A city with three different skylines, and the sunset that decides which one is worth your evening
Rooftop bars Los Angeles offers do not form one scene but three: the towers of Downtown, the hotel terraces of the Westside and Beverly Hills, and the coastal decks from Santa Monica southward. Each gives a different horizon and a different kind of evening.
A rooftop is one of the best ways to understand how spread out Los Angeles is. What it asks of the visitor is the right choice of address.
Downtown is where Los Angeles looks most like a conventional city, and the best vantage is from the top of one of its towers. Wilshire Grand Center rises to 335 m with 73 floors, and the Spire 73 bar on its top floor describes itself as the tallest open-air bar in the Western Hemisphere. The InterContinental hotel occupies the upper floors below it.
A Los Angeles rooftop lounge at this height is about scale, not intimacy. It suits a pre-dinner drink and a long look across the grid, and it works best when the evening is built around Downtown, with dinner nearby and a driver waiting.
On the Westside the rooftop belongs to the hotel. Terraces and roof gardens above Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica are quieter and lower than the towers, and a reservation is the sensible way in. The Roof Garden at The Peninsula Beverly Hills is one example, a rooftop restaurant and bar that accepts reservations from non-guests as well. Rooftop restaurants Los Angeles has on this side of the city tend to be a dinner as much as a drink.
The coast adds the sunset itself. A terrace facing west over the Pacific is among the most sought-after tables in the city, and a likely one to fill first.
Sunset moves through the year, and the hour to book moves with it. Whatever the month, the hour that matters is the one before dusk, so check the time for your dates.
The Games in July 2028 are likely to bring a wave of demand to the best terraces. Our guide to the Olympics 2028 Los Angeles explains how to plan that week.
Tell us the view you want and we will secure the table at the right hour
We choose the rooftop to suit the evening: a skyline for a business dinner, a hotel terrace for something quieter, the coast for sunset. We hold the table, arrange the driver, and plan the rest of the evening around it. If you are comparing cities, see our guides to rooftop restaurants in Dubai, rooftop bars in New York, and rooftop bars in Las Vegas. Our fine dining and nightlife service covers the wider city, and our business concierge team arranges private evenings for groups.
It depends on the view. In our view, Downtown towers offer the skyline, Westside hotels offer quieter terraces, and the coast offers the sunset
Spire 73, on the top floor of the Wilshire Grand Center in Downtown, describes itself as the tallest open-air bar in the Western Hemisphere
For the better terraces, ahead of the dates, especially for weekends and for the hour around sunset
Yes. Downtown towers and Westside hotels both work well, depending on the guests and the part of the city they are staying in
We recommend one. Distances in Los Angeles are long, and a driver removes the question of parking and the journey home
