Driving from Disneyland to San Diego

[Julylady]

We are flying in to LAX and returning from San Diego with five days at Disneyland Resort followed by another five days in San Diego. I have rented a car from Alamo at downtown Disney for 10 am on a Tuesday morning. I have never driven in CA before, but have driven through big cities including Atlanta, Chicago and Indianapolis.

Any tips or tricks I should be aware of? Our hotel in San Diego is in the Del Mar area. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jnc91]

I live in northern San Diego and always drive up to disneyland. You should be fine if you've driven in other big cities. Freeways tend to be 6+ lanes, I didn't realize that was unusual until I had a friend from ohio come visit and he freaked out lol. Traffic is bad from 6am-9am and 4pm-6:30pm. Try to avoid those times. Disneyland to San Diego should take about 2 hrs.

 

[sukhakuli]

Make use of the HOA lanes if you can.

 

[gunka]

Leaving at 10:00 am on a Tuesday you should have no problems. The commute traffic will have died down plus you will be able to use the HOV lanes for a good part of the commute. It should be a very nice drive down the 5 to Del Mar. Orange County and especially San Diego County freeways are usually very free flowing outside of the standard commute times. There is a "View Point" along the way, stop and you'll get a nice view of the Ocean. You'll also get to drive through Camp Pendleton and if your lucky the Marines may be out doing training/exercises.

 

[superlarz]

Del Mar is the northern edge of the actual City of San Diego. If you leave after morning rush hour, it should be a pretty smooth commute down the 5. Should take no more than 90 minutes unless there is a traffic incident or stops involved.

 

[LisaCM614]

We are taking the slow way to San Diego
I was told to take Katella to Ocean to the Pacific Coast Highway until it runs into the 5.

 

[ktlm]

We usually spend half the week at DL and the other half in the San Diego area. It is not a bad drive at all. It is pretty much all Interstate and as long as you aren't in rush hour, the traffic is not bad at all. It is about 75 miles from DL to Del Mar, and it will probably take around an hour an 15 minutes to an hour and a half. Same as anywhere else, if there is an accident, or if you go right in the middle of rush hour, it can slow you down. If you are leaving DL after 10:00 a.m. and before 4:00 p.m. you should be fine.

Now, if you want to go the scenic route and take the Pacific Coast highway down through Dana Point until you run into I-5, that can take a lot longer. It is a lot of stop lights and a lot of traffic. You will get to see some of the beach towns that way though. We went that way once, and it is fine if you want to explore and maybe stop along the way, but if you want to get from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time, so that you can get to doing things in the Del Mar/San Diego area, then I would stick with I-5 from Disneyland down to Del Mar.