Universal City · Hotel shortlist
The best hotels near Universal Studios Hollywood
Hana Okada The Low Countries
These are my five favourites in Universal City, out of the 80 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.5 down to 4.3.
Every one comes in under $130 a night, and the one I would book first is $249.
Highest rated of the five
The Garland
★★★★★4.5 from 2,960 reviews
The Garland comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.5 from 2,960 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.
It is a 4 star property, found under poi and around $249 a night on the dates we checked.
80 hotels in Universal City qualified for this list and five made it. Coast Burbank Hotel is the one I would book if the first is full.
All five, ranked
-
1
The Garland
★★★★★4.5 from 2,960 reviews
1.7 km from Universal Studios Hollywood, about a 21 minute walk
-
2Coast Burbank Hotel
★★★★★4.7 from 770 reviews
4.0 km from Universal Studios Hollywood
-
3El Royale Hotel Near Universal Studios Hollywood
★★★★★4.5 from 671 reviews
1.8 km from Universal Studios Hollywood, about a 22 minute walk
-
4Magic Castle Hotel
★★★★★4.7 from 1,603 reviews
3.8 km from Universal Studios Hollywood
-
5Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City
★★★★★4.3 from 6,218 reviews
500 m from Universal Studios Hollywood, about a 6 minute walk
How this list was put together
80 Universal City hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Universal Studios Hollywood second, then took the top five.
Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.
The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.
What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.
Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.
Hana Okada The Low Countries
Plans trips around bridges and old infrastructure. Thirty-one named bridges in 14 countries, each photographed, with sketches kept in numbered notebooks.
Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.