I’ve been reading JeffCt’s thread and didn’t want to hijack, so here goes. We are visiting southern CA schools in March also and I am struggling a bit with where to stay given the timing of some of the tours. For the first night we have a hotel right by USC so we’ll be close by for that first tour (on a Wednesday). Second day we have Loyola Marymount in the AM and Oxy in the afternoon. Third day (Friday) we have Chapman in the afternoon. Saturday, we have Redlands in the morning and then Monday we’re touring two Claremont schools before flying out of Ontario.
So for night 1 we are near USC. For the next couple of nights I was hoping to stay near Santa Monica - nearish to Loyola Marymount where we have the morning tour. It would be nice to be near that area for the down time between tours. My question is - do you think it is better to just have that long drive out to Redlands and back on Saturday, and stay put hotelwise? It looks like quite a long drive, but then we have Saturday afternoon/evening and Sunday free for sightseeing, maybe Universal or something like that on Sunday. For people familiar with LA, does it make sense to just stay in Santa Monica and suck it up for the drive to Redlands? How bad is the traffic on Saturdays? Is there anywhere great to visit between Chapman and Redlands areas that would make it worthwhile to stay there for a night? Sunday night we will stay in Claremont before our Monday tours.
I wish that the Redlands and Claremont tours were back to back, but we made the trip this way so that students would be on campus in Claremont after Spring break is over.
I don’t know where Redlands is so can’t help you there. I have one kid at USC and one at Scripps and they also applied to Chapman and LMU.
I enjoy staying in Santa Monica by the Pier. Lots of restaurants and shops all within walking distance. Or I’d stay by Chapman and do a day in Disneyland on Sunday. My D went to DL a couple of Sundays ago and it took her about 45 minutes to get back to school in the early evening.
Enjoy your trip! I’ve seen all the schools you’re visiting except Redlands. You’ll be seeing some beautiful campuses!
SM to Redlands is a shlep. Too far with traffic (and there is always traffic on the west side of LA, regardless of day or time) IMO. I would recommend staying in Pasadena (westside/old towne area) on Thursday which would be close to Oxy and a bit less of a haul to Redlands and more convenient to Universal, etc. I highly recommend the VIP tour at Universal Studios (expensive but worth it if you don’t like to wait in lines) Also, if you are a movie fan, don’t want to spend all day, and not into the amusement park environment, try the Warner Bros tour (it’s in Burbank, also convenient to Pasadena)
Or- if you could do the Disneyland parks and stay in Orange County- convenient to Chapman and not a bad drive to Redlands. And - against traffic on Monday to Claremont. Newport Beach/ Corona Del Mar/ Laguna Beach all have that So. Cal beach vibe and great hotels.
Hello. I live about 5 minutes from Chapman. Right now, traffic shows it’s about an hour to get to U of Redlands at this time, with a few slow traffic areas. Santa Monica is a great place, with lots of great restaurants, shops, and hotels, especially near the pier and 3rd Street promenade (expect a lot of homeless though) . With no traffic (as in early or late at night), it’s about 45 minutes to get there from my house. Otherwise, expect about 1.5-2 hours. Be safe and aware around USC. Universal and the City Walk can be fun. If you’re up for changing hotels, or you want to visit Disneyland, there are tons of places to stay around the park. Disneyland is only 10 minutes from Chapman. You could tour Chapman Friday morning, go to the park after, then head out to Redlands Saturday morning. It’s about 45 minutes from Redlands to the mountains/skiing/snowboarding if you were up for that much adventure! Otherwise, you could head back to SM after if you didn’t want to stay around Disneyland another night. Traffic is unpredictable here, but not horrible like many other big cities. Hope that helps.
Oh my goodness! Maybe I’ve lived here too long - on a Saturday driving out to Redlands is a piece of cake! It’s 80 miles, folks! Stay someplace nice, get your coffee in the morning, have a nice long freeway drive into the Inland empire and don’t worry - you’ll return in plenty of time to dine in Santa Monica. I would NEVER stay in Orange County so I could have a shorter trip - the OC North-South freeways are always crowded and you’d not save much in distance. You’ll probably hit some traffic between Santa Monica and downtown but after that… easy. The 60 and the 10 between LA and Redlands are straight and don’t get jammmed on the weekends. Truly, you will be fine.
Heck - having trouble editing. I wanted to make sure I didn’t come across as saying don’t stay in the OC - there are tons of nice spots in Orange County that you would enjoy. I just meant I wouldn’t rearrange your desired touring schedule to avoid a round-trip from W. LA to Redlands on a Saturday.
There isn’t much near Redlands so making Santa Monica a base makes sense. The idea of staying in Pasadena is also viable. My daughter and I stayed in a dump in Pasadena but it was just a night and was only to sleep as we were in late and out early.
I think it all comes down to your tolerance for driving. I would have no problem going from SM to Redlands and back in a day. My husband would rather poke his eyes out. And if you end up spending the day in and around Pasadena, look up the Huntington Botanical gardens.
Remember you can use car pool lanes which might save you some time. I’m a big fan of staying in Santa Monica when visiting Los Angeles colleges. Make a vacation out of it. Maibu, Venice, the Souh Bay beach cities, Santa Monica, Hollywood are all relatively close. Enjoy your trip!
You should probably use Ontario as a base since it’s in between Redlands and all the Pasadena-area schools, and Chapman as well. The hotels by the Ontario airport should be reasonably priced. Maybe a day at one of the hotels by LAX for the LMU visit. That would be the stingy route. I view hotels as more of a place to stay for the night, generally speaking. I generally stay away from Santa Monica as everything is overpriced there.
