LAX-it lot, drive times by neighbourhood), our LAX airport transfer page covers that side. This page starts from the other end: you have a hotel booked, and you want the best way to reach it.

What is the best transportation from LAX to a hotel?

Three things settle the choice: where the hotel is, when you land, and what you are carrying. A single traveller with one bag, staying at an airport-row hotel, should use the hotel's shuttle and nothing else. A family of four landing at 6 p.m. on a Friday and heading to Beverly Hills should not leave the trip to a queue and a surge multiplier.

Check your fixed fare

How far is each Los Angeles hotel district from LAX?

The figures below are approximate road distances and typical drive times in ordinary traffic. Los Angeles does not have one rush hour. Inbound traffic builds early on weekday mornings, the afternoon peak starts around 3 p.m. and runs past 7, and Friday is the heaviest day of the week.

Give the booker the hotel's exact name and street address, and the fare is fixed for that address.

Every way from LAX to your hotel, side by side

Why LAX pickups work differently

Los Angeles World Airports moved taxi and ride-app pickups out of the terminal kerbs and into a dedicated lot called LAX-it, east of Terminal 1. Passengers walk there or ride a free shuttle from the lower arrivals level; LAWA's announcement of LAX-it describes the design. For a guest with bags, that is a walk, a shuttle ride and a queue before the trip to the hotel has begun. A pre-booked car avoids that step because your confirmation gives a meeting point for your terminal before you land. The airport's own site, flylax.com, lists current ground-transportation rules; it blocks automated checks, so read it in your browser.

The people mover and the train

The SkyLink automated people mover was planned to link the terminals to a new rail station and remove the need for LAX-it. As of early October 2026 it has not opened, and local reporting puts the latest target at January 2027, so plan around the system as it works today. Metro's LAX/Metro Transit Center station is a short shuttle ride from the terminals and connects to Metro's rail lines; see Metro for current maps and fares. That works for one traveller with one bag heading to an address near a station. It does not beat a car for a Beverly Hills or Hollywood hotel.

Are there free hotel shuttles at LAX?

Yes, but mostly for hotels near the airport. Courtesy shuttles tend to serve the hotels along Century Boulevard and a few others within a few kilometres, and they usually run on a loop or on request. A hotel in Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Century City or downtown generally sits too far for a free shuttle to make sense, so check with your hotel before you assume one exists. If the hotel does offer a shuttle, ask where it stops and how often it runs.

When the shuttle or the train is the better choice

If you are alone, you are staying near the airport, and the hotel runs a shuttle, take it. There is nothing a car adds. If you have one bag, you are heading to a downtown hotel close to a Metro or FlyAway stop, and you have time, public transport will do the job at a lower cost than any car.

We would rather you took the bus on a quiet Tuesday than booked a vehicle you do not need. The case for the private transfer is that Los Angeles punishes anything that depends on timing or on a second leg.

When a private car wins

• Three or more travellers. One vehicle, one pickup, no splitting across rides.
• Heavy luggage. A Luxury SUV takes up to six passengers and five to six large bags; an Executive Sprinter carries up to 12 passengers with 12 bags.
• Late arrivals and red-eyes. Your flight is tracked, so a delayed landing at midnight still ends with a driver waiting.
• Children. Child, toddler and booster seats are added at booking.
• Westside and Beverly Hills hotels. These are the hotels furthest from any rail line.
• Business schedules. A 9 a.m. meeting after an early landing leaves no room for a missed shuttle.
• Privacy. A quiet car and a chauffeur who does not make conversation.

The fleet page shows every vehicle class, and how private airport transfers work explains the booking from start to finish.

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Major hotels we drive to in Los Angeles

The table below lists hotels that guests commonly book, with the nearest airport and a practical note on the approach. It is not a complete list: we drive to any Los Angeles hotel, resort or address you name.

Hotels are listed to help you plan; listing does not mean the hotel is affiliated with or endorses Onroutz.ca.

Other well-known stays have their own search followings. The Westin Bonaventure and Hotel Figueroa are downtown, close to the Convention Center and L.A. LIVE; the Loews Hollywood sits in the Hollywood and Highland complex. Tell the booker the name and the street, and the pickup note will match the real approach.

