LA area this summer! Help! Q's added in first post

[PZMommy]

Burbank is also easy to fly into, especially if you will be staying there for several days.

I always fly out of LAX, as that is where I can get the best prices.

[georgiegirl]

Burbank is a million times easier to ply into compared to lax. I refuse to fly into lax because the airport is so crowded (long security lines) plus traffic is insane. Burbank is small and easy to navigate. I fly in/out of there twice a year and I’ve never had a long security line or a long line to check in. And I travel over the holidays and summer. And I’ve seen some celebrities at Burbank (mindy Kaling last summer and several years ago Ron Jeremy &#129326.

[essnce629]

Yep, I'd much rather fly into and out of Burbank. Way easier and faster!

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[kristenk]

It looks like I can get direct flights in and out of the following airports along with LAX:
SNA - John Wayne
ONT - Ontario Int'l
SBA - Santa Barbara

No non-stops to Burbank or Long Beach. Any reason to avoid any of the above airports? We'll arrive around noon on our arrival day and leave in the morning of our departure day. If necessary or helpful, we can always spend the night at a hotel closer to the airport to make our departure a little easier.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I’ve only used ONT on that list and really liked it. Super small and easy to deal with.


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[theriviera]

I would just stick with lax. Ontario is way far out and traffic and be terrible.


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[sariana]

John Wayne and Santa Barbara are both way out of your way. I can't advise about Ontario, but I would not recommend the other two.

[TwinFoxes]

I wouldn't fly into any of those three if I was staying in LA. LAX is the most central airport. It can be a bear when it comes to traffic...it's the only airport I've ever been to that has a traffic jam at the airport. But, it's much closer to where you'll probably be staying. When you factor in drive time from the other airports, you won't save time (although you may save some sanity!) If you've traveled to major airports like O'Hare or JFK or Heathrow it won't be a shock to your system.

Flying into Santa Barbara, Ontario or John Wayne would be ridiculous, IMO. They're not even in the same county...John Wayne is an hour south of LAX with no traffic, and then you'll have to drive 20 minutes north of LAX to get to your hotel probably. That's a lot of extra time. And Ontario could easily take two hours to get to LA, the traffic is bad out there. Now, if you were going to Disneyland, John Wayne or even Ontario are options (although Ontario is still far.) I have never heard of anyone flying to Santa Barbara to go to stay in Los Angeles. It's got to be 100 miles away! Southern California is big. Unless you want to spend a couple of extra hours in a car just to avoid the crowds and hassle of LAX, I wouldn't recommend the other airports. (If Burbank had direct flights, that would be worth considering, but it's still kind of far from the Westside where I think you're staying.)

ETA: Although, if you wanted to tack a day or two on to spend time in Santa Barbara, that could be lovely. Santa Barbara is pretty and a nice vacation spot on its own.

[georgiegirl]

Southwest flies into Burbank. I can’t imaging having a direct flight to SB but not Burbank. I love Santa Barbara but it will be about 2 hours from LA without traffic. The Natural History Museum in Santa Barbara is super amazing and fun for kids. And the zoo is great too. Plus we like to rent buggies and ride along the beach and walk on the pier.

And be sure to eat some fish tacos while in Southern California.


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[bigsis]

No to the 3 airports you mentioned. It's way too far and traffic from that side to LA is horrendous!!! With the places you want to visit, I think staying at Universal City would be the best for you--not sure about the prices of hotels though. You'd be at the doorstep of HP; Warner Bros, The Grove and Griffith are very close, CA Science Ctr and Tar Pits are a short drive (just don't go during rush hours); Paradise Cove is going to be your farthest drive but even that will only be 40 minutes without traffic--you can stop at Calabasas if you feel like it

Oliveras Street is still cool; but I don't think Chinatown is relevant anymore---not the Chinatown in downtown LA. I went a couple of years ago and it was so dead. I hear they moved Chinatown east, but I don't know exactly where.

Check with your 14yo if she wants to go to Melrose. There's also a very "aesthetic" cafe there called Urth Cafe that the kids are crazy about. If you don't make it to Paradise Cove, just keep driving north to Zuma Beach. It's a great beach for hanging out.

LA Live might be a cool place too. It's by the Staples Center. Just a little warning though, going to downtown, where USC and LA Live is, one wrong turn will take you to a bad neighborhood. Tread lightly and be prepared.

And be prepared to pay for parking.

I think it would take 5 go-go-go days to do everything on your list. Warner Bros and Universal will take one day each. Tar Pits and Science Center can be combined into one day. Maybe you can squeeze in Griffith that night? I haven't been for a long time.. You can do The Grove for lunch and then go to Santa Monica Pier later that night? Mailbu is one day--you don't go to the beach for a couple of hours---not me anyway.

HTH!