keithp

Flying out to LAX on a thursday evening, arriving at 6:30 pm. I want to start to Santa Barbara for a weekend of wining and dining., but not interested in driving all the way there after a flight from the east. I am looking for a convenient place to stay on the way up there. My research indicates maybe Malibu?? Please help mw with any hotel ideas. Hot tub and close non chain restaurants are a priority with range of 150-200 bucks. Many thanks.

Patrick

The only thing I can think of in Malibu is out in the country -- The Country Inn, and is probably going to be over your budget and not near restaurants.
How about a night at the Shangrila in Santa Monica. You can work off those tired flying muscles walking the pier, or the Promendade. Dozens of fun restaurant choices. Rooms there are under $200.

rjw_lgb_ca

Patrick, I like your idea of staying in Santa Monica and then driving up the next day. However, I will gently disagree with your recommendation of the Shangri-La. Although its location is perfect and it's acceptably clean, it's fairly shabby and in need of some big-bucks TLC to get modernized. I can say that from personal experience; I work across the street and have used the Shangri-La as a crash pad after late nights in the office (say, 4 AM) when I haven't wanted to drive home to Long Beach.

A slightly more expensive, but worlds nicer in quality, alternative is the Georgian, a Hollywood Déco gem a block south of the Shangri-La. Still surrounded by great restaurants, and breakfast is included (last I heard). They recently underwent renovations, and the results are pretty great (this from an out-of-state colleague who stayed there for a week).

The Radisson Huntley is right at the start of the Third Street Promenade and just might come in under $200. It's one of the nicest properties of this mid-range chain, and a quick walk to Michael's, one of the restaurants that originated California Cuisine in the 1970s, and still a superb eatery.

joesorce

A 7pm drive to Santa Barbara might not be too bad...you could get there by 9pm, much easier than packing-and-unpacking into a closer hotel for just one night I'd say.

If traffic is bad you could pull off the freeway and have dinner until it quiets down, dinner in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills or Encino.

Alisa

I personally would have dinner somewhere and drive up to SB.

But, I agree with RJW about hotel choices. The Huntley Hotel is usually reasonable.

I think you are out of luck with the hot tub, though.

keithp

Many thanks for the excellent advice. This board is unfailingly helpful.

keithp

ed

Keith--

I agree with the suggestion to get dinner and then drive up to Santa Barbara.

It is not a bad drive and if you are going later in the spring it will still be light

And a big thing - according to my wife -
you wouldn't have to unpack and then pack. :-B

babs001

May I suggest what my husband and I did recently. We arrived about 9:00 pm and by the time we secured the rental car we were tired and wanted to call it a day, but realized that the traffic would be much worse in the am, so we drove as far as Ventura (seems like it took about an hour or two). There are many hotels in the area and you are out of the crush come morning. I would advise having a reservation in place. We stayed in a Holiday Inn, easy to get to, right on the water, and we were able to get right back onto the 101 without any trouble the next day.

carbogilligan

My choice would be to stay at the Westlake Village Inn, about an hour's drive from LAX. Its a beautiful hotel.
Check out their website.

johng

hey jrw, you clearly know your SM hotels! any thoughts on the calmar hotel, years ago when I lived in LA, I would park near there b4 running in Palisades Park, and it looked like a good option for people on a budget, esp w/ children. Very nice location, at least. Also, there's a new hotel since I last was in the area up on 20th and AZ - the Abrose. Any thoughts on that?

rjw_lgb_ca

The Cal-Mar gets good ratings from the travel sites, and the location is quite good, so I'd say it's a fairly safe bet. The Ambrose is supposed to be very nice, but my problem with it is the location; St. John's Hospital is across the street, and unless you have business there or you're buying a car somewhere on Santa Monica Blvd., there's not a helluva lot to do around there. However, if you can accept driving or busing everywhere, an occasional ambulance siren (I don't recall if they have a helipad, which would be another noise concern) and the price is right, you could be very happy there.

johng

thanks rjw,

yes, that location is pretty poor, but I'm considering it, at least momentarily, because we have a kind of schitzo getaway in mind -- partly we want to hang at the beach and do all that w/ our kids, but we lived in lala land a few years back, and we have friends in the valley, west hollywood, echo park, etc that we want to visit, so being slightly inland may not be such a bad thing. But I suspect that, based on your advice that that in the guides, we'll either step up our budget slightly and stay at the Georgian, or opt for extra space and more money to spend on restaurants by trying Cal-Mar.

Iregeo

My 2 cents... traffic to Santa Barbara will be awful at that hour. Consider spending the night in Calabasas, in the west San Fernando Valley. It is by no means a tourist mecca, but it is about 15 min. shy of half way to Santa Barbara. You could stay at the Country Inn & Suites, or the Calabasas Marriott (or is it a Hyatt?), both on Calabasas Road. From either one, you would be walking distance to many restaruants -- Sagebrush Cantina (Mexican), Riviera Bistro & Wine Bar, Gaetano's (upscale Italian), Fin's Creekside (upscale American), King's Fish House (seafood), Banzai (sushi)...You get the picture! Good luck!