Arriving at LAX: where your driver meets you

LAX has Terminals 1 to 8 and the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). International arrivals clear customs at Tom Bradley. If you are flying from Toronto Pearson, check whether your flight is pre-cleared: Pearson is one of ten Canadian airports with U.S. preclearance, so those passengers land as domestic arrivals. CBP lists the preclearance airports. The waiting window follows the type of landing: 60 minutes free after an international arrival, 30 after a domestic one.

Every airport pickup is flight-tracked. Your confirmation names the vehicle class, the meeting point for your terminal and a 24/7 contact. Name-board meet and greet inside arrivals is available on request, and an alias can go on the board if you prefer privacy. See the airport meet and greet service for how that works.

Luggage guidance, in practice: an Executive Sedan (Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Cadillac or similar) takes up to three passengers with two large and two cabin bags; a First Class Sedan (S-Class, BMW 7 Series or similar) also takes three; a Luxury SUV (Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon Denali, Chevrolet Suburban or similar) takes up to six with five to six large bags. Models are confirmed at booking. Maybach, Rolls-Royce, stretch limousine and armoured vehicles are available on request, with availability confirmed at booking.

Hollywood Burbank and Long Beach: the other two airports

Hollywood Burbank (BUR) is the closer airport for Hollywood, Studio City, Universal City and much of the Valley, and it is a sensible option for Beverly Hills too, since the drive crosses the hills instead of using the 405. From Burbank, Hollywood is about 18 km (11 mi), usually 20 to 45 minutes; Beverly Hills about 27 km (17 mi), usually 30 to 55 minutes; downtown about 19 km (12 mi), usually 20 to 45 minutes. These are map-style planning figures, and traffic on the 101 and Sunset moves them. The airport lists buses, taxis, door-to-door shuttles and rideshare on its ground-transportation page; it blocks automated checks, so view it on hollywoodburbankairport.com in your browser. Metrolink stops at the Burbank Airport South station near the terminal.

Long Beach (LGB) is a smaller airport with a relaxed terminal. For hotels in downtown Los Angeles the drive is roughly 40 km (25 mi), 45 to 75 minutes via the 710; for Beverly Hills it is about 48 km (30 mi), 50 to 90 minutes. Check the airline schedule before choosing it: a calmer terminal helps only if the flight times suit you, and the drive north is still long.

If your itinerary includes Disneyland, see our LAX to Disneyland transfer page for the Orange County drive.

How the Los Angeles transfer works with Onroutz.ca

Onroutz.ca is a transfer desk based in Toronto. Outside Toronto and the GTA, the ride is delivered by a vetted, licensed and commercially insured local partner, and Onroutz.ca books, confirms, supports and invoices it from Toronto: one booking, one confirmation, one invoice, one 24/7 contact. In the United States, partners are US-licensed, and vehicles are no more than four model years old (Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Maybach up to seven).

What to expect:

1. The booker shows the fixed all-in fare for your exact pickup, drop-off and vehicle before you pay.
2. Your confirmation names the vehicle, the meeting point and the contact.
3. The desk watches your flight from the gate where it starts, so a landing that shifts by an hour shifts the car with it.
4. The driver handles the bags and drives to the hotel's front entrance, or to the closest legal stop if the street is restricted.

For corporate groups, the executive car service page explains monthly invoicing and multi-leg itineraries.

Late nights, studios and discreet arrivals

LAX runs round the clock, and the roads are fastest between about 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The pickup is the slow part at that hour, because the lot, the queue and the drive between them still apply. A tracked car cuts that. For departures, a morning flight from a Beverly Hills hotel needs more cushion than the map suggests, since the 405 can fill by 6 a.m.

Los Angeles is a production city. Crews and talent often land at LAX or Burbank and head for studio lots in Burbank, Culver City and Hollywood. Our chauffeurs do not photograph clients or post about trips, and NDAs are available on request. Hourly cars stay with a production for the day; see celebrity and talent transport for how privacy is handled.

Groups and events

A wedding party, a delegation or a sports team arriving together can use an Executive Sprinter (up to 12 passengers, 12 bags), and larger parties can use a mini-coach or coach of 20 to 56 seats on request. Our Sprinter van with driver page covers the group format. Cruise passengers heading to the port in San Pedro or Long Beach can use the cruise transfers hub to plan the embarkation leg, and our U.S. region page lists every American city we cover.

If you are also visiting Nevada, the Las Vegas airport-to-hotel page covers the Strip, and the full list of hotel transfers sits at the hotel transfers hub. For the broader comparison of private cars, taxis and ride apps, read our airport transfer versus taxi versus rideshare guide.

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