LA airport help please Burbank or Long Beach for Santa Monica or Manhattan Beach?
 

I’m about to book air on Jetblue to Southern CA for a vacation in October. I’ve obtained distances and estimated times from mapquest but assume I need to make an adjustment for expected traffic and I’m really not familiar with LA traffic patterns.

I’ll be arriving either Friday night (9 pm) or Saturday morning around 10 am. I’m assuming traffic won’t be much of an issue that late on a Friday night but not sure about Saturday and it appears that a Sat morn departure is more feasible at this point. If Sat, by the time I pick up a car I hope to get on the road by 10:30 or 11am heading to Santa Monica or Manhattan Beach.

Can someone help me with likely traffic conditions or recommendations at that time on a Saturday morning? It’s also Columbus Day weekend so maybe that will increase weekend beach destination volume? Any other considerations I should be aware of LGB vs BUR? Thanks much.

If you go into Burbank, you have two choices to get to Santa Monica or Manhattan Beach via freeway. If you go into Long Beach, you still have two choices, but would most likely take the 405. The 405 northbound is not usually as horrendous on the weekends as the 405 southbound. Having said that, Caltrans is adding an HOV lane (high occupancy vehicle) to the 405 from the 105 to Montana Avenue, and is revamping and doing major work at the 405 and 101 intersection. All this work is making the 405 a bigger nightmare than usual, and it will last way past October.

So here's my suggestion: fly into Burbank, and take the 134 west to the 5 south to the 10 west, and you should miss the traffic and miss the 405. Alternatively, from Burbank airport, you can take Hollywood Way to Olive to Barham Blvd., going past the back side of Universal Studios, all the way to the end. It dead-ends at Cahuenga, just after the Hollywood Freeway. Turn left, then proceed down Cahuenga past the Hollywood Bowl. From there, you can either take Sunset or continue further to Olympic and turn right. If you go Olympic, you will dead-end at 4th street in Santa Monica. If you take Sunset, it will take you through Hollywood, the Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills (past the Beverly Hills Hotel), and continues all the way to Pacific Coast Highway. If you go that route and don't want to do the long, windy scenic route to the beach, turn left on Highland or La Cienega (if you don't want to go past the Strip & Beverly Hills Hotel) to Olympic, then right; or take it to the 405 and get on at Church lane going south to the 10 west (it's about 2 miles on the freeway from the 405 to the 10) to get to Santa Monica. I would have suggested turning left on Beverly Glen, but the transition work going on by the Dept. of Transportation at Santa Monica could cause a back up going through that intersection.

I personally prefer the side street versus the freeway from Burbank, since it's more scenic and generally gets you to Santa Monica faster than the freeway.

I should clarify that my last reference to the DOT and Santa Monica was in reference to Santa Monica Blvd., not the City of Santa Monica. Santa Monica Blvd. is a major street that goes between the ocean and nearly downtown L.A. The City is working on a project on that street between Sepulveda Blvd. and Century City in West Los Angeles that started in 2003 and was supposed to be completed this August, but they are still digging up the road and won't be finished until August of 2006 at a minimum. Avoid that street at all costs.

I drive LGB-Santa Monica daily, and traffic on the 405 is a bear, no doubt. On a Saturday morning, even given the carpool lane work through west LA, it shouldn't be a problem.

Surfergirl has given you great directions from BUR. From LGB, the "easiest" route is Lakewood Blvd south to I-405 north. Take up all the way to I-10 interchange; take west to Santa Monica exits. Lincoln Blvd or 4th Street will be your exit to get to downtown SM.

To Manhattan Beach from LGB, it's I-405 north to (I'm guessing here, there are a couple of exits) Rosecrans, head west to MB.

Given your travel times, I would say just choose the cheaper flights. Six on one hand, half-dozen on the other. Still long schlepps, but less of a hassle than LAX, and you'll be flying JetBlue!

