California Dreaming ~ travel advice needed

[VTCaraco]

Turning a west coast wedding into a baseball park adventure with my son.
We fly from Albany, NY to Phoenix to catch the Diamondbacks then to San Diego for the Padres and the wedding.
From there, I'm having a tough time figuring things out.

Plan was to rent a car in San Diego and drive to LA to catch both the Angels and Dodgers. First impression is that I'm better off dropping the rental car back in SD and taking Amtrak to Anaheim.

Total time in LA is 3 days...Sunday game in Anaheim, Monday is an off-day/site-seeing, Tuesday is the Dodgers game and we fly to San Fran early Wed morning to catch the Giants.

Do we want a car for LA?

Wed is a matinee game in San Fran, Thursday we see the A's in Oakland and then we have a few days to see the area before flying home on Sunday.

Definitely want a car for Fri-Sat-Sun, but can I manage with public transportation Wed/Thu?

Any advice on accommodations for any of these places? Places to avoid?
Am I safe just going through Hotwire and being less specific?

[FlashUNC]

For the Giants/A's, you can absolutely get around with just public transit. BART can get you across the Bay to the A's, Muni can take care of time in the city.

The East Bay is tougher to navigate on public transit, but still possible. One option if you're coming from San Fran is to take the Ferry from the Embarcadero to Jack London Square, then take BART from 12th St/City Center or Lake Merritt down to O.Co. If the weather's nice that ferry ride is pretty fantastic, and Jack London is a nice stop with some restaurants, bars, etc. And then you can take the train back from there to the city after the game.

And bring some layers. It'll be get brisk.

[Climb01742]

If you're in LA for 3 days, a car would be hugely beneficial. LA is_the_car city. It's so spread out. But beyond practicality, a car in LA gives you freedom and access to more of what LA has to offer. Cabs are possible but kind of a hassle in LA (vs, say, NYC) and because of distances, costly. Rent a car at LAX and drop it back there.

[jlyon]

LA area is way too big and public transport would limit how much of it you can get to.

If you are going end of July/beginning of August and are a football fan the Dallas Cowboys have their training camp going in Oxnard which is also home to an amazing car museum (Mullin) but it is only open about 2 days a month.

LA has the even more amazing Peterson car museum that is open all the time.

Oxnard also has a great place to stay right on the Beach that is quite reasonable the Embassy Suites Mandalay Bay.

[Ken Robb]

I would want a car for SD-Anaheim-LA. so I would get one in SD and drop it in LA.

I have gotten some fabulous deals on hotels and rental cars using Priceline's "Name Your Own Price" program.

For a "different" experience in LA look up Magic Castle. It's a private club for magicians but outsiders can get admitted by staying in their hotel just down the street.

[etu]

How old is your son?
If he is anything like my guy, he would love that Amtrak ride up from SD to LA.
Car rental from LAX would be ideal.
SF and Oakland are easy to access with Muni and BART.

[VTCaraco]

LA seems big and hit-or-miss to me, but I'm judging from anecdotes and nothing substantial.
Sunday will be mostly consumed with the ball game. That gives us Monday as a viable exploring-day.
We were thinking of heading east to see the Pomona schools, but that would necessitate a car.
The lean-mean-baseball-focused option would be to take Amtrak from SD to Anaheim. Go to the game and then hit a nearby hotel. Wake up on Monday and do some exploring via train/cab/bus. Check-out Tue morning and head to a different hotel (Dodger's stadium area or someplace convenient to LAX for our Wed morning departure). Catch the game and then head to SF.

A particular agenda or itinerary would help me to decide whether a car makes sense....just not sure what would be most appealing.
Any suggestions for that?

[Saint Vitus]

Just bring your own water please... ;-)

I've heard the subway in LA is worthwhile mode of transportation. True LA is car-centric, hence the stifling traffic which is something to consider.

[Ken Robb]

How do you feel about dragging luggage around on public transportation in cities? If you take train to Angel's game and THEN check into a hotel what do you do with luggage at the game?

My wife took AMTRAK from SD to LA and used subway to get to Hollywood. She said it was easy and pleasant.

[etu]

Keep it simple
Oneway rental from SD to LAX.
Sunday watch angels game - DRIVE at night to avoid traffic and find a hotel on the westside which is still central (santa monica/westwood).
Monday - explore locally, beaches, UCLA, Beverly hills etc. until traffic dies down in mid morning. Drive to Pomona. Maybe visit Pasadena, Huntington library (Tues?).
Tuesday - same hotel, go to Dodgers game, more exploring, Griffith park, etc.
Weds - same hotel check out LAX.

