Best Rooftop Bars in Los Angeles 2026: Top Views

Two questions decide your LA rooftop night: do you want the highest view, or the prettiest one? Downtown answers the first, with Spire 73 stacking 73 floors of open air above the InterContinental. Hollywood answers the second, with terraces angled at the Capitol Records tower and the sign on the hill. The best rooftop bars in Los Angeles split cleanly along that line, and almost none of them charge a door cover. You pay for the drinks and the timing, not the entrance.

This guide ranks them by what each one is actually good at, with current hours and price ranges so you can plan a crawl instead of guessing. Cocktails across the marquee rooftops land roughly in the $16 to $26 band as of mid-2026. The real variables are reservations and when you show up.

Spire 73: the highest view in the city

Spire 73 is an open-air bar on the 73rd floor of the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, billed as the tallest open-air rooftop bar in the Western Hemisphere. You step out onto a wraparound terrace with fire pits, wool blankets stacked for the cool evenings, and a view that runs from the Hollywood Hills toward the ocean haze on a clear night. There is no dance floor and no DJ thumping. This is a lounge built around the altitude.

Hours run Wednesday to Sunday, roughly 5pm to midnight, closed Monday and Tuesday as of mid-2026. Cocktails sit around $20 to $26. There is no cover, but the 73rd floor fills on weekends, so reserve a table or grab a seat before 7pm if you want railing space at sunset. Go early. The light show off the towers around dusk in summer is the whole point, and by 9pm the best seats are gone.

Level 8: eight bars on one rooftop floor

Level 8 is a 30,000-square-foot multi-venue rooftop atop the Moxy and AC hotels on Figueroa, with eight distinct bars and restaurants stitched together, including a carousel bar and a speakeasy-entrance nightclub called Sinners y Santos. Treat it less as one bar and more as a rooftop block you can wander, from a sushi counter to a mezcal lounge to a dance room, all on the same floor near Crypto.com Arena.

Most of the venues go 21-plus after 9pm, so carry ID. Cocktails run roughly $18 to $24, and reservations are strongly advised on weekend nights when the place is slammed before and after arena events. The trade-off is real. Level 8 is a scene, not a quiet view bar. If you want to bar-hop without leaving a building, this is the move. If you want to hear your friends talk, head elsewhere.

Perch: the classic DTLA date rooftop

Perch is a French-bistro rooftop on the 15th and 16th floors with string lights, an unobstructed skyline view, and live jazz or R&B on many nights. It is the LA rooftop that looks the way people picture an LA rooftop: warm bulbs overhead, a terrace railing framing the lit-up towers, a band in the corner. Two floors, with the bar and lounge below and an open terrace up top.

Service runs roughly 4pm to 1am on weekdays and to about 1:30am on weekends, with weekend brunch earlier in the day. Cocktails land around $18 to $22, with no door cover. One thing to check going in: some rooftop bars add a service charge or a group gratuity to the bill, so read the printed menu and ask before you order a big round. Reservations are smart on weekends, and walk-ins can wait at peak. It is romantic, group-friendly, and the most reliably pretty terrace downtown.

Which LA rooftop bars actually have a pool

Two names matter here. Broken Shaker is an award-winning poolside cocktail bar on the rooftop of the Freehand hotel, known for handcrafted drinks with house elixirs in the $16 to $20 range, lounge seating around the pool, and heaters for the cool nights. Hours run evenings into late night, but confirm current times on the hotel's own channel before you build a night around it, since published hours have shifted. The vibe is loose and creative rather than dressy.

The Highlight Room is a rooftop pool and lounge atop Dream Hollywood with Hollywood-sign views, popular with bachelorette groups and pool-party crowds. One caution: its listings have been inconsistent through 2026, with a Yelp page for the brunch concept showing closed while hotel and event listings show it active. Confirm the pool is operating before you build a plan around it. For a more reliable poolside cocktail, Broken Shaker is the steadier pick.

Rooftop	Area	Best for	Cocktails	Pool
Spire 73	Downtown LA	Highest view, sunset	$20-$26	No
Level 8	Downtown LA	Groups, bar-hopping	$18-$24	No
Perch	Downtown LA	Date night, jazz	$18-$22	No
Broken Shaker	Hollywood	Craft cocktails, pool	$16-$20	Yes
The Aster	Hollywood	Capitol Records view	$18-$24	No

The Aster: the Hollywood angle

The Aster is a rooftop bar and restaurant at the Hollywood & Vine boutique hotel, with views toward the Capitol Records building. It trades downtown altitude for the icon in the frame. Cocktails run roughly $18 to $24. The Aster Club is a separate social club on its own floor, while the public rooftop bar and restaurant run on reservations, so book ahead rather than walking up cold. Hours are evening-led, so check the current schedule before you go.

If your night is Hollywood-based and you want the Capitol Records tower in your photos, this is the rooftop to hit. Pair it with a Hollywood club night afterward, since the EDM and bottle-service rooms a few blocks away do not fill until 11pm anyway.

How to plan the night: timing, dress and the 2am wall

The single rule that shapes every LA night out: California stops alcohol service at 2am statewide. Rooftops lean earlier than clubs, so the smart window is golden hour to about midnight. Aim to be on a terrace by 6pm or 7pm in summer to catch the light, since the marine layer can roll in and gray out the view by late evening, especially near the coast.

Dress is smart-casual at the hotel rooftops. You will not get turned away in clean sneakers and a collared shirt, but pool-deck flip-flops and gym wear are pushing it at the dressier spots. Carry valid photo ID, since Level 8 and the late-night rooms enforce 21-plus hard, and foreign visitors should bring a passport. Use rideshare between venues, since the DTLA rooftops cluster within a few minutes of each other but parking is a hassle and surge runs 2x to 4x on Friday and Saturday nights around 2am.

Want to stretch the night past the rooftops? Most rooftop crawls end early by LA standards, so plan a club or bar leg next. A guided club crawl is an easy way to bolt big-room nightlife onto your rooftop start without sorting guestlists yourself, and many advertise no-cover express entry.

For budget, plan around drinks, not doors. A round of four cocktails on a DTLA rooftop can run roughly $80 to $100 once you add the 8 to 10% sales tax, an 18 to 20% tip, and any house service charge the venue applies. Happy hours run roughly 4pm to 7pm at many spots, which lines up neatly with the best rooftop light anyway. Start early, drink one good cocktail at the top, and you get the view without the four-figure bottle-service math the Hollywood and West Hollywood clubs run after dark.