Driving from DL to San Diego airport

[deanimal]

We are planning a trip to California this fall, and it looks like it will work best to fly in and out from San Diego and drive to DL and back. The route planning sites I can find online give me a time of about 2 hours for the drive, but I'm imagining traffic plays a big factor. We will likely drive north on a Saturday afternoon, and back south on a Wednesday afternoon. Will there be a huge difference between a weekday and a weekend? Can anyone recommend a good website that helps plan driving routes in the area with traffic taken into consideration?

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Had two trips down last year, went between SD and Anaheim both times. One Saturday morning it only took us 1.25 hours to get to Escondido (Safari Park) but 3 hours to get back that evening.

Second trip I was down for a conference and left Escondido (conference was at Safari Park-whoot!) on a Friday around 6:30 and made it to the SNA airport before 8. I imagine being on the freeway after 6:30 you will hit commute traffic during the week, but it does seem the weekends are more congested.

 

[sonnyjane]

just remember that Escondido is still a good 45 minutes from the airport. Your Saturday commute should be faster. What time is your flight on the Wedneaday you leave? You'll want to try to avoid commute traffic. That said, I live 10 min from SAN and it usually doesn't take me more than an hour and a half to two hours to make that drive. Friday afternoon is the worst, that took me 3 hours but I had no choice.

 

[chttyangel]

Piggy backing of this thread; I am flying into Orange County on a Friday and driving to San Diego. We will be on the road by 2:00 so not too worried even thou figured we will hit some traffic given it is a Friday.

On Monday thou heading back to DL from Legoland. Thoughts on what time to avoid? Trying to decide between leaving the park early to be on the road by 4 or having a nice dinner and avoiding it until 7ish. In my area 4:30 to 7 is the worst but not sure about that strip of road.