Original supermodel MARIE HELVIN is in her element on a shopping and pampering trip to Beverly Hills and West Hollywood

I’M  A GREAT fan of the stopover. Supplementing a memorable break with a bit of contrast on the way out or
back makes plenty of sense to me. I still consider Hawaii, where I grew up, my home and make regular visits to catch up with family and friends and switch off.

As often as I can, though, I look to combine these relaxing trips with a pulsating few days in Los Angeles. For shopping, pampering and indulging in some of the world’s finest food, the city is without equal.

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I can’t think of any people on Earth as welcoming as the Angelinos. It helps of course that, even though I’m now comfortably ensconced in London, I have the luxury of plenty of friends there.

Among them is Anjelica Huston, whom I have known for 40 years from when we modelled together.

So when I heard that she was being honoured with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, I had an extra-special reason to head to the City of Angels.

I arrived from a laid-back Christmas visiting my father in Hawaii to be met by a deluge. Stepping off my United Airlines flight, I found LA was saturated, the rainfall both atypical and unprecedented. Anjelica and I got drenched during the ceremony to unveil the star but we knew just the place to seek shelter.

Montage Beverly Hills is a glamorous new hotel in the heart of the neighbourhood. Facing a pristine park, this is an imposing, terracotta-roofed retreat built in a Spanish Revival style in homage to the ostentatious pre-war estates of
southern California. Elegant and refined, it is an A-list hangout.

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You have to pay for the privilege of course but I always say that you can’t come to LA without splurging
a bit. Do your saving later. My room was vast, with acres of silk and Moorish-style furnishings, an enormous bed swathed in Filid’Oro sheets and a lavish marble bathroom with discreet flatscreen TV.

With the rain drumming down, we ate at the Conservatory Grill, a glass-enclosed space on the rooftop next to the pool, and lounged around in the two-storey 20,000sq ft Spa Montage, where I enjoyed an ‘Earth Inspired’ detoxification therapy.

The deluge didn’t last. I awoke the next morning to a trademark LA day, bright sunshine causing the hotel’s verdant gardens to glisten. It was time to explore.

I can’t think of anything I like to do more than shopping outdoors and Beverly Hills is a shopper’s delight with several open malls.

The pick of them is the Beverly Center, which has more than 160 outlets, including D&G, Louis Vuitton and a bite-size slice of the Big Apple with offshoots of Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s.

Wilshire Boulevard, just a block away from the Montage, is known as “department store row” and boasts the likes of Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. I spent an entire morning here and practically had to be dragged away.

I’m a passionate foodie. After all those years of having to watch what I ate, you could say I’m making up for lost time. Beverly Hills caters for all tastes and budgets.

Sophisticated Bouchon Bistro, across the park from the Montage, is run by my favourite chef, Thomas Keller. When I was on Celebrity Masterchef last year, I attempted one of his dishes, failing dismally. This is the best French bistro in LA with a waiting list to match. Unable to get a short-notice reservation, I ate at the more affordable Bar Bouchon, the bistro’s smaller brother located on the ground floor. Macaroni aux Truffes (macaroni, aged cheddar and black winter truffles) followed by St Maure goat’s cheese served with honeycomb and walnuts were washed down with a Santa Barbara chardonnay.

To get away from it all, head to Greystone Estate, 16 acres of land set around a 55-room Tudor-style mansion dating from the Twenties. Both house and grounds have a fine film pedigree with everything from The Bodyguard to The Witches  Of Eastwick, having scenes filmed here.

I like to sit in the grounds and just soak up the peace. It’s a rural haven, an (admittedly manicured) slice of the countryside in this glitzy neighbourhood.

West Hollywood is the perfect complement to Beverly Hills, as buzzy and trendy as the latter is glamorous (it even has its own cool contraction, “WeHo”). This is the place for nightlife. Tops for me, quite literally, is the Skybar on the uppermost floor of the Mondrian hotel. It’s a sort of open-air, luxury lounge, an ivy-coated pavilion with yellow and gold custom-made furniture and great views.

Sunset Marquis is the quintessential rock ’n’ roll hotel, which in more hedonistic times cornered the market in wild parties and TV defenestration. I always wanted to experience it, although Bailey [David Bailey, Marie’s photographer ex-husband] always insisted on somewhere more refined. The hotel is unique with 52 luxury villas and 102 suites set in four acres of gardens.

After all the rain, the honey-suckle smell was divine as I checked in to my secluded garden villa with its enormous sunken bathtub. The wildness? Well, that’s been tamed. Just as well because so has mine. Instead of the Rolling
Stones, I found myself hanging out with hot stones during an 80-minute specialised massage in the excellent Sunset Marquis Spa, with its iridescent tiled walls.

Blue leather seats, chandeliers and a striped marble floor provide the distinctive look at Cecconi’s, an offshoot of the venerable Mayfair original. Palm trees and ornate street lamps guard the entrance to this contemporary, flat-roofed
building, which has been open for just a year but is already one of the city’s hottest restaurants. It’s elegant and surprisingly affordable.

I’m partial to a bit of celeb-spotting myself. All I could report was a couple of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends, whom I recognised from reality TV show The Girls Of The Playboy Mansion. They looked like tiny Barbie dolls.

Also tiny were the portions. The speciality here is “cicchetti” (Italian tapas). I had one of the signature dishes, Baked Gnocchi Romana, as a starter, followed by grilled tuna with tomatoes, romaine and avocado salad.

If like me you’re a bit of a beach bunny make a beeline for Malibu, around a 45-minute drive away.

You’re still very much in “Hollywoodland” but the environment is totally different and supremely relaxed. No one bothers anyone, they just hang out on the endless, narrow slivers of white sand.

I did the same, finding a quiet spot on the beach to watch the gorgeous surf and savour one of my most refreshing and memorable stopovers. Marie was talking to DUNCAN CRAIG

● GETTING THERE: Bon Voyage (0800 316 0191/ www.bon-voyage.co.uk) offers a six-night package including three nights at Montage Beverly Hills and three nights at Sunset Marquis from £1,475pp (two sharing), room only. Price includes breakfast and a spa treatment at the Montage Beverly Hills and return flights with United Airlines from Heathrow to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles tourism: www.discoverlosangeles.com

California Tourism: 0207 257 6180/ www.visitcalifornia.co.uk

● A LONG-HAUL flight doesn’t have to leave you flat out – although in United Airlines’ newly revamped business class you’ll get exactly that. Seats up to 6ft 4in long and 2ft wide recline to a full 180 degrees, making sleep practically a certainty. Six-way adjustable headrests, mood lighting and noise-cancelling headphones further add to the exemplary comfort. Other new additions include a mouth-watering menu offering the likes of  grilled mahi mahi, wine lists overseen by master sommelier Doug Frost, and 15in widescreen monitors with access to more than 150 hours of on-demand movies and TV.

United Airlines (0845 844 4777/www.unitedairlines.co.uk) offers return
business class flights from Heathrow to Los Angeles from £1,955.