Coastal California Road Trip
 

Hello!
We live in Portland, OR, and are planning a California road trip in October (or November if that would be preferable?). We’re going to spend 3-4 days in LA, and 3-4 days visiting Santa Barbara and nearby towns such as Solvang, Ojai, etc. Several questions…
1. October or November?
2. Would it be better to fly into/out of LAX, or into LAX and then go back to OR from Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo (both of which have flights to PDX)?
3. The last time I was in LA, my friend and I just Ubered everywhere since neither of us wanted to drive and we were staying in LA. This time, would it be better to rent a car when we arrive in LA or wait till we leave for the rest of the trip and then return it before we fly back?

Any other advice would be welcome! Thank you!

FYI: Avelo Airlines has cheap flights from Eugene and Redmond to Burbank airport. If you didn't want to rent a car at the Burbank airport the Burbank Amtrak/Metro station is directly across the street from the Burbank airport. Another possible way to get to San Luis Obisbo or Santa Barbara would be to take the Amtrak Coast Starlight from Portland to SLO or Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara does have a fair public bus system. The Amtrak stop is right downtown near the big pier.
You can get an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train from SLO, SBA or Burbank south to Los Angeles or even San Diego several times per day without driving into Los Angeles.
The southbound Coast Starlight arrives in downtown Santa Barbara about 6PM (when on time) daily. Good luck on finding reasonably priced lodging in the Santa Barbara area.

Tom Fuller has some good ideas. Maybe fly to Santa Barbara and rent a car and explore the region including San Luis Obispo. Then turn in the car and take the train to LA. Use public transportation like the Metro rail lines there and Uber. Fly from LAX back to Portland.

What things do you want to do in LA? And where in LA? Depending on your plans, it's easy to "lose" a lot of time just getting around, even without summer tourist traffic.

Have you been to the Santa Barbara and/or the Central Coast area before?

Just me, but with about a week, I'd skip L.A. altogether (and I live here!) and split the hotel stays between SB and SLO. From SLO you can visit Cambria, Hearst Castle, the elephant seal rookery, Paso Robles...

I don't think it matters much October v. November unless it would be late November. Clocks change Nov. 5th. By the end of November, sunset will be before 5:00 p.m.

1. November is pretty nice for the Santa Barbara coast as generally the rain stays to the north of Point Conception. October you could still get fire season. SLO is a little bit more in the rain belt but often November is still dry.

2. I hate LAX and avoid if at all possible. Have you looked into flying PDX to BUR? Try Alaska Air and Southwest for that combo.
I don't know what your flights would cost out of those two small airports or how you would manage car rentals. If you can find a good fare from one and don't mind the added cost of the train, maybe Santa Barbara would work for inbound or outbound. Ojai is partway between LA and Santa Barbara so you would backtrack for that. I think you would miss out on a lot by not driving between SB and SLO.
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.3. Uber (Lyft is often better) is fine but I would generally avoid the public transportation at this time. Too much sketchiness on the trains and around the stations. Buses are just as bad unless you stick to the Santa Monica Blue Line. Main issue with Uber etc is the surge pricing if you are unlucky with your timing. Prices have gone up quite a bit since the pandemic. Not sure of the cost advantage (have to factor in overnight pay parking especially if your hotel isn't free, etc.). It really depends on what you intend to do and where you intend to stay.

If you can find a cheap way from Portland to the Eugene airport, (Amtrak Cascades train or bus?) you probably can't beat the $69 or $79 fare on Avelo from EUG to BUR. They fly Sun, Mon, Thur, Fri afternoons in October. In November they drop Sunday flights and switch to Wednesdays. The flights are about 2hr 10 min. My DW flew with them several times to go see DS, DIL and grands who live in Castaic.
The view from an Amtrak train south of Santa Barbara can't be beat with no road between the tracks and the ocean. The Coast Starlight leaves Santa Barbara about 6 PM and is nearly always in Los Angeles Union Station before 9PM. There are a couple earlier Pacific Surfliner trains that start in SLO and have many stops on their way all the way to San Diego including Ventura, Burbank and Los Angeles.

Thank you!

Will give the train some thought!

I’d be happy to skip LA but my partner hasn’t been there in a long time and also has some friends he’d like to see as well as a few museums he’s never made it to. Neither of us has been to SB or the Central Coast area before (have been to Big Sur, Monterey, and Carmel years ago…thought we’d expand our horizons this trip). Thanks for the reminder about the clocks changing!

Alaska is usually my airline of choice as a rule and they do fly to Burbank and also SLO.

I live in SB and I would probably say that October is always a great month. We don’t get much rain, but more likely in November and coming before the time change might be nice. Seems like flying into LA, renting a car and driving up to SB and SLO and flying back from SLO would work. Or doing the opposite. Where you fly into LA is largely dependent on where you are staying. Burbank is great but doesn’t make sense if you’re staying on the west side or Santa Monica. LA is huge and if you’ve decided what you want to see I would get accommodations in that part of town. You can waste a lot of time on the road. Hotels in SB will be much more affordable in the fall. Lots of places near the beach and walkable to great restaurants. The funk zone which is kind of crazy in the summer will be calmer and it’s full of wonderful wineries and good restaurants. Train station is also right there but seems like for this trip you will need a car.

Having negotiated the surrounding streets and LAX loop yesterday (friend with long layover) I would double down on avoiding LAX. If using it on arrival you have to deal with LAX-it. Using it on departure you have to allow extra time with the construction impacts on traffic.

Using Burbank saves you hours no matter where you stay. And there is also Long Beach or Santa Ana (John Wayne) either of which work if you are going to Orange County.