Amtrak to San Diego

[jonsmom57]

Has anyone had any experience with taking the Amtrak train to San Diego?

Amtrak's station is 5 minutes away & I thought we could take it to San Diego and rent a car from there.

Its a 2 hour train ride, don't know how long by car.

 

[eduk8r26]

I've taken Amtrak from LA to San Diego and I love it. You could drive in the same time if there's no traffic, but it's so much nicer on the train. Just sit back and watch all the scenery--usually the ocean for a good deal of it. The station in San Diego is right downtown, within walking distance to quite a few places.

 

[Golfing Goofy]

We have also taken the Amtrak from LA to San Diego and we loved it! It is nice not to have to deal with the traffic and the train was practically empty. We went on a midweek day and stayed one night.

The one thing that we did not realize was that the San Diego Zoo was pretty far from the station and the trolley doesn't really go close to it. We just stayed in the "tourist" area and visited the aircraft carrier(we loved that!), the Russian sub, and the pirate ship. That worked out good for us.

Have fun.

 

[jonsmom57]

We have also taken the Amtrak from LA to San Diego and we loved it! It is nice not to have to deal with the traffic and the train was practically empty. We went on a midweek day and stayed one night.

The one thing that we did not realize was that the San Diego Zoo was pretty far from the station and the trolley doesn't really go close to it. We just stayed in the "tourist" area and visited the aircraft carrier(we loved that!), the Russian sub, and the pirate ship. That worked out good for us.

Have fun.

I think that once we get to San Diego station (I was told it was near the airport) we will just rent a car, that way we aren't held hostage by trolleys and public transportation - I am assuming we will need one for lunch & dinner.

 

[bradk]

i actually have taken amtrak from anaheim to SD back in 2005 (i did a trip going from LA working my way down to SD without a car). in SD, I went to Sea World, Balboa Park/the zoo and legoland, all just by bus.

the bus system is actually pretty hearty in SD and i chose a hotel near one of the hubs. i used http://www.sdcommute.com to plan my trips in the SD area (and http://www.mta.net for the LA area)

the only time i used a cab that trip was to go from LAX to the zoo because I wanted to do it in a timely fashion and that was just a mistake. never touched a cab the rest of the trip.