By Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Occasions
In terms of making journey plans for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer time Olympics, you should still be crouched on the beginning blocks. However the race for flights, lodge reservations and occasion tickets will start in 2026, lengthy earlier than the Video games begin.
If you happen to’re planning to go to Southern California for LA28, preparation will probably be essential. And a bit optimistic pondering wouldn’t damage. As Winnipeg-based sports activities tour operator Dave Guenther of Roadtrips says, the Olympic cycle typically appears like “two or three years of cynicism adopted by two weeks of unbridled pleasure.”
As the times tick all the way down to the L.A. Olympics (July 14-30, 2028) and Paralympics (Aug. 15-27, 2008), we’ll be answering an important journey questions. We’ll be including updates as new data is available in, so make sure you bookmark this information.
Getting tickets to the Video games
When will tickets for the Olympic Video games go on sale?
Starting in January, followers can register to enter the lottery for Olympic tickets on the organizing committee’s web site, la28.org. If chosen within the random draw, organizers say, followers will obtain a purchase order time and date for when ticket drops start in spring 2026. Organizers say these in communities close to Video games venues will get early entry. See a broader define of LA28’s ticket schedule here.
Additionally in early 2026, LA28 will begin providing hospitality packages that mix occasion tickets with in a single day lodging, transportation and/or particular occasions. Tickets for the Paralympic Video games will go on sale in 2027.
Extra particulars are anticipated later this 12 months. Anybody can sign up to obtain bulletins by the LA28 e-newsletter.
What is going to tickets price?
Organizers say Olympic and Paralympic competitors tickets will begin at $28, about $2 greater than they did in Paris in 2024. We don’t know the excessive finish but. If Paris is a good information, most-coveted seats for the preferred occasions may very well be as excessive as $800 or extra. The official distributors are additionally anticipated to handle a channel for resales of tickets, as they did in Paris.
The 2 costliest occasions are prone to be the opening and shutting ceremonies. In Paris, per-ticket costs reached more than $2,900 for the opening, and greater than $1,700 for the closing. In Los Angeles — for the primary time — the opening ceremonies will probably be split between two venues, the L.A. Coliseum and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
A number of the hardest tickets, Guenther stated, are gymnastics, swimming, observe and subject, and seaside volleyball. “In case you are tremendous eager on seeing the ladies’s gymnastics finals, you is perhaps on a path to disappointment,” Guenther stated. “However in case you’re versatile, there are loads of issues which are going to be choices.”
Can I volunteer on the Video games?
You may attempt. Current Summer time Olympics have relied upon tens of 1000’s of volunteers, who should meet language and coaching necessities. (Not each aspiring volunteer in Paris acquired assigned.) To remain in contact with volunteer alternatives, sign up for the LA28 e-newsletter.
The place will the Video games occur?
The 2028 festivities will embody 36 Olympic sports activities and 23 Paralympic sports activities, unfold over about 40 venues. The lion’s share of Olympic occasions will happen in downtown L.A. and Exposition Park (which together have 10 venues); Lengthy Seashore (seven venues); Carson; Inglewood; the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.
However occasions are additionally scheduled in San Clemente, Venice, Anaheim, Pacific Palisades, Pomona and the Metropolis of Trade. The Paralympics will use most of the similar venues. Certainly, this may very well be a studying expertise for out-of-towners who don’t notice simply how broadly Higher Los Angeles sprawls.
The softball and canoe slalom occasions will probably be held in Oklahoma Metropolis.
Flights, inns and Airbnbs
How far forward can I guide flights?
Most airways often begin accepting bookings 330 days (or 11 months) earlier than the flight date. At Southwest Airways, lead time might be eight to 10 months.
How far forward can I guide a lodge?
Ordinarily, inns begin accepting bookings one year forward, so in case you’re simply in search of a room (and never a ticket-and-hotel package deal), set a reminder for round July 2027. Many inns in Higher Los Angeles — particularly these unaffiliated with world manufacturers — are prone to observe their standard timetables. If you happen to’re focused on a hotel-ticket combo deal, these will probably be provided in early 2026, as beforehand talked about.
Trade veterans say most main inns round Los Angeles have most likely already made offers allotting blocks of 2028 rooms to organizers of the Video games or impartial tour operators like Roadtrips. For instance, the Queen Mary in Lengthy Seashore already has 300 rooms and suites beneath contract with LA28, in line with managing director Steve Caloca.
One other alternative might come up even later: Sometimes, organizers and tour operators typically return unsold room-nights to lodge management 60 or 90 days forward of the occasion, which can give shoppers an opportunity to guide these “leftovers” immediately, maybe at a decrease price.
What is going to lodge rooms price?
Nothing boosts lodge costs just like the Olympics, and specialists say essentially the most luxurious inns are likely to hike their costs essentially the most. Analyzing figures from Paris, lodge trade consultants CoStar discovered that common lodge charges — $342-$393 in the summertime of 2023 — greater than doubled to $731-$939 for the 2024 Video games.
L.A.’s beginning lodge charges are decrease than these in Paris had been. CoStar discovered that common every day lodge charges for higher L.A. from July 14-30, 2024, had been $193-$231.
What about short-term leases?
Once more, anticipate costs to soar. Airbnb reported a 40% jump in lodging stock and a 400% bounce in Paris-area bookings in the course of the 2024 Video games. On the eve of the Video games, property administration web site Hostify.com reported that asking costs for short-term leases in Paris had quintupled from $154 nightly to $772.
Do observe that at each Video games, it appears, there are stories of astronomical costs, adopted by later stories of Eleventh-hour reductions as a result of some folks acquired too grasping earlier on.
Los Angeles appears to be beginning out with greater short-term rental charges than these in Paris. The holiday rental web site Airroi.com estimates the typical Airbnb fee in higher Los Angeles for the 12 months ended August 2025 was $283.
However after all, you may spend a lot extra. One dealer instructed The Occasions he has already rented out an L.A. mansion for $300,000 a month in 2028.
How far forward can I guide a short-term rental?
Airbnb permits bookings as much as two years prematurely, which can also be VRBO’s default setting.
Will tensions between main L.A. inns and union employees floor in the course of the Olympics?
Arduous to say. The L.A. Metropolis Council in Might authorised a measure requiring many inns to boost their minimal wage to $30 hourly by July 2028. A enterprise group began a petition drive looking for to undo the measure but fell short earlier this month.
Might President Trump’s immigration insurance policies have an effect on the Video games?
That’s anyone’s guess. Heads of state in host international locations often play a ceremonial function, standing largely within the background. Trump might produce other concepts. In early August, he introduced that he would chair a task force accountable for Olympic security, border safety and transportation.
Some international sports activities followers may keep away to sign opposition to the Trump Administration, as many Canadian vacationers have been doing this 12 months. However home vacationers, not international guests, fill most seats on the Olympics. Paris tourism statistics present U.S. guests to that metropolis in the course of the 2024 “Olympic fortnight” had been up a comparatively modest 13% over the earlier 12 months.
Why do folks undergo a lot hassle to see the Video games?
“There’s a large magic,” Guenther stated. “It actually is sort of one thing how folks benefit from the time along with folks from all around the world. … You end up welling up for an athlete in a sport you’ve by no means considered.”
(Occasions workers author Thuc Nhi Nguyen contributed to this report.)
©2025 Los Angeles Occasions. Go to latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content material Company, LLC.
