Where six or eight of you should stay in LA

If there are six or eight of you coming to Los Angeles, the short answer is Koreatown or the Little Tokyo edge of Downtown, in an apartment-style home with its own parking space. That's where most of our LA homes are, and the reason isn't fashion. A group in LA fails or succeeds on two things: whether you can all eat dinner without a reservation forty minutes away, and whether the cars have somewhere to go at night. K-Town and DTLA solve both, and they sit on the Metro lines that run to Hollywood and out to Santa Monica, which matters more than a view does.

Below are the homes I'd put a group of four, six or eight in, and why I'd put you in that one rather than the one next door.

Eight people, three bedrooms, three bathrooms

For a group of eight, I'd start with Lux Living 3BD 3BTH in K-Town or its near-twin Light-Filled K-town 3BD 3BTH. Three full bathrooms is the number that decides a group trip. Eight people and one shower is a morning spent waiting; eight people and three showers is everyone out the door by nine. Both homes run a king in the primary, a queen in the second bedroom and a full bed in the third, with an outdoor pool and a gym in the building and an assigned parking spot downstairs.

There's a third route to eight, and it's cheaper on bedrooms: K-Town 2BD Modern Escape sleeps eight across two bedrooms, because the primary carries a queen plus a trundle that splits into two twin XLs. That's a layout built for a family with kids rather than four couples. K-Town 2BD + Loft does the same job with a loft instead of a trundle, which gives the teenagers somewhere to disappear to.

Six of you, and the hot tub question

Six is the easiest number to place in LA and the one where you get to be fussy. Nearly all of these are two-bedroom apartment homes with a king, a queen and something extra in the living room, so the real choice is what's downstairs in the building.

• Vibrant Koreatown 2BD Hideaway has the large hot tub and sun lounge, plus board games in the unit, which is a small thing until someone's flight lands at midnight and nobody wants to go out.
• Light-Filled Modern 2BD in K-Town swaps the airbed for a proper pull-out sofa bed, so the two people in the living room get a frame rather than a mattress on the floor.
• Light-Filled 2BD in K-Town and Stylish K-Town 2BD Home both have the outdoor pool, which is the one amenity worth planning around between May and October.
• Chic K-Town 2BD Hideaway comes with a free tandem space that takes two cars. If your group is arriving in two rentals, that's the one to look at first.

One more for six, and it's the one I'd pick for a couple travelling with friends who care about the view: Skyline Luxe, a sky loft looking at the Downtown skyline, with reserved parking included. Free parking in DTLA is rare enough that people book the home for that alone.

Little Tokyo if you'd rather walk than drive

Stay in Little Tokyo and you can do most of a week without starting the car. 2BD Haven in Little Tokyo sleeps six on a king, a queen and an airbed, and puts you steps from the Japanese plaza with the Arts District a short walk east. Chic & Cozy Home is the same shape, same walk, both with free parking for the days you do want to drive out to the Getty or up to Griffith Observatory.

For four, Light-Filled Artsy Stay in Little Tokyo sits by the Regional Connector station, which is the part worth paying attention to: the Japanese American National Museum is a few blocks away, Grand Park and City Hall are a walk north, and Union Station is under a mile if anyone is arriving by train. Parking here is paid or street rather than a gated spot, so it suits a group flying in and using transit more than one driving down from the Bay.

Four people: a suite, not a house

Two couples, or parents with two kids, fit neatly into the Haven units. The Haven 1BD Suite is an open sky loft with the Downtown skyline out the window, a king and an airbed, free underground gated parking, and Dodger Stadium about a mile off. The Haven Suites is the K-Town equivalent, with the same king-plus-airbed arrangement and an assigned spot.

Both are open-plan, which is the honest limit: four adults who want doors between them should take a two-bedroom instead. Four who are out all day and back at eleven will find these more than enough, and both buildings have a rooftop deck with grills and fire pits, which is where everybody ends up anyway.

What makes these work for families, and what doesn't

The baby gear is the thing most people don't expect from an apartment. Several of the K-Town and Little Tokyo homes keep a Pack 'n' Play and a high chair on site, including Vibrant Koreatown 2BD Hideaway and The Haven 1BD Suite; Light-Filled K-town 3BD 3BTH has a crib. That's one checked bag you don't fly with.

Every one of these homes has a real kitchen and an in-unit washer and dryer, which is the quiet reason groups book apartments over hotel rooms. Ten days in LA with kids generates laundry, and a dishwasher means you can do a Korean market run on day one and cook twice rather than eat out eighteen times. The buildings add a gym and, depending which one you're in, a pool or a hot tub.

What they're not is a yard. These are apartment homes in buildings with shared rooftops, not houses with lawns. If your group wants a private pool and a garden gate, that's a different kind of trip and a different market: we also have homes in Palm Springs, Orange County and San Diego, where the space is outdoors rather than down the elevator.

A note on where you're actually going

Base yourself in K-Town or Little Tokyo and the day looks like this. The Metro B and D lines run from Wilshire/Vermont, which is a short walk from the K-Town buildings, and from Downtown the lines fan out to Hollywood and west toward the coast. Driving, the 101 and the 10 are both close, and the drive from Downtown out to Venice is about twenty minutes when the roads are empty and anywhere up to an hour on a weekday afternoon. Plan the beach for a morning, not a 4pm whim.

Griffith Observatory sits roughly half an hour from the Santa Monica Pier on a good run, which gives you a sense of the city's scale: nothing is far, everything takes a while. Malibu is further again, west along the Pacific Coast Highway, with Zuma Beach and the Point Dume overlooks at the end of it. If a beach day is the point of the trip, give it a whole day and leave early.

Before you book

Two practical things. First, put every guest on the reservation, including kids and pets. The buildings run registered-guest rules and a couple of them require a signed rental agreement and ID before check-in, so a surprise extra person at the door is genuinely a problem. Pets are welcome across the portfolio but have to be disclosed in advance.

Second, check the parking on the specific home rather than assuming. Most of the K-Town and DTLA homes include a free gated or assigned spot, the Little Tokyo artsy stay is paid or street, and Chic K-Town 2BD Hideaway is the one with room for two cars. In LA that single line decides more than you'd think.

Every home here has been walked and vetted by our team, and we host them ourselves with keyless entry and support around the clock. If you tell us your group size, your dates and whether anyone's driving, we'll tell you which of these fits and which one I'd put you in.