Are you planning to visit Los Angeles but you only have a day or two to spend in the city? After reading my top 5 things to do in Los Angeles post you will probably figure out that most of the things you want to see are concentrated in Hollywood. Most of people come to Hollywood to see where celebrities live and the best way to do that is to take a guided tour. I took Hollywood with Celebrity Star’s Homes tour in 2017 and it was pretty fun. Not only they drive you all the way up to the Hollywood Hills, but they also take the “central Hollywood” loop, where you will find out bunch of interesting stuff about the celebrities, movie locations and local gossips – you can always return to those places later on foot. Here is what you can expect of Celebrity Star’s Homes Tour, operated by Starline Tours.

Celebrity Star’s homes tour itinerary – what to expect

If you are a movie freak and want to see where celebrities live, you have two options: do your homework (good luck with that!), rent a car, drive up to Beverly Hills and pretend you know whose houses you are looking at. Just keep in mind that you are not allowed to stop over anywhere you want, so this experience might be quite stressful and dissapointing. The easier, better an only slightly more expensive option (45$ per person) is to book an organized tour, show up on time, sit into the open-air 13-passenger van and trust your tour guide to know it all. We were very lucky to get Alan (guide and driver at the same time), who kept us busy for 2 hours with jokes about politics and Hollywood stars, and he didn’t exaggerate with too much information. In fact, I am quite sure he didn’t fake any, even if he could have done that very easily.

Movie Star’s homes tour departs from the Starline terminal on Hollywood boulevard; their booth is located next to the Chinese Theatre. If you are coming by car, the parking is excellently organized in the underground garage at the Hollywood & Highland Center – just make sure you bring your parking ticket to Starline Tours staff for validation; with that you will only pay 2$ for 2 hours, and $1 for each additional 15 minutes, with a maximum of $13 for the day, which is a good deal for this exclusive location.

First we drove towards Hollywood Hills via Mulholland drive, where you can get some nice views of L. A. on one side and Universal studios on the other (for a clear view it might be better to choose an afternoon tour because it can get foggy in the mornings). From then on there were mostly rooftops, very distant views of the houses, or very high walls which cover just about everything. Of course you can always hope to catch Katy Perry jogging (if she does that) or Justin Timberlake walking his dog (if he has one), but the chances are probably one in a million. But if you have good camera or binoculars, you might s ee some distant houses quite well. For example Gwen Stefani’s house is not that far from the road, then you have the house where Michael Jackson passed away, you can see Rene Zellweger’s house very well, as well as Richard Gere’s, Janet Jackson’s and some others. But it does take a lot of imagination 🙂 If you want more “open view” of celebrities’ houses, you might want to read about my experience with Malibu Stars Homes tour, which is also operated by Starline tours.

You will also pass along some famous movie locations and buildings, like the hotels from Pretty Woman or Beverly Hills cop… and hear some interesting facts – for example did you know that movie stars actually have to pay 40.000$ to get their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? Anyway, if you have a good tour guide like we did, you won’t regret it. Just keep in mind that this is not an actual “home tour” with dining invitations from the celebrities 😉

No matter what you choose to do and how you do it, I wish you all the best and good luck with celebrity spotting! Have you ever been on any of these tours or seen a celebrity? Which one would you like to meet the most? Scroll down for comments! 🙂