If you have a few hours to spend and want to see all the sights Los Angeles, Hollywood, and the surrounding areas are famous for, consider taking a sightseeing tour.

Starline Tours

(800) 959-3131

www.starlinetours.com

Starline offers eighteen different Los Angeles tours. The two-hour movie stars' homes tour ($37 for adults/$27 for children) is a favorite among tourists, as is the five-hour Grand Tour of Los Angeles. If you're staying in the Los Angeles area, Starline Tours will pick you up at your hotel at no additional charge.

VIP Tours

(800) 438-1814

www.viptoursandcharters.com

VIP offers several tours, using fourteen-passenger vans and a fleet of mini-buses and motor coaches. The Los Angeles City Tour and Movie Stars Homes, for example, is a four-hour tour that takes you to key L.A. destinations — including Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Mann's Chinese Theatre, and the Walk of Fame — past a handful of television and movie studios, and to many celebrity homes. They offer morning, midmorning, afternoon, and midafternoon departures seven days a week. The tour cost is $65 (adults) and $48 (kids). Call the company directly or visit the Web site for information about other tours.

If you want an entertaining overview of motion picture production, take the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood. If, however, you want to actually explore a working studio, take one of these tours instead.

NBC Studios Tour

3000 West Alameda Avenue, Burbank

(818) 840-3537

www.nbc.com

The NBC tour is a seventy-minute walking tour through a working television studio complex, the only network television studio open to the public in Los Angeles. You'll see a special effects demonstration, visit working sets, and walk through makeup, wardrobe, and dressing room facilities. There's also a souvenir shop selling NBC show merchandise. Admission is $7 for adults, $3.75 for children, and $6.25 for senior citizens.

Paramount Studios Tour

860 North Gower Street, Los Angeles

(323) 956-1777

www.paramount.com

Paramount is the only working studio left in Hollywood, and it's steeped in history. On the tour you'll see many famous locations, find out how Charles Bronson chose his stage name on the Paramount lot, and see where shows such as Star Trek Enterprise (as well as the other Star Trek television shows and movies), Entertainment Tonight, and feature films are produced. The tour is $15 per person, and reservations are required. Kids under ten are not permitted. The two-hour walking tour is given on weekdays only.

Sony Pictures Studio Tour

10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City

(323) 520-8687

www.sonypicturesstudios.com

At the Sony Studio, you'll see where game shows such as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune are filmed and walk past other popular television show and movie sets. On a two-hour walking tour, you'll also pass the stage where The Wizard of Oz was filmed. Tours are given Monday through Friday. Tickets are $25 per person, and all visitors must be at least twelve years old.

Warner Bros. Studios Tour

3400 Riverside Drive, Burbank

(818) 972-8687

www2.warnerbros.com/vipstudiotour/

The VIP tour (which is actually their standard tour) visits the Warner Bros. Museum, several production facilities, and the back lot. Longer Deluxe tours include visits with working professionals and lunch. Tours operate on weekdays only. Admission for the VIP Tour is $30, the Deluxe Tour is $150, and reservations should be made in advance. Children under eight years old are not permitted on the tour. This is the most informative studio tour and includes the most behind-the-scenes activity in terms of working soundstages where television shows (like ER) and movies such as Ocean's 13 are made.