Driving from San Diego to Anaheim

[stickeymouse]

We are heading to So. Cal this weekend and spending a couple of days in San Diego before we head to Disneyland. Our reservation at the Grand Californian begins Monday. Is there any warnings I need to heed when it comes to driving from San Diego to Anaheim? What time (after 1pm) on Monday would be best to head north?

 

[msteddom]

I would try to leave as close to 1PM as possible.

 

[stickeymouse]

Is rush hour bad around Anaheim? What time does it start?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Traffic will be bad between San Diego and Orange County and up into Anaheim in the late afternoon/early evening. Hard to say exactly when it will start to get heavy but I agree with the PP... leave as close to 1:00 as possible. Without any traffic it will take about 2 to 2.5 hours to drive from San Diego to Anaheim. With traffic it could be exponentially longer.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Is rush hour bad around Anaheim? What time does it start?

Yes. Rush hour is basically bad on all SoCal freeways that aren’t in the middle of the desert. I absolutely agree that the closer you get to that 1pm departure the better. VERY broadly speaking rush hour starts at 3pm.

 

[ParkHopper1]

Without any traffic it will take about 2 to 2.5 hours to drive from San Diego to Anaheim. With traffic it could be exponentially longer.

Have done that drive quite a bit. Typical no traffic drive time is more like 1.5 hours to DL. I agree with others, try for as close to a 1p or 2pm departure as you can. By 3 pm you will start to get a backup out of San Diego then hit more traffic as it builds getting closer to Anaheim.

 

[stickeymouse]

What would a 5pm departure look like? Traffic in San Diego but avoiding it in Anaheim? Or a double whammy in both places?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

What would a 5pm departure look like? Traffic in San Diego but avoiding it in Anaheim? Or a double whammy in both places?

Horrible. Do not do that. If you want to leave later wait until at least 8pm.

 

[ParkHopper1]

What would a 5pm departure look like? Traffic in San Diego but avoiding it in Anaheim? Or a double whammy in both places?

It can turn into 3.5 hours!

Google Maps online has a pretty cool traffic estimator tool. Enter San Diego then Directions to Disneyland...click on "depart at" and you can play around with different departure times and it will give you travel time estimates based on historical and typical traffic at any give time.

www.google.com/maps

 

[MillauFr]

I don't think it matters what time you leave. Sure you will hit some traffic but so what. You can use the HOV lanes to save some time if you have 2+ people in your car. There will be a few slow downs but most of the trip you will be going the speed limit.

 

[lvdis]

We are heading to So. Cal this weekend and spending a couple of days in San Diego before we head to Disneyland. Our reservation at the Grand Californian begins Monday. Is there any warnings I need to heed when it comes to driving from San Diego to Anaheim? What time (after 1pm) on Monday would be best to head north?

I'm glad you posted this! We are making the exact same drive on the exact same day! We'll be in San Diego tomorrow!

 

[stickeymouse]

Just so I'm clear, is the traffic people are talking about IN San Diego and IN Anaheim/Orange County, or traveling between the two? If the latter, why are there so many people commuting between San Diego and LA on a Monday evening?

 

[stickeymouse]

Oh, and technically, we will be leaving from La Jolla. I don't know if that makes it any better.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I have done this drive many times. I used to leave San Diego at 2:00pm, but it can have many standstills nowadays. It is a real bummer when a 90 minute drive takes an extra hour. I now leave before 2:00pm.

If you prefer to wait until later, wait until 6:30pm at the earliest.

We are talking about traffic all the way from San Diego to Anaheim. There are a number of spots that get severely backed up. It isn't a matter of so many people making the entire drive that you are making, it's many people on certain parts of the freeway at the same time. It might only back up for 6 miles in an area, but you will be stopped for most of that time. That will happen in several areas. You can have about 15 miles of crawling along in other parts.

 

[Kenshin21]

I live in carlsbad(north San Diego) and work in La Jolla. Making that drive north in the San Diego portion daily. As others have stated, I would leave as close to 1 as possible or after 630-7. You’re likely to be in traffic from La Jolla all the way till Oceanside. Which is essentially the San Diego portion of the drive

 

[tarheelalum]

Leave at 10 or 11am (on a week day) and you will drive up the 5 with just regular traffic. Not bad at all. If you don't want to leave in the morning, I'd wait until 7pm to go.

And since your going to be in America's finest city, do yourself a favor and go to Phil's Barbecue on Sports Area Blvd. It's not far from La Jolla and it is incredible. Just take the 5 south to the 8 west and get off on Sports Area Blvd.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Just so I'm clear, is the traffic people are talking about IN San Diego and IN Anaheim/Orange County, or traveling between the two? If the latter, why are there so many people commuting between San Diego and LA on a Monday evening?

It is everywhere.

 

[stickeymouse]

Is the drive up I-5 scenic in any way? Can you see the ocean?

 

[IvyWinter]

This is good to know as we're doing the opposite! driving from anaheim to san diego and trying to figure out by when we should be on the road.

 

[DLgal]

You will hit a wall on I-5 right after the merge point with 405, at around Sand Canyon Avenue exit. The traffic here will start in earnest around 3pm. From that point, it will take you close to an hour to get to Anaheim, which is normally a 15 min trip.

It takes about 75-90 minutes to to reach that point from SD. Leave SD no later than noon in order to avoid that and you will arrive in Anaheim well before 2pm. If you wait until 1pm or after, you're looking at a 3+ hour drive, even using carpool lanes.

P.S. I live right off Sand Canyon Ave. I am very familiar with the traffic patterns between here and Anaheim.