Hi everyone, I booked a SWC trip with a flight home the day after arriving in Los Angeles. Presuming the SWC is on time or less than 1.5 hours late (big ask, I know), I was thinking about doing a round-trip day trip on the Pacific Surfliner, the question is, does the route north of LA to San Luis Obispo or south to San Diego offer