Beverly Hills in an Afternoon

Beverly Hills rewards a short visit done well far more than a long one done thoroughly.

Start at the top of Rodeo

Walk down from Santa Monica Boulevard to Wilshire. Twenty minutes, and you have seen it. Via Rodeo, the cobbled side street, is the photograph everybody actually wants.

Then go where people live

The residential streets north of Sunset — Beverly Drive, Canon, Roxbury — are quiet, enormous and much more interesting than the shops. Greystone Mansion is free to walk and the gardens look over the whole basin.

Afternoon tea or an early drink

The Beverly Hills Hotel Polo Lounge and the Peninsula are the classic rooms. Both want a reservation.

Getting there

Beverly Hills parking enforcement is efficient and unsentimental, and the meters have short limits. This is a neighbourhood to be dropped in and collected from.