Hello !
We are planning a trip to CA in late June.
We will be flying to San Francisco, then driving down to Laguna Niguel. I believe we will be taking 1 from Pacifica for a short time then taking 101. I've heard alot about the traffic being heavy, my question is, about how long do you think this drive will take. Thanks !

Laguna Niguel is south of Los Angeles. You are planning on stopping somewhere along the way, yes? From SFO to Pacifica is a little out-of-the-way. If your goal is to drive down the coast, take Hwy 92 from 101 (from the airport) then in Half MooN Bay, take 1. You might consider staying in HMB if you arrive in the afternoon. With no stops (and you should stop) you could reach Monterrey by late afternoon, or possibly Big Sur. The drive froom Big Sur to SLO will be another few hours. Slo to LA is four with another hour to get to Laguna Niguel. Are you flying out of SoCal or will you have to return to SFO to drop car?

Do you mean doing the drive in one day -- or are you touring and taking 2 or 3 days or more???

Are you staying in Pacifica?

darn - didn't mean to hit post . . .

If you are staying in Pacifica - taking hwy 1 south and then 101 is fine - but it isn't a fast road even for the short distance you would be on it.

As for traffic - it depends a LOT on time of day, day of week and your exact route.

Give us more details of your plans and we can help more.

Hello again !
Sorry I wasnt very specific before...
We are staying 1 night in Pacifica, traveling down to stay in Laguna Niguel. We will catch the flight home at SNA. Originally, I wasnt planning on staying at another hotel (we are staying at my Aunts house in LN). I was thinking we would take 1 to Half Moon Bay then catch 101. We will be doing the driving on a Thursday towards the end of June. My aunt suggested staying another night somewhere, but I wanted to get some other opinions as to whether this could be done in a day. We would probably start out around 6am.
Thanks for the help so far !

Driving on a Thursday from Pacfica to Laguna Niguel is doable; question is do you want to spend ALL day in the car? You could drive all the way down Hwy 1 to Morro Bay or even as far as SLO or Pismo, spend the night (as it's a Thursday--you wouldn't have the two-night summer minimum). An early start on Friday would get you to LN by mid to late afternoon.

Yes the drive is very doable in one day if you take 101 rather than CA-1. If you decide to take the coastal route through Santa Cruz, Monterey and Big Sur then you probably want to break it up into 2 days.

Pacifica to Laguna Niguel is probably a 8-9 hour drive. You absolutely want to be through LA by 2 pm at the latest or you are going to be in massive traffic all the way down to Orange County.

Should have added..

From Pacifica I would just cut east and hop onto 280 South until you reach San Jose then take 101 South.

If you drive CA-1 down to Half Moon Bay take 92 East to 280, take 280 south to San Jose and then get on 101 South once you reach SJ.

If you're starting at 6AM on a Thursday, then you definitely want to take 280 from 92, rather than 101. 101 is a parking lot at rush hour between San Francisco and San Jose.

Take 280 to Hwy 85 at Cupertino, take 85 to 101 south of San Jose.

You will also hit rush hour traffic through LA which is even worse than the traffic you would hit on 101 in the SF Bay Area. Traffic can add 2 or even 3 hours to the trip.

If you really want to do this drive in one day, you should take Hwy 152 from Gilroy east to Interstate 5, then take that south to LA. It's a faster route, but will still take all day and hit the LA traffic.

If you really want to do this trip in one day with a minimum of traffic, you should fly from SFO.

Yeah - flying is really best if you want to do it in one day since you won't have time for sightseeing anyway . . .

I-5 is the only fast route but the SoCal commute mess will negate most of the benefit. You really need to either - "go fast" (I-5 or flying) , or "go slow" and take a couple of days for the drive.

Thanks for all the great advise so far !
At this point we are probably going to take the extra night, possibly stay in Cambria. Any thoughts about the Sea Otter Inn ?