Getting from Los Angeles to San Diego

Los Angeles and San Diego are 190 km apart down the southern California coast, and this is one of the few journeys in the western United States where the train genuinely beats the car.

The Pacific Surfliner

Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner runs from Los Angeles Union Station to San Diego in about two and three quarter to three hours, with several departures a day.

Take it. For long stretches south of San Juan Capistrano the line runs along the beach, close enough that you are looking at surfers rather than at the back of a truck. It is one of the most scenic rail journeys in the country and it costs little more than the fuel.

Union Station in Los Angeles is worth arriving early for: a 1939 building in Spanish Colonial Revival and Art Deco, and the last of the great American railway stations to be built.

The train arrives at the Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego, walking distance from the Gaslamp Quarter and on the trolley line.

Book ahead for weekends, when it fills with people doing exactly this.

One caution about the line

The coastal section through San Clemente runs on a bluff that has been subject to landslides and erosion, and the line has been closed for emergency stabilisation work more than once in recent years.

It is a known and ongoing issue rather than a one-off. Check the service status when you book rather than assuming, because when the line closes the replacement is a bus.

Driving

Two hours on Interstate 5 in theory. In practice, southern California traffic means anything from two to four hours, and leaving Los Angeles between 15:00 and 19:00 on a weekday is a decision you will regret.

The alternative is the coast road: Pacific Coast Highway down through the Orange County beach towns, Laguna Beach in particular, then rejoining the freeway. Much slower, much better.

Note that Interstate 5 passes through a Border Patrol checkpoint at San Onofre, which surprises people who have not left the country.

Buses

Greyhound and FlixBus run the route in around two and a half to three hours for less than the train. There is also the local option: you can string together commuter services, Metrolink to Oceanside and the Coaster onward, which is cheap and slow and a genuine budget alternative.

Flying

There are flights and there is no reason to take one. Half an hour in the air, two airports, and a journey the train does along the beach in under three hours.

What to do when you arrive

Balboa Park, which is 1,200 acres holding fifteen museums and the zoo, and is the single best thing in San Diego. The Gaslamp Quarter for eating. La Jolla for the cove and the sea lions.

And if you are going to Mexico, Tijuana is 30 minutes further on the trolley to San Ysidro, which makes San Diego the easiest border crossing in the country. Take your passport.