Use the Artesia or Hawthorne Blvd exits from I-405 for MB. If you use Artesia give a yell for the mighty Micohi Mustangs when you get to PCH.

I agree that the traffic shouldn't be a problem at all for a Sat., especially that early. Nowadays, the traffic all over L.A. is VERY unpredictable on Saturdays. But that's usually in the afternoon, so you should be OK in the morning. You shouldn't have a problem if you arrive on Fri. night either.

Thanks to all for your responses. With the very helpful route details you've provided, it sounds like either airport will work out fine. This will be my first time on Jetblue so I'm not familiar with either airport. Is one more user-friendly or are they both pretty small and easy to get around?
Does either have car rental desks in the airport?

I haven't flown out of BUR, but use LGB almost exclusively. It's small and user-friendly, except that traffic snarls outside the terminal are getting to be constant. There are a couple of rental desks in the terminal, but the outside rental offices are literally less than 100 feet outside the terminal door.

I've only heard good things about BUR, but I know nothing about where the car rental desks are.

Burbank has Hertz, Avis, National and Alamo onsite and the cars are a half-minute walk from the desks. It's an easy 5minute ride to the 134 freeway, however the 134 West does not go to the 5 south. I've done the drive south on Fri night Sat am and I think if you go freeway/ 134 west to 405 south is the best bet and less confusing. Just be sure to begin merging into the left lanes AS SOON as you enter the 134 freeway.

If you take the 5 south to the 10 however, it's easy to get to the 5 from Burbank airport. Just ask at the car rental counter for directions.

Burbank also has Budget and Enterprise desks at the airport. But then you have to take their shuttles to actually pick up the cars. Budget is down the street from the airport and Enterprise is across the street.
Burbank is just as small and user-friendly as Long Beach.

Thanks again for the info. We're now looking at trying the even later Friday night flight on JB that gets in at 9:45. Really trying to avoid getting up at the crack of dawn to get over to JFK for that early am flight and I think we can safely make the last flight.

So that seems to (I think) make LGB the better option as it's closer to Manhattan Beach and I'd prefer the less expensive hotel - which is the one in MB vs SM - since we'll be arriving in pretty much just to sleep that first night.

Also, just an FYI to anyone that may fly the Burbank/NYC route, there was another factor that made me lean to LGB. I read on a frequent flyer board that due to the short runway at Burbank, JB at times must make refueling stops on that run since there is a tight weight restriction. It's apparently more likely when temps are higher but I'd be pretty bummed to have to make a stop on a supposedly nonstop flight that's already due in pretty late. Just something to keep in mind. Don't know how often it actually happens but I'd rather not take the chance.

Anway, all the directions, construction tips will I'm sure come in very handy at some point during our couple of days around LA.

Never heard that about the BUR runway. LGB has one extra-long runway and a couple of shorter ones (which are still longer than the longest runway at SNA), and basic, smooth takeoffs and landings. I've never had a refueling necessary on the B6 Airbuses (or the MD-80s or 757s American flies/flew).

Still, I don't think BUR would be a hardship at all, even with a slightly longer drive to MB (maybe 20 minutes more).

We have flown out of both airports (although only LGB on Jet Blue) and I recommend Long Beach Airport. Both airports are fine but I do think the traffic is lots better to your destination from LGB than BUR. The time of night you are now thinking of arriving there shouldn't be terrible traffic from either location - but in LA Area you never know.

I live in Manhattan Beach, and it will take you 25 minutes to drive here from LB airport. Take the Rosecrans exit if you are staying at the MB Marriott, but if you are staying at the Holiday or Comfort Inn, take the exit before that,which is Inglewood Ave. and head down MB Blvd.
8-)

Burbank Airport is user friendly, but I'd go with the rest and go through Long Beach. The other posts reminded me of the short runways at Burbank and they are bloody scary. Not as bad as the Catalina airport. Now they really need to bring back the seaplanes there!