Driving from San Francisco

[spacemouseneer]

Hello all,
We are going to be driving to Anaheim from San Francisco on Monday August 18. I just wanted some opinions on what time is the best to leave to get through traffic in LA. I know it takes about 6 hours without traffic hassles. We are pretty open to leaving at any time.

Thanks all,

Spacemouseneer

 

[WTFetus]

I recall leaving at around 7am last time I drove down to LA with no major issues. Always better to leave earlier though. If you leave around 5am, you can take your time for restroom breaks/lunch without running into traffic.

 

[crystal1313]

We try to leave no later than 8am. We did that last trip and hit traffic in the bay and still hit traffic in LA, but it wasn't terrible. We only stop once for gas and to use the restrooms. If DH had his way we wouldn't stop at all. LOL

 

[2boysmom1998]

Sorry, I posted on the wrong board.

 

[bcla]

Do you have a specific location and time you're starting from? That could make a huge difference with rush hour traffic. And I know a lot of people say "San Francisco" when it's a suburb, so clarification could be helpful to get sound advice.

If you're trying to get to I-580, that's the reverse commute in the morning to Oakland. I-580 to Pleasanton can be slow in the morning, but not always. In the late afternoon/evening you'd be dealing with rush hour traffic.

There are several ways to get down, although ideally the fastest way is to get to I-5 in the fastest time possible.

 

[Astylla]

Typically we leave on a weekday around 6am and get into Anaheim even with LA traffic as it is so variable by 11am. However keep in mind we are two adults and we maybe stop once for a quick bite/gas up so this may be different for your needs.

We rarely hit any traffic coming from Castro Valley aside from the typical 580 slowdown near Vasco/Livermore area. Earlier the better is my advice

 

[Butterfly123]

We usually aim for 7:00. We left once at 9:00 because we needed to kennel our dog, and hit L.A. traffic at a horrible time. Early is so much better! It gives us time to stop at the Vons on Chapman before we check into our hotel.

 

[Butterfly123]

We usually aim for 7:00. We left once at 9:00 because we needed to kennel our dog, and hit L.A. traffic at a horrible time. Early is so much better! It gives us time to stop at the Vons on Chapman before we check into our hotel.

Just wanted to add we go 101 to 152 to 5.

 

[mrfrogandme]

We live in Sonoma County, about 40 mins. north of San Fran and we leave no later then 4am , it puts us ahead of the morning traffic and we arrive in s. cal around late lunch , so traffic is OK. In fact it puts us ahead of most traffic so stops along the way are pretty much empty.

 

[Pucka1378]

Last time we drove we went 152 to 5 and we hit major traffic on a weekday in LA around 11am and took forever to get to DL! But, that is LA traffic for ya. I can't remember what time we left but I would say around 6-7am(can't imagine us leaving later than that).

Traffic is just finicky.

 

[cseca]

Just watch out and hold your noses when you're going through Coalinga on I5.... p-ew

 

[daannzzz]

We have been driving form San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Cruz for decades. Because Highway 5 is so boring we generally drive down 101. It used to be you could get through LA at non commute times fairly easily but that has slowly been going away. I like to leave around 5:30 - 6:00 and get to the LA area around 1:00. Still traffic can be really lousy. The best times we have arrived have been after 9:00 P.M. where we breezed right through Hollywood and downtown LA. Also if you are leaving Anaheim to drive back up North the traffic has gotten worse that direction as well. It sucks to leave in the morning and we try to leave after 10:00 A.M. now.

 

[Californiacicle]

We used to leave no later than 6am though we lived 2 hrs south of SF. We would take I-5 and would usually stop right before the Grapevine or in Buttonwillow. Our last trip we left Monterey at 6am and got to our hotel by 10:00. Our friends called us to tell us they were just leaving as we were checking in. Needless to say we didn't see them until dinner time.

 

[meggles]

We're in Sonoma County, about 40 min north of SF. Last time we left at 9am and didn't get to Anaheim until about 6pm. We stopped for lunch (45 min) and gas/potty/ run around time a few times because we have two little ones. We hit bad traffic coming down into LA in the afternoon.

Plan this time is to leave by 6:30-7am at the latest!

 

[sftnslky]

We are leaving from Stockton towards the end of June.. We were thinking leaving around 5am and taking I5 all the way down.. We should hit LA around 11am or so.. do you think the traffic would be bad then?

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Quite a few from Sonoma County! Hi neighbors

We try to leave no later than 5am, 4am if possible, to avoid the traffic. Any later and we hit pretty bad traffic in LA.

 

[tiffjoy]

We live in the Bay Area and work in South San Francisco. We do a bit of a different take on heading down to Anaheim, but it's mostly related to not wanting to take an additional day off work and not wanting to waste a vacation day driving. But it might work for you.

We pack up the van on Thursday night. On Friday, we leave from work in SSF around 2:30. We meet up with our nanny with our kids in San Mateo at 2:45. Then we head straight out. We miss all the rush hour traffic in the Bay Area this way. We stop around 6ish to eat (we pack a light dinner as my kids won't eat fast food and that is the only option along I-5) at a rest stop. We then truck on and hit Anaheim around 10ish, depending on how many stops we made for potty breaks and dinner. This way, we also miss all the LA traffic, too. Our kids usually pass out around 9ish in the car, and we have been able to transfer them to bed in the hotel fairly easily.

Not sure if this would work for you or not, but we like it better than leaving superbly early to beat the Bay Area traffic or leaving after Bay Area traffic is over and then hitting LA traffic. This way, we miss both.

 

[jaitken925]

I have to agree with tiffjoy ... We'd much rather get in at night than get up early and drive in the morning.
Although, part of that could be because my family is more of night owls than we are early birds!
We usually get to Disney around 10pm, check in, head to bed and get to sleep in a little the next morning before heading to the park.

 

[Pucka1378]

We used to leave no later than 6am though we lived 2 hrs south of SF. We would take I-5 and would usually stop right before the Grapevine or in Buttonwillow. Our last trip we left Monterey at 6am and got to our hotel by 10:00. Our friends called us to tell us they were just leaving as we were checking in. Needless to say we didn't see them until dinner time.

Wow you must have been super speedy! 4hrs!

 

[Minnie Loves Mickey]

I like t leave San Jose at 4am best, that way I can sleep for a hour or two. Otherwise we leave at 6pm and the traffic going through LA can be backed up depending on whats going on that evening.