Drive time/Traffic? LA to Big Sur~Better to go Fri-Sun or Sun. to Tues.
Jul 12th, 2016, 12:13 AM
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Drive time/Traffic? LA to Big Sur~Better to go Fri-Sun or Sun. to Tues.
Hi~
Would it be better to plan a trip for "Option #1" leaving Friday 7/29 about 10am from LA & return Sun. 7/31. If we left by 10am on a Friday, would weekend travel already be picking up & travel times much longer than the 6-6.5 hours I've seen estimated as a general drive time ( without stops). If so, any sense of how much time it would add? It sounds like it's important to make it out past Santa Barbara before or after commute times & then traffic improves. We really didn't want to leave at 5 a.m. as I saw recommended on a few postings, so I thought it would be better to plan to leave about 10am and hope a.m. traffic had eased up.
Our "Option #2" = Leaving Sun. 7/31 10am from LA to Big Sur and return Tuesday 8/2. If we left LA for Big Sur on Sun 7/31 would we be going against the traffic and therefore have a shorter drive time? We want to make the most of the time we have in CA. This will be our first family trip together to CA.( We have 2 older kids who are used to long drives.) We're planning on 2 days in San Diego & 3 days in LA too. I know we can make the ride a bit shorter if we skip portions of the PCH but we will stick to the scenic route as much as we can. So much great info. here....Thanks from Boston!
Would it be better to plan a trip for "Option #1" leaving Friday 7/29 about 10am from LA & return Sun. 7/31. If we left by 10am on a Friday, would weekend travel already be picking up & travel times much longer than the 6-6.5 hours I've seen estimated as a general drive time ( without stops). If so, any sense of how much time it would add? It sounds like it's important to make it out past Santa Barbara before or after commute times & then traffic improves. We really didn't want to leave at 5 a.m. as I saw recommended on a few postings, so I thought it would be better to plan to leave about 10am and hope a.m. traffic had eased up.
Our "Option #2" = Leaving Sun. 7/31 10am from LA to Big Sur and return Tuesday 8/2. If we left LA for Big Sur on Sun 7/31 would we be going against the traffic and therefore have a shorter drive time? We want to make the most of the time we have in CA. This will be our first family trip together to CA.( We have 2 older kids who are used to long drives.) We're planning on 2 days in San Diego & 3 days in LA too. I know we can make the ride a bit shorter if we skip portions of the PCH but we will stick to the scenic route as much as we can. So much great info. here....Thanks from Boston!
Jul 12th, 2016, 12:43 AM
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My vote would be Sun-Tues and I'd try to leave as early as possible on Sunday, even 9am would be a lot better than 10. You'd have little to no traffic heading out of L.A. and should get through Santa Barbara without much of a problem. After noon on Sunday you'll have traffic and beach crowds no matter where you are along the route.....but Mon & Tues you'll be fine. As opposed to option 1 where you'd fight crowds all day Sat & Sun.
Returning to Los Angeles on Tuesday, you'll want to leave the Santa Barbara area by 2pm, or wait until after 6:45pm or so.
Returning to Los Angeles on Tuesday, you'll want to leave the Santa Barbara area by 2pm, or wait until after 6:45pm or so.
Jul 13th, 2016, 04:32 PM
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Five votes. We do day trips there also and camp there as well. Weekends are generally out of the picture. Even weekdays this time of year will have plenty of vacationers.
Big tip is from Debbie:
>
Traffic from SB through Ventura past then is almost a stand-still.
Big tip is from Debbie:
>
Traffic from SB through Ventura past then is almost a stand-still.