It will be HOT, especially inland. You're probably not going to want lug stuff around and change hotels so much. LA area is large, but with a car you should be fine. Minimize traffic by avoiding rush hour.

Have fun!

[Ken Robb]

Huntington Library is fabulous. Les and I could not see it all in one day. We will return.

[ofcounsel]

Turning a west coast wedding into a baseball park adventure with my son.
We fly from Albany, NY to Phoenix to catch the Diamondbacks then to San Diego for the Padres and the wedding.
From there, I'm having a tough time figuring things out.

Plan was to rent a car in San Diego and drive to LA to catch both the Angels and Dodgers. First impression is that I'm better off dropping the rental car back in SD and taking Amtrak to Anaheim.

Total time in LA is 3 days...Sunday game in Anaheim, Monday is an off-day/site-seeing, Tuesday is the Dodgers game and we fly to San Fran early Wed morning to catch the Giants.

Do we want a car for LA?

Wed is a matinee game in San Fran, Thursday we see the A's in Oakland and then we have a few days to see the area before flying home on Sunday.

Definitely want a car for Fri-Sat-Sun, but can I manage with public transportation Wed/Thu?

Any advice on accommodations for any of these places? Places to avoid?
Am I safe just going through Hotwire and being less specific?

You'll NEED a car in LA/Orange County. Public transportation outside of Downtown L.A. really sucks. My advice is pick up the car in San Diego, use it in LA/OC. Better to use the time taking in the coast then spending several hours of your vacation picking up and dropping off cars. In light traffic, drive time from Downtown San Diego to the Angel Stadium is about 1:15 minutes.

If you need a place to stay near Anaheim, there are plenty of hotels nearby. If you want to avoid paying the "Disneyland" hotel price penalty, you can stay in Fullerton/Brea. There's a Marriott in Fullerton and an Embassy Suites in Brea, along with smaller hotels in each of the cities. At most, you'd be 15 min from the Big "A"

Also, in lieu of flying from LA to San Francsco, consider keeping the rental and driving up the coast from L.A. to San Fran (if there's any way to squeeze it in). It takes more time to drive(about 8 hours total to drive v. 4 hours total between check-ins and take offs and landings). But the drive up California's central coast in particular, is something that everyone should do at least once in their lives. It's beautiful.

[Unk]

Hotwire is kind of a soapbox issue for me. (I travel 365 days; I have for 20 years, so every night is in a hotel.)

If you book through Hotwire, you have identified yourself as someone who cares only/primarily about price. You have not brand loyalty. In all likelihood, if you return to the same area, you can be expected to again be motivated solely by price. Hoteliers understand this. Hotels have good rooms and really lousy rooms. Which do you think you'll get? Hotel treat repeat guests and potential repeat guests better. You won't be one of them. Shop using Kayak (or similar), then book directly through the hotel. Virtually all hotel chains have best price guarantees. Unlikely you will pay much extra (since BPGs don't exactly cover Hotwire and other opaque sites); any extra you pay, you'll probably get back in zzzzzzzzzs or maybe an upgrade or "bonus" breakfast.

[PeregrineA1]

I would Amtrak at least from SD to Anaheim, and probably to LA. Though I do not know LA and the connections from Amtrak to rental cars.

SD to Anaheim is a very nice ride, the view of the coast is unbeatable-literally on the beach for a portion, and the station is at the stadium. The drive, which I just finished 20 minutes ago is horrific-lot's of road construction, too many cars and idiot drivers.

As far as beaches, I prefer OC to LA beaches, but then again I've lived in OC most of my life.

Weather is relative. It won't be humid and more than ~5-10 miles from the coast it will be warm to hot (85-95).

I second the notion of driving late at night, which is the only time traffic is down.

In any event, So Cal cannot be done in 3 days....

[BMS]

San Francisco is amazing. I've been a couple times. Here are a few of my favorites.

Ghiradelli square. Amazing hot fudge Sundays overlooking the bay.

Murr woods. Incredible scenery.

Just walk or drive down The Embarcadero

Union Square has good shopping

(This one might be a stretch.....) but Yosemite is only 3 hours away. I went there two years in a row (2014 and again in 2015) that park is absolutely amazing. The scenery is almost overwhelming. My wife and I rented bikes and rode around the valley floor. It was awesome.

You can't go wrong in San Fran. Hope y'all have a great time.

[malbecman]

Just a correction, it's Muir Woods (named after John Muir). Well worth it but traffic & parking around there can be pretty crazy at times.