We’re thinking about holiday options and one would be to go to Southern California.
If we landed at LAX, what would be the easiest way to get to San Diego?
If you’re going to SoCal, renting a car is pretty much mandatory. So just drive to San Diego.
If driving, the 405 s to the 5 s is pretty much your only option. Try to avoid rush hour, which is like 7am-9:30am and 3:30-7:00pm.
You can go into downtown LA and then catch a train or a Greyhound bus, but it’s going to take you four hours or more.
Depending on the time of day that drive could also take 4+ hours.
With no delays, the train from union station to downtown San Diego should only take ~2.5 hours. However, due to the single track sections in northern San Diego County, there are often delays.
Public transportation sucks here; do yourselves a favor and rent a car at LAX.
The easiest way is to fly. Jet shuttles are fast. Helicopter charters aren’t cheap but you didn’t mention budget. Next easiest would be to get someone to haul you on the ground - shuttle van, Lyft, etc. Cheapest is a car rental. Prepare for legendary traffic. And see this: There are 5 ways to get from Los Angeles Airport (LAX) to San Diego by plane, train, bus or car
I prefer (from LAX):
- 105 east
- 605 south
- 405 south
- 5
As to the OP, renting a car and driving will be the most convenient. And you’ll want a car in San Diego anyway.
There are commuter flights from LAX to San Diego, but depending on who you’re flying in to LAX, you may need to change terminals (haul bags) to take a commuter flight.
If you drive, there are really only two ways. The one mentioned above, and that same route but taking the 73 toll road through central Orange County, to bypass 405 before connecting to 5. Usually the toll road by-pass doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. Only if there’s some real mess on 405 is it worth the charge, though it is more “scenic.”
I find that when going to San Diego, sometimes the biggest delays are in Camp Pendleton, for some reason, and there’s no way around that. Occasionally, around holidays like Thanksgiving, there are so many traffic problems on that route that it might actually be faster to go inland to the 15, etc. Just use Google Maps when you’re leaving LAX to see.
But since you’ll be on holiday, you might consider taking the train, (and then renting a car in San Diego), because it’s more relaxing, and for much of the way it goes right along the ocean. There’s a bus that goes from LAX to Union Station in downtown L.A. about every half hour or so. Just remember that if you want to be on the ocean side of the train, that will be the east side of the train as it waits in the station, because the train makes a complete 180 while pulling out of the station.
I was going to suggest renting a helicopter, but perhaps that’s not the best idea.
The days of scheduled passenger chopper services around southern California have passed. I rode one in 1965. I think they all ceased operations by the 1980s.
I believe you’ve been whooshed.
Renting a car is definitely the best answer. If you fly down to SD, you pretty much have to rent a car to get around anyway. Are you planning spending a couple of days, or just a day trip? (A day trip to San Diego is gonna be a long day with a lot of time likely spent in heavy traffic)
Drove to SD this Xmas to meet family there. Left North Hollywood at 11:00 am. Arrived 3 hours 58 minutes later at SD airport, picking up relatives. Usually takes less than three hours. This was the Saturday before Xmas.
I previously mentioned chartering choppers since OP didn’t specify budget. I did see ads for chopper shuttles between a few area airports (Burbank-LAX-Orange) but not as far as San Diego.
But there are commercial flights from LAX to San Diego. So technically the easiest way to get there from LAX is to get on a plane.
I’m not clear on if the OP is planning on spending time in both Los Angeles and San Diego, or only San Diego. If it’s the latter, just fly into SAN and save yourself the hassle of having to get there from LAX. If you planning on visiting both cities anyway, fly into LAX, rent a car do whatever you want to do in Los Angeles, drive to San Diego and do see what you want to see there, then fly home from SAN.
It’s probably cheaper to fly into LAX. Or it was back in like 2009 when I traveled a lot for work.
Don’t take a Greyhound bus. Just don’t.
The train to San Diego is a nice ride once you get out of the industrial sector southeast of L.A., say, past Anaheim or at least Fullerton. Try to find a seat on the right side going south because the route runs along the coast for much of the way; at some points practically on the beach itself.
If you drive, as snfaulkner says, the 405 to the 5 is indeed your only option, but you’ll be starting south of the worst L.A. traffic.
Another possible option might be to fly directly into San Diego (SAN). There was a time when just a handful of airlines flew into SAN and most of those flights were from other places in California, but today there are incoming flights from all over, including a daily BA flight from London, last I checked.
Having lived in both L.A. and the San Diego, I think the latter is probably more tourist friendly.
I don’t know exactly where you live, but I looked at YYZ>LAX and YYZ>SAN. The prices aren’t so terribly different, and I recommend avoiding LAX whenever possible.
Where are you coming from?
Some flights will take you directly to Lindbergh Field or even to the Palomar airport in Carlsbad. If you’re coming from outside the USA and LAX is your closest international airport other than Lindbergh (which is “international” mostly because flights from south of the US Border link there), consider a connecting flight to take you to Lindbergh or Palomar.
Where do you plan to visit?
LegoLand? SafariLand? Palomar is closer.
Zoo/Sea World/Balboa Park/Museums/Baseball? Lindbergh is closer.
–Wait, wait…Piper? Aren’t you the one who flies a personal plane (or is that another doper)?
Also look into Gillespie, Brown, and Montgomery fields.
When to you expect to land at LAX?
Driving from LA to San Diego in the middle of the day in the middle of the week is going to require hours, lots of gas, and tons of patience. Driving in the early hours of the morning and/or on weekends is faster, but not necessarily easier, depending on your diurnal clock.
–G!
The easiest way is to rent a car and find something to do in El Segundo until 8pm. After that it’s 70mph all the way to SD.