knute

Family and I have been to California several times but always in June and never in high season. I’m planning a 10-12 day trip after July 20th. I am not noticing much of any difference with hotel rates weekdays vs. weekends during this period but am wondering if there is a significant increase in crowds for activities on weekends this late in the summer or not. Here is my itinerary.

Thursday July 24-Saturday 26 San Diego.
Sunday 27-Tuesday 29 Disneyland
Wednesday 30-Friday Aug 1 Santa Barbara
Saturday Aug 2-3 back to San Diego

The reason I have set the itinerary this way is because a) I like the ease of flying in and out of the small SD airport, and b) I have never had traffic difficulty going from San Diego to Disney on a Sunday morning and will also be returning Santa Barbara to San Diego on a non-weekday, which I assume will be less traffic. In doing so, however, I will be spending two weekends. Is it better planning to leave on a Monday and hit only one weekend? Also, my Santa Barbara days are during their annual “Old Spanish Days” festival, which interests me unless this is such a huge event as to draw crushing crowds to ruin the whole Santa Barbara experience . Anybody know much about this festival?

iowamom

If you haven't already booked your airline tickets, you may want to consider Orange County airport (SNA), as it is probably a bit smaller (and even easier) than the San Diego airport and is more central to the places you are planning to go in Southern California. (I'm also partial to it because my parents live 10 minutes away!)

Santa Barbara to San Diego could be a miserable trip depending on traffic - we drove up to Santa Barbara from Irvine on a weekday (between Christmas and New Year's) and traffic was awful until we nearly got to Santa Barbara.

Don't know anything about the festival in SB ... but here is my trip report to SB (and other So Cal locations) if you are interested.... http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35098599

knute

Thanks for the trip report. Yes, Orange County airport is easier but it costs three times as much currently from Minneapolis than San Diego. Also, I will be travelling SB to SD on a Saturday so I hoped that would mean less traffic.

Jean

Traffic from SB to SD on a summer Saturday can be very heavy, particularly on the 405, and it tends to be bad all day as opposed to weekdays when it's worse during the two rush-hour periods.

Could you book an open-jaw ticket? Into San Diego, out of Burbank?

erjoven

Nowadays, expect traffic in any of the coastal highways in Southern California regardless of the season. There will be a significant increase in crowds during the weekends. You'll be with the local summer beachgoers and other tourists on the freeways during summer weekends, but don't let this stop you from enjoying your trip. Just leave earlier in the day. With the sun setting close to 8 p.m. during these months, even if you get stuck in traffic for a few hours, you'll still get to your destination with plenty of daylight left to enjoy the sights.

Great itinerary. By the way, if you don't want to deal with driving, Amtrak links those 3 places you are going to and the train (Pacific Surfliner) hugs the coastline. It's just like driving the 101 but even closer to the ocean. Car rentals are available at each of the stops (San Diego, Anaheim, Santa Barbara) so you can hop of the train and drive around at your destination. I've taken trains before on this route and it's great!