Universal City · Hotel shortlist
The best hotels near Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City
Amara Nwosu Africa
These are my five favourites in Universal City, out of the 83 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.7 down to 4.5.
All five are within 4.3 km of Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City.
Highest rated of the five
Magic Castle Hotel
★★★★★4.7 from 1,607 reviews
Magic Castle Hotel comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.7 from 1,607 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 $337 a night on the dates we checked.
83 hotels in Universal City qualified for this list and five made it. The Garland is the one I would book if the first is full.
All five, ranked
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1
Magic Castle Hotel
★★★★★4.7 from 1,607 reviews
3.9 km from Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City
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2The Garland
★★★★★4.5 from 2,977 reviews
1.4 km from Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City, about a 18 minute walk
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3El Royale Hotel Near Universal Studios Hollywood
★★★★★4.5 from 673 reviews
1.4 km from Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City, about a 18 minute walk
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4Coast Burbank Hotel
★★★★★4.7 from 776 reviews
4.3 km from Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City
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5The Tangerine - a Burbank Hotel
★★★★★4.6 from 645 reviews
2.3 km from Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City
How this list was put together
83 Universal City hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City 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.
Amara Nwosu Africa
Books holidays a year ahead because court calendars demand it, then travels hard for three weeks. West Africa most years to see family, somewhere new in between.
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.