Timing a drive from DL to San Diego

[PixieDustD]

Hi everyone. On a Friday afternoon, what time should I leave Anaheim in order to get to San Diego at 5 pm?

 

[OneThree]

Its about an hour and 30 minute drive but on a Friday afternoon it could be quite a bit longer. You'll most likely hit traffic headed out of Anaheim and into the Irvine area, possibly in the area of Oceanside/Carlsbad and then again north of San Diego.

 

[BigCheese]

OneThree is right, without any traffic, it's about an 80 minute drive from DLR to downtown San Diego. But on a Friday afternoon you will definitely hit traffic consistently throughout the drive: immediately through Santa Ana and Irvine, especially through San Juan Capistrano (freeway construction), Camp Pendleton through Oceanside, Carlsbad, and then expect a crawl from Del Mar all the way to downtown San Diego. There may be some open breaks here and there but there probably won't be much relief. On a couple of occasions I've had to make that drive from Orange County to Solana Beach and it took 2.5 hours on Friday afternoons. If you have to get to San Diego no later than 5:00, I would personally leave Anaheim no later than 2:00. You may get there well before 5:00, but if you leave at 3:00 you won't get to San Diego by 5:00.

 

[superlarz]

I would leave at noon. San Diego Traffic from Carlsbad to Downtown can get really bad after about 3. On Fridays, a lot of folks from Orange County and LA come down to San Diego making the problem worse. I used to work about 12 miles north of where I currently live and on Fridays it could take an hour to get home.

 

[mrkyyyle]

I'd say no later than 2pm as well, that can be a brutal drive down on Friday afternoon/evening (and the reverse on Sunday FYI if you are coming back to Orange County)

 

[Angrose]

We just did the drive last Friday from SNA to Carlsbad, and then back again on Sunday. Friday afternoon was HORRIBLE! It took about 2hrs to get down there!! We left SNA at 4pm and got to Carlsbad at 6:30pm, but we stopped in San Juan Capistrano for a quick dinner. Traffic through there was the worst. And yep, Sunday was congested too, it took us about 1.5 hours to get back.

 

[mrkyyyle]

We just did the drive last Friday from SNA to Carlsbad, and then back again on Sunday. Friday afternoon was HORRIBLE! It took about 2hrs to get down there!! We left SNA at 4pm and got to Carlsbad at 6:30pm, but we stopped in San Juan Capistrano for a quick dinner. Traffic through there was the worst. And yep, Sunday was congested too, it took us about 1.5 hours to get back.

Yep and Carlsbad is just the start of the SD / North County area traffic too! I avoid going down there on Friday/back on Sunday like the plague!

 

[tarheelalum]

Traffic on the 5 freeway starts getting bad around 3/3:30 in various parts of San Diego county. Especially bad on the weekend. I'd leave at 1pm if you don't want to deal with stop and go traffic. Try not to ride in the far right exit lanes if you can.

 

[corinne76]

Sorry to thread jack but I didn't want to start a whole new thread.

What about Friday mornings? We're thinking of doing DLR Sunday to Thursday, and leaving early Friday morning to go to Carlsbad. What is a good time to leave? We have no set time to arrive at Legoland, I'd just like to get there pretty early and avoid heavy traffic if possible.

If Friday morning will be ridiculous, I could move it up to Thursday, but that might mean cutting DL down to 4 days, and no one wants that

 

[mrkyyyle]

Sorry to thread jack but I didn't want to start a whole new thread.

What about Friday mornings? We're thinking of doing DLR Sunday to Thursday, and leaving early Friday morning to go to Carlsbad. What is a good time to leave? We have no set time to arrive at Legoland, I'd just like to get there pretty early and avoid heavy traffic if possible.

If Friday morning will be ridiculous, I could move it up to Thursday, but that might mean cutting DL down to 4 days, and no one wants that

Friday morning the traffic you'd hit would be in Orange County from work traffic. The 5 south really slows down a lot between the 91/5 and all the way to/through the orange crush (55/57/22 interchanges). You can also have a slow down in the San Juan Capistrano area. I'd bet on about a 75-90 minute drive to Carlsbad if you left around 8am or so. Alternatively if you leave really early, say 530am-6am you'd probably be there in an hour or so

 

[corinne76]

Friday morning the traffic you'd hit would be in Orange County from work traffic. The 5 south really slows down a lot between the 91/5 and all the way to/through the orange crush (55/57/22 interchanges). You can also have a slow down in the San Juan Capistrano area. I'd bet on about a 75-90 minute drive to Carlsbad if you left around 8am or so. Alternatively if you leave really early, say 530am-6am you'd probably be there in an hour or so

Thanks! I'm not sure I'd be able to get DH and the kids up to leave by 5:30/6, but I figured we'd face work traffic on a Friday morning. 90 minutes isn't that bad. If I remember correctly, there's a rest stop area on the way right?

 

[bumbershoot]

What part of San Diego? SD is biiiiiig (typing from my brother's new place in Del Mar right now, which is north or downtown but is still called San Diego, and he used to live in Chula Vista, which is south and east of downtown, but still called San Diego) and it depends on where you're actually going.

We have no set time to arrive at Legoland, I'd just like to get there pretty early and avoid heavy traffic if possible.

See, that's Carlsbad, and it even further north from where I am, which is already north of downtown. So you're missing a bunch of traffic possibilities because you're not going to downtown.

 

[Purrkins]

Hi everyone. On a Friday afternoon, what time should I leave Anaheim in order to get to San Diego at 5 pm?

Ouch. No later than 2 on a Friday. Might the train be an option?

 

[HydroGuy]

Sorry to thread jack but I didn't want to start a whole new thread.

What about Friday mornings? We're thinking of doing DLR Sunday to Thursday, and leaving early Friday morning to go to Carlsbad. What is a good time to leave? We have no set time to arrive at Legoland, I'd just like to get there pretty early and avoid heavy traffic if possible.

If Friday morning will be ridiculous, I could move it up to Thursday, but that might mean cutting DL down to 4 days, and no one wants that

To you and the OP, it is a long time since I can remember making that drive without significant stop and go traffic - on any day of the week at just about any time. On a Saturday at mid-day earlier this month I drove from SNA to Oceanside - at the very north end of SD County and a good 35 miles from downtown San Diego. It took me almost two hours because traffic was stop and go thru OC and part of Camp Pendleton. I was hoping, hoping, hoping that it being on a Saturday I might miss this horrible traffic this one time. But I hit it every time. I would allow at least 4 hours to get from DLR to SD on a Friday afternoon - and that may still not be enough. On a Friday morning same thing unless you leave late morning and then you might make it with three hours. If either of you make it faster then give thanks to the traffic gods.