clockmilk

I second the opinions to stay around Santa Monica and skip San Diego. San Diego is a bit sleepy and suburban. I would also avoid staying in Beverly Hills because the hotels will either be very expensive, or old and overpriced. Plus, because Beverly Hills is inland, the traffic around it is very congested in all directions. You can easily stay somewhere along the coast, either around Santa Monica, Venice, or Manhattan Beach and simply drive to Beverly Hills for your shopping (also overrated and touristy in my opinion).

Then take the scenic drive up the 101 to Santa Barbara and find a hotel to stay for the night in Santa Barbara. People from LA take long weekends to Santa Barbara but would never make it a day trip and drive all the way back -- too tiring. Once you're around Santa Barbara you will also be close to wine tasting in Paso Robles.

For recommendations around Santa Monica, check out Abbot Kinney, a more modern street in Venice with gastropubs, cafes and design shops. This will put you close to the beach, as well as the Venice Canals (yes, there is a California version modeled after Italy).

Oh, and if you do want to go to San Diego, check out Coronado.

CalItalian

San Diego sleepy & suburban? When was the last time you went to Downtown San Diego? The Gaslamp area has one of the most vibrant nightlife areas in California and it's still growing, now spilling over into the East Village area. Much bigger and nicer than Venice.

Paso Robles is 2 hours north of Santa Barbara. No need to go that far for wine tasting as the Santa Ynez valley has plenty of wineries and it's 45 minutes or less north of Santa Barbara...plus it has Solvang...a charming dutch village.

Best value & most centrally located area in Los Angeles for hotels is around LAX...as far as Torrance to the south, Culver City to the north. Santa Monica, Westwood, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood overpriced. For traffic, Santa Monica is more congested than Beverly Hills. The one place I avoid on weekends...I live only a few miles from it.

ajGoes

Faux Danish, isn't it?

darthbimmer

Admittedly in most of my trips to San Diego I've traveled in the suburban areas (huh, imagine that) but on the handful of occasions I've stayed downtown in the Gaslamp I've found it especially popular with 40-something convention goers looking to cut loose for the night.

CalItalian

I stayed twice downtown this summer, once over July 4th weekend and again in Mid-August, both weekends, and found it full of all ages and even families. At night, it was party central for 20-30 somethings (especially). Come 2:30 am you can certainly tell when everyone is settling back into their hotel rooms (loudly).

CalItalian

It was settled by Danes...American ones from the Midwest...in 1911...who wanted to recreate their heritage/homeland.
http://www.touristbee.com/2008/02/so...aste-of-europe

crabbing

fyi, the "time of year" for bad traffic on the 5 is the time of year between jan 1 and dec 31.

op487062

Unless you have specific things you want to see in SD, I don't think it's worth the extra 4 hr round-trip drive because there isn't anything more special about the city than LA. SD probably has nice weather/beaches than LA, not as great shopping/tourist sites--basically I'd stick with one or the other, but not both.