Getty Villa

The Getty Villa is a museum dedicated to ancient Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art, housed in a building modeled after a first-century Roman country house — the Villa dei Papiri buried by Vesuvius near Herculaneum. Oil tycoon J. Paul Getty built the original structure in the 1970s on his Malibu estate, and today it holds over 44,000 antiquities spanning 6,500 years, from the Stone Age through the Roman Empire. It sits tucked into the Santa Monica Mountains just above the Pacific Coast Highway, with ocean views that give the whole place an almost surreal sense of place — ancient Rome, but with the Pacific glittering below.

Inside, you'll find galleries arranged thematically — gods and goddesses, athletes and heroes, death and the afterlife — filled with marble sculptures, painted Greek vases, bronze figures, and elaborate jewelry. Highlights include the Lansdowne Herakles, a stunning first-century Roman marble, and a remarkably well-preserved collection of Greek pottery. The outdoor spaces are just as compelling: a full-scale recreation of a Roman peristyle garden, complete with bronze statues, reflecting pools, and flowering plants typical of the ancient Mediterranean. The architecture itself is part of the exhibit — the coffered ceilings, mosaic floors, and colonnaded walkways are all faithful to Roman design.

Visits require a free timed-entry ticket booked in advance — they don't sell tickets at the door. Parking is included in the reservation. The museum is closed Tuesdays. Plan at least half a day; the gardens and architecture alone reward slow wandering, and the permanent collection is dense enough to absorb multiple hours. Because it's a separate institution from the Getty Center on the hill above Brentwood, many LA visitors skip it — which is exactly why you shouldn't.