To really get a feel, I think you need the better part of a day at UCLA and the surrounding areas (maybe you can do Pepperdine that afternoon; it’s a small campus, and you can have dinner in Maibu)
IMO you can do USC and UCI in the same day; USC is practically on the way to UCI.
Driving the PCH in March, you may encounter road closures / mudslides. I would probably drive the 405 to UCSB and then do Pepperdine on the way back, assuming you don’t visit the same day as UCLA and time permitting)
UCSB and Pepperdine may be difficult in one day. The 101 interstate is a pain and always backed up like a parking lot. I would do UCSB all by itself. You can do Pepperdine, USC, UCLA and Loyola Marymount University over two days. Split them into 2 x 2. If you’re heading to San Diego, where I’m from you should add the University of San Diego to your list. It’s a beautiful Jesuit University and has glorious views. By the way, UCLA has about a 10% acceptance rate. Just sayin’
When I first did So Cal tours with my daughter, we tried doing some two-a-days and it was exhausting. We’ve learned and now we just do one a day, much better if you can. If you have to do maybe one day of two in a day, ok, but I’d try not to do many of those if you can.
I’ve been reading this thread since first posted and wondered if I was the only one who thought driving to SB and back in one afternoon was a lot. I thought perhaps I’d just imagined that 3 hour drive back one Sunday afternoon? We drove out there fast enough, but it was at 6 am. On the way back, it was bumper to bumper for 50 or 60 miles (near Ojai). I thought SB was lovely, but not a city with ‘city stuff’ like theaters and concerts and clubs.
@twoinanddone are you referring to UCSB or the city of Santa Barbara? The city of SB is filled with arts, entertainment, museums, concert venues, etc. There are plenty of clubs in the city as well but one must be over 21 to go to the clubs so most college students stay in or around IV.
@twoinanddone - back in June, we went to Syracuse in the morning on a Thursday, then drove 6 hours though to Boston to see BU and BC on Friday (5 hour drive, plus an hour for traffic and a rest stop gas fill up), so I think 3 hours back from Santa Barbara to LA is do-able, especially if we can do it at the right time of day.
Timing is everything. I believe UCSB’s tour is 10 am - noon. You will probably want to get on the road soon after the tour so you might make time to check out Isla Vista the night before.
When in Isla Vista, go to Freebirds!
as an update, my wife made the hotel reservations based on some of the feedback we received here, but because stinginess is in her DNA, she didn’t always go with the recommendations (i.e, we’re staying in Santa Barbara, not Isla Vista that was recommended up thread) and sadly, we’re not in Santa Monica while we’re going to UCLA and USC
@NewJeffCT Staying in a Santa Barbara will be great! There are only college students living in Isla Vista, so I think that would be preferred ?. You can still visit Isla Vista— I’d take a walk into town after your tour and eat lunch, walk to the beach, etc. Enjoy your trip!
Your wife made wise choices - Santa Barbara is much more interesting than Isla Vista, and Santa Monica (given LA traffic) is too far for UCLA and USC! Happy Wife, Happy Life! :))
For Santa Barbara it doesn’t matter much. For LA hopefully you’re in a decent neighborhood close to either UCLA and/or USC, or close to one of the rail lines that leads to USC. With a car you have a lot more options.
And that’s why I make the hotel reservations. :))
There are some “must haves” in life and being close to the running path and Muscle Beach at the South Monica Pier, especially at sunrise, is/was an awesome experience for me. Very Zen!
unfortunately, the LA Hotel is south of both UCLA and USC and google maps has it 45-50 minutes to each school with traffic. Forgot the exact town name, but maybe in Hawthorne? Hope that’s not a bad area at least?
Hawthorne itself is an ok area, has a lot of the former aerospace industry and now Tesla-related companies there. Going anywhere east and due north though can be pretty sketchy. Very generally speaking, west of the 405 and 110 is where you’ll want to wander around. The areas around the ocean from Malibu to Santa Monica down to Palos Verdes is beautiful and that’s where I suspect you’ll be at during your free time.
Looks like there’s a commuter bus in the mornings that can take you from Hawthorne right to USC, something worth exploring.
Unfortunately if you drive, you’ll hit heavy 405 and 110 traffic undoubtedly, but you can use the carpool lanes on 405 and 110, and 110 also has express lanes/toll road. You may want to invest in a Fastrak device and register it beforehand. That allows you to use the express lanes and toll roads. Rental car companies also can enable it on their cars but hit you with hefty surcharges ( well, $20-30) for enablement.
I would change the hotel to something closer to the schools…maybe Marina Del Rey or Culver City areas for shorter distance to each school.
Hawthorne is not bad though, lots of hotels and close to LAX…just happens to be on OTHER side of LAX from UCLA…which means more traffic to navigate. This could be a minor or major factor depending on time of day.
Hawthorne is too far. FYI there are plenty of AirBnB available around UCLA/Westwood, or look on booking dot come and search the area of Westwood; lots of apartment style living. You’ll spend too much time in the car staying in Hawthorne (which hotel?)
well, Hawthorne traffic will be a bear going to UCLA, but carpool lane usage may mitigate the drive time a lot. The hotels around LAX will be cheaper, so there’s always tradeoffs between cost and convenience. Traffic does start to back up on 405 around 6am nowadays going north. If I were driving, I would probably take local and go up La Cienega thru the oil field, or take Sepulveda Blvd, then hook up with Westwood Blvd. Lots of interesting sightseeing along the way and a way to see what LA looks like.
Going to USC has more public transportation options, one route would be to drive locally to the Harbor Freeway train station which will take you 15 min, then take the train to USC, around another 25-30 minutes.
@NewJeffCT
Just want to chime in as a So Cal native who chose Cal for undergrad:
I read that your daughter is open to different majors like theater, game theory, etc. I think Cal might be a good fit for her due to her desire to be in an environment that is large (lots of majors to choose from), has a large student body, near a big city, is liberal thinking, and in a good college town. I can say Cal checks off all those boxes. I was a liberal arts major who loved all my upper division classes (awesome discussions), loved the school spirit and diversity, enjoyed taking BART to San Francisco to go clubbing. SF is a great walking city to see free beautiful landmarks and find cheap eats on a student budget. I had a terrific time there and made a ton of friends even without joining a sorority. The area directly south of the campus was my go to for everything like coffee, pastries, boutique shopping, pizza, yogurt and my favorite past time of combing through vinyl at Rasputin’s. I even met one of my favorite artists at Tower Records Berkeley at an album signing!
Enjoy your SoCal visits. Lots of great schools down here, however there are none like Cal with the combination of academics and culture.
P.S. change your LA hotel stat! Don’t stay in Hawthorne, trust me. Lots of other better and reasonably priced hotels out there. Try Culver City. There’s a Sheraton near a mall, close to Santa Monica and LAX.
we looked at some AirBNB places. While the room prices were reasonable, they all had room cleaning fees that were close to or greater than the price of staying in the room - like they were charging for a month long stay or longer - and that put most of them- Room cost $150/Room per night and then Cleaning $180.