Need help on where to stay in LA

[lizandjason]

We will be in Anaheim for two days, visiting family in Pasadena (but not staying with them), going to Griffith Park, Santa Monica, the La Brea Tar Pits, and whale watching at an OC beach. So....we will be all over the place. We expect traffic to be bad, regardless of where we stay, but where does it make the most logistical sense?

 

[Luckymommatoo]

I hate moving hotels, but with that itinerary, I would suck it up and book at least two, maybe three hotels. I'm a local and that's a LOT of time sitting in traffic. THey're doing a lot of construction on the 5, which is one of the major connectors between Anaheim and L.A., and it's not unusual for it to take us 90 minutes to get to Disneyland from Burbank, even at off times. Maybe two nights near Disneyland and knock out your park days and your whale watching?

Then I'd do Pasadena and Griffith Park, stay in that vicinity (Old Town Pasadena is lovely, as is Los Feliz), then I'd stay in Santa Monica and do the Tar Pits from there.

 

[lizandjason]

I hate moving hotels, but with that itinerary, I would suck it up and book at least two, maybe three hotels. I'm a local and that's a LOT of time sitting in traffic. THey're doing a lot of construction on the 5, which is one of the major connectors between Anaheim and L.A., and it's not unusual for it to take us 90 minutes to get to Disneyland from Burbank, even at off times. Maybe two nights near Disneyland and knock out your park days and your whale watching?

Then I'd do Pasadena and Griffith Park, stay in that vicinity (Old Town Pasadena is lovely, as is Los Feliz), then I'd stay in Santa Monica and do the Tar Pits from there.

Thank you so much!

 

[sheetz]

I don't think you need more than 2 hotels--one in Anaheim and another around LA. Since your family is in Pasadena I'd let that dictate where you stay for that portion of the trip. (If you like them then stay closer, if you don't stay farther.)

 

[DCDisney]

If you need a hotel near Santa Monica but more towards the city I find the Marriott Courtyard Westside to be an excellent balance of price, quality, and location. For Pasadena we love the Westin and it is almost always available for a song through hotwire (use the better bidding site to get the right clues). For Anaheim our favorite off site hotel is the Ramada Maingate. It's maybe a 5 minute walk to the park entrance. They have lots of good rates offered via their website and FB page. ON our next LA trip where we are doing college tours I really wanted to stay one place but with UCLA on the west, Cal Tech in Pasadena, and Harvey Mudd in Claremont plus a bonus day at Disneyland it just wasn't going to work. My only big drive I'm kind of worried about is from the Universal area to Disneyland on Halloween night. We are flexible and can stop for dinner at some point if it's crazy but otherwise I've been able to schedule most of the driving for as off hours as possible.

 

[ImDMous]

We've stayed at the Hilton Pasadena which is walk-able to Old Town Pasadena or the Embassy Suites Arcadia which is just a little east of Pasadena. Liked them both, reasonable prices (not cheap), good amenities (Embassy Suites has cocktail hour and breakfast included). We have Hilton rewards so that's what brand we usually look for.