Free Day out of LA
 

I have two free days at the end of business trip. I'd like to find somehwere a reasonable drives way to relax. Willing to drive up to 2 hrs away from LAX. Any sugesstions? Doesn't have to be on the beach... in fact I'm ok with it not.

Hi Vabarone,

Perhaps Palm Springs? If it were me, I would head for the Santa Ynez Valley - Solvang, Los Olivos, wine tasting, countryside.....Highly recommend the Ballard Inn in Ballard (between Los Olivos and Solvang).

a lot depends on time/day. On a weekday morning 2 hours will barely get you out of LA county. But outside of commute hours you have lots of choices

But if you mean a weekend - I'd either drive up the coast towards Santa Barbara or you could go down to San Diego.

How about Santa Barbara? It's a wonderful city.(careful timing it back to LAX though for traffic).

Ditto Dayle's suggestions.

The drive going north from LA has just worsened because of the mess on the 5 freeway. The trucker bypass tunnel is closed indefinitely, which means more traffic on the main 5. Some are avoiding this by taking other routes north, such as the 101, which is the main freeway to get to Santa Barbara/Santa Ynez valley.

Because of this, I would suggest heading east to the desert or south to San Diego County.

I definitely second the Santa Barbara recommendation.

Absolutely Santa Barbara. It's a 2hr drive from Torrance for me.

vabarone-You started a second post about this. People keep recommending Santa Barbara but that doesn't seem to be your interest.

Here are the places that are within 2 hours of LAX that I can think of. This means they are around 125 miles or less. However, remember if you are driving on a Friday evening or any other rush hour traffic, it could take you 3 hours or more.

Santa Barbara/Solvang
Palm Springs
Laguna Beach/Newport Beach
Big Bear Lake
Temecula (wine tasting)
San Diego (this is pushing the 2 hours but with NO traffic it might be possible)

I think that's about it. If you don't want to stay in Santa Barbara then stay in Solvang. Closer to the wineries and no beach.