We are planning on spending some time at the beach near Santa Monica on a Wednesday near the end of July. From there we will be heading to Disneyland. I'm wondering what times of day are the worst for traffic. We are trying to figure out what time we should leave the beach to drive to Disneyland and not get stuck in bad traffic. Thanks!

There are no guarantees any time of day since one fender bender or some construction can cause miles long jams.

Are you talking a day trip from SM to DL, or are you moving hotels down to Anaheim?

If you want to drive it during the day leave between 10AM and 3PM - or if you want to drive in the evening - - after 7PM

We are switching hotels from SM to DL.

Not at rush hour.

If you decide on staying in SM, on summer mornings traffic isn't that bad especially on Fridays

I'm from L.A. You're going to get stuck if you plan to drive from Santa Monica to Disneyland. That's a long drive and there will be traffic. I assume that you meant that you'd be hanging out at beach and then, on the same day, you plan to get in the car and drive all the way to Anaheim?

Happy Travels!

It's bound to be somewhat slow at times no matter what the hour.
I travel that route frequently and you can never tell what it will be like.
Relax, have some snacks and go with the flow.
Remember, it's better to be in a traffic jam than the cause of one.

I'd have a leisurely dinner after the beach then drive to Anaheim in the evening. No guarantees but probably less likely to encounter long delays.

1070 am can be your friend (Traffic on the 5s).

I think the only way to avoid LA traffic is to avoid LA. But yeah, trust the radio & your cell phone when it comes to that.

I agree with MmePerdu. Outside rush hours traffic should at least be moving.

Not that it's relevant to becky's request, but a friend of ours is a longtime resident of Santa Monica, visits Disneyland often and usually uses public transit. If you take the Rapid 10 bus from SM to Figueroa and 5th (downtown), walk a block to Flower and 5th, from there you can hop on a direct line to Disneyland's gate. Total cost $4 per person and other drivers handle the traffic, regardless of time of day. The worst part is the transfer, it's not a part of LA you'd wish to be stuck in for long.

Check in at your hotel will probably be 3pm although of course you can drop your bags at the front desk of your hotel or motel anytime. I'd leave anytime between noon and 2pm depending on where you want to eat lunch.

I'm in Santa Monica right now-- I work here. My suggestion is similar to everyone else's: Don't get on the road before 10 AM to drive from SM to Disneyland. Get up, get breakfast, check out and get on the road by 10:00 - 10:30. That should get you to Anaheim and the hotel a little after 12 noon. Plan on grabbing lunch around there (Downtown Disney has a lot of pricey options, so look into other eateries in the area if you're watching the pennies).

The most direct route (meaning fewest changes of freeways) will be to take the 10 east (AKA I-10), transition to the 60 east (AKA CA-60), then take the 5 south (AKA I-5) all the way to Anaheim, taking the exit for your hotel. Currently (as of 2 minutes ago) the fastest route is considerably more zig-zaggy: The 10 east to the 405 south to the 105 east to the 605 south to the 91 east to the 5 south. And the 91 tends to get really balled up at all times of the day, so I doubt this would be a good route 10 minutes from now.

I agree there's no way to predict traffic on any given day. However...

Are you staying in Santa Monica just for the beach? If so, I wouldn't stay in SM. Go south to Manhattan Beach for a nicer, cleaner and less crowded beach. Staying in MB would give you a head start on the drive to Disneyland, and going southbound in the morning on the 405 from MB isn't so bad because most of the traffic is going north into L.A. I sometimes have appointments in Costa Mesa (which is farther than Disneyland). If I leave my house in MB at 9:00a, I'm in Costa Mesa before 10:00a, and that's not using the carpool lane that you could use. I'd take the 405 to the 22 (East) to the 5 (North), and I'd leave before 9:00a.

Or turn in the car and skip the drive altogether. Take the Disneyland Resort Express bus (operated by Gray Line) from LAX which is about 10 minutes from Manhattan Beach.

http://www.graylineanaheim.com/airport_info.cfm

>>Take the Disneyland Resort Express bus

Leave the beach by 2:30pm or wait until 8pm.

Traffic gets pinched between SM and the
SM airport/Marina del Rey. It breaks up slightly after LAX.

So yes, if you are only going to SM to 'stay on the beach' and not sight see, then I agree you might want to look at other beach options.

The tiny mid day window of "less traffic" southbound runs about 10 am to about 11:30 am. Or after 9 pm. Or before 5:00 am.