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Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
An extension of the world-famous Getty Center in West Los Angeles, the Getty Villa is a separate location built in the style of an ancient Roman villa that features statues and other cultural artifacts from Greece and Rome. You can visit both the Villa and the Getty Center in the same day (Wednesday through Sunday) and pay the parking fee only once (save your ticket stub), but don't expect to have any time left over for other activities.
The Getty Villa is an educational center and an art museum located at the easterly end of the Malibu coast in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. One of two campuses of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Villa is dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The collection has 44,000 Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities dating from 6,500 BC to 400 AD, including the Lansdowne Heracles and the Victorious Youth. The UCLA/Getty Master's Program in Archaeological and Ethnographic Conservation is housed on this campus.
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Offers swimming, volleyball, and a bike/running path. The beach will be familiar to fans of the TV show Baywatch.
The Lake Shrine Temple's 10-acre site has lush gardens and a large, natural spring-fed lake which is framed by natural hillsides, and is home to a variety of flora and fauna, including swans, ducks, koi, water turtles, and lotus flowers. A highlight of this spiritual sanctuary is the Mahatma Gandhi World Peace Memorial, where a portion of Gandhi's ashes is enshrined.
Temescal Canyon
From the Nahuatl and Spanish word for "sweat lodge", this nature reserve is the gateway from Pacific Palisades up into the Santa Monica Mountains, connecting to a vast network of hiking trails. Starting in Temescal Canyon, a nice 3-mile (5-km) loop combines the Temescal Canyon Trail and Temescal Ridge Trail, going past a waterfall and taking in views of Pacific Palisades mansions, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and the Pacific Ocean. Bring water and wear sunscreen, as the Temescal Ridge Trail is pretty exposed.