Parking at the main Griffith Observatory lot costs $10 per hour, credit card only, pay-and-display. Admission to the building, the grounds, and the public telescopes is always free. The Samuel Oschin Planetarium runs about $10 a ticket. That's the whole cost picture. Everything else below is about avoiding the $10-an-hour part and making the free part count.
Most guides to this place bury that math under a paragraph about the 1935 art deco building or the view. It's a good view. But you searched for parking cost and hours, so here's that, first, and then the actual plan, including who you might want to bring.
griffith observatory parking costs $10 per hour, here is how to avoid paying it
The main lot and the paid spots along West Observatory Road charge $10 per hour, credit card only. You can avoid almost all of it by parking free at the Greek Theatre lot and riding the shuttle up, which is what most locals who've done this more than once will tell you to do.
Is parking free at Griffith Observatory? Sometimes. Parking is free before paid hours start (before noon on weekdays, before 10am on weekends) and again after 10pm, per local visitor guides. Outside those windows, the meter is running.
Where is the best parking near Griffith Observatory, then, if you don't want to pay hourly rates or fight for a spot on West Observatory Road or Western Canyon Road? The Greek Theatre lot, down the hill. It's free for observatory visitors, and it's the move real Angelenos use specifically to skip the uphill lot entirely. As one longtime visitor puts it, the best option, unless you'd enjoy the uphill walk, is to park free at the Greek and take the DASH shuttle up. Another puts it more bluntly: save yourself the headache, park at the Greek for free, take the shuttle, it's fifty cents a person.
One catch. On concert nights at the Greek Theatre, that lot stops being available for free observatory parking after 1pm, since it's needed for the show. If you're planning an evening visit, check whether there's a concert that night before you commit to this plan.
Can you reserve parking at Griffith Observatory in advance? No. There's no reservation system for the hilltop lot or for the Greek lot. It's first come, pay-and-display, or first come, free and shuttle. What are the parking hours at Griffith Observatory specifically? The paid lot operates during observatory open hours, and that $10-an-hour meter is active whenever the building is open and charging, which lines up with the hours below.
Is there handicapped accessible parking at Griffith Observatory? Yes, ADA-designated spots exist in the main lot closest to the building entrance, and the observatory itself is fully accessible once you're up there. If mobility is a factor for anyone in your group, the free Greek lot plus shuttle isn't the move, since it adds a hill. Drive up and use the accessible spaces directly instead.
griffith observatory hours: open tuesday through sunday, closed monday
Griffith Observatory is open Tuesday through Friday, noon to 10pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 10pm. It's closed Monday. That's it. A lot of sites round this down to "closed Mondays and Tuesdays," which is wrong and will send someone up the hill on a Tuesday afternoon for nothing.
What are the hours at Griffith Observatory if you're trying to catch sunset and stay into the night, which is the move a lot of first-timers want? Any evening except Monday works, since the building stays open until 10pm every day it's open. Weekend mornings are the only time you can get there before noon, which matters if you want the free parking window before paid hours kick in.
what to do at griffith observatory for free (and what actually costs money)
Almost everything at Griffith Observatory is free. The building, the grounds, the public telescope viewing, the exhibits inside on astronomy and the history of the observatory itself, the views over the city, all free. The two things you actually pay for are planetarium shows in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium, about $10 a ticket, and anything you buy at the café or gift shop.
What is there to do at Griffith Observatory for free? Walk the grounds and take in the skyline. Go inside and look at the exhibits on the main level. Line up for the public telescopes, which are staffed by volunteers most clear nights and cost nothing to look through. Wander the lawn areas where most people end up sitting anyway, which is honestly the best part of a group visit, since it's the one spot where six people can sprawl out and actually talk.
The paid stuff is worth it, but be deliberate about it. A Samuel Oschin Planetarium show is a real 20 to 30 minute program, not a gift shop gimmick, and it's the one thing at the observatory you can't replicate by just standing outside. The Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater runs free shows and talks on space topics, so check what's playing before you assume everything indoors costs money. If you want food, the Café at the End of the Universe is on site and handles the "we're all hungry now" problem without leaving the building. The Stellar Emporium gift shop is there too, if someone in your group wants a souvenir that isn't a phone photo.
This place pulls 1.6 million visitors a year, and it's been doing it since 1935, when it opened as the first public observatory west of the Mississippi. Ninety years later, it's still one of the only spots in LA where you can bring someone you barely know, stand at a railing, and have something to actually look at and talk about instead of making small talk over a menu.
the best things to do at griffith observatory at night specifically
Night is when this place actually delivers. The public telescope line gets real activity after dark, the city lights view replaces the daytime haze with something genuinely worth the trip, and the free Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon shows run later in the evening when the building's open until 10pm.
Almost no guide tells you what to actually do once the sun's down, so here's the sequence. Get there an hour or two before sunset if you can, since the transition from daylight to city lights happening in real time over the grounds is the single best photo and conversation moment the place offers. After sunset, head for the telescope line if it's a clear night, since volunteer astronomers run the scopes and it moves faster than people assume. Check the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater schedule for a free evening talk. And if you timed it right and paid nothing to get up the hill, remember parking is free again after 10pm anyway, so a late exit costs you nothing on the way out.
Late night is also, per WashedUp's own numbers, when people are actually doing this. Among the plans built around this spot, the most common time slot is late nights, after 10pm, which lines up with exactly what the observatory rewards after dark.
how to get from the parking area to the observatory entrance
If you drive up and park in the main lot or along West Observatory Road, you're a short, flat walk from the entrance, a few minutes at most. If you park free at the Greek Theatre lot and take the shuttle, it's a five to ten minute ride that drops you right at the building.
One detail worth knowing if you do drive up yourself: staying in the left lane on West Observatory Road gets you into the main parking lot, while the right lane is reserved for parallel parking and buses only, according to visitors who've made the drive more than once. Merge left early, since this road gets tight on busy evenings.
The DASH Observatory/Los Feliz shuttle runs every 15 to 20 minutes, and fare is $0.50 per ride in cash, or $0.35 with a TAP card. For a group of four or five, that's a couple of dollars total to skip the parking fee entirely, plus you don't have to think about the left-lane, right-lane maze on the way up.
| option | cost | distance to entrance | best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| main lot / West Observatory Road | $10/hour, card only | 2 to 5 min walk | quick visits, accessible parking |
| Western Canyon Road | $10/hour, card only | short walk | overflow when main lot is full |
| Greek Theatre lot + DASH shuttle | free parking, $0.35 to $0.50 shuttle fare | 5 to 10 min ride | groups, evening visits, budget-conscious plans |
what to do after griffith observatory: los feliz, the park, and the greek theatre
The observatory sits inside a park, so the evening doesn't have to end when you walk back to the car. Los Feliz is right below, with dinner and a night out easy to fold into the same trip, and the Greek Theatre, where you may have parked for free, sometimes has a show worth checking before you even head up the hill.
If your group wants to keep the night going, Los Feliz below the park is the obvious next stop, close enough that the observatory visit becomes the first half of the evening instead of the whole plan. Check the Greek Theatre's schedule ahead of time, since a concert there changes both your parking plan and gives you a second reason to be in the area that night. And if anyone in the group is up for it, the park itself has more to offer than just the hilltop, worth a slower walk if the weather's decent and nobody's in a rush to leave.
This two-part structure, observatory then Los Feliz, is exactly the kind of plan that works better with more than one person deciding on it. Want to hit the observatory at sunset and grab dinner in Los Feliz after with people who'll actually show up? find people to go with.
going to griffith observatory alone or with people you just met
Griffith Observatory is one of the best solo spots in LA, precisely because it hands you something to look at, so you're never just standing around. But it's also one of the easiest first-plans to make with someone you've just met, since the view does the talking when conversation needs a breather.
That's the real gap in most guides to this place. Nobody addresses who you'd actually go with. Is it a first-date spot? Sure, low pressure, built-in scenery, a natural point to grab food after. Is it a good group hang? Also yes, the lawn areas and telescope line both work fine for four or five people, and the free-parking-plus-shuttle move actually gets easier with a group splitting the fifty cents.
Across WashedUp, 28 plans built around this spot have already happened, and 6 are live right now for people looking to go soon. Three more are set to happen in the next 7 days. One representative plan, called "Griffith Observatory + Sunset," ran on a Thursday with three people and filled up. Top neighborhoods for these plans right now are Santa Monica, Koreatown, and Burbank, and Sunday is the single busiest day for them, followed by Saturday.
If you've just moved to LA, or you've lived here two years and still don't have a group of people who'll say yes to a Tuesday night plan, this is exactly the kind of low-stakes, high-payoff activity that works better with company you didn't have to convince for a week. Thinking about it alone, wondering who'd actually come? find people to go with.
Across all of WashedUp, 350 plans have happened and 677 people have joined one, numbers that keep growing as more people realize the hardest part of a plan like this was never the observatory. It was finding someone free on a Thursday.
If you're new to the city and this is on your list for exactly that reason, that first outing doesn't have to be solo unless you want it to be. Want to make the observatory your first real plan in LA instead of another thing you keep meaning to do? find people to go with.
The one thing to actually do: park free at the Greek Theatre lot, catch the DASH shuttle up for less than a dollar, time it for an hour before sunset on a Thursday or Friday, and let the free telescope line be your excuse to talk to whoever you came with.
frequently asked questions
is parking free at griffith observatory?
Not in the main lot, where it costs $10 per hour, card only. It is free in two situations: before paid hours begin (before noon on weekdays, before 10am on weekends), after 10pm, or if you park at the Greek Theatre lot instead and take the short DASH shuttle ride up for $0.35 to $0.50.
how much does it cost to park at griffith observatory?
The main lot and the paid spots along West Observatory Road and Western Canyon Road cost $10 per hour, credit card only, pay-and-display. There's no flat day rate. The workaround most locals use is parking free at the Greek Theatre lot and taking the DASH shuttle up for well under a dollar per person.
what time does griffith observatory close?
It closes at 10pm every day it's open. Hours are Tuesday through Friday, noon to 10pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 10pm. It's closed all day Monday. A lot of sources wrongly list it as closed Tuesdays too, but Tuesday is a regular open day starting at noon.
is it free to go to griffith observatory?
Yes. Admission to the building, the grounds, and the public telescopes is always free, no ticket required. The only costs on site are the Samuel Oschin Planetarium, about $10 per person, and anything you buy at the Café at the End of the Universe or the Stellar Emporium gift shop.
how do I get to griffith observatory without parking?
Park free at the Greek Theatre lot and ride the DASH Observatory/Los Feliz shuttle the rest of the way up. It runs every 15 to 20 minutes and costs $0.50 cash or $0.35 with a TAP card. Just note the Greek lot isn't free for observatory parking after 1pm on concert evenings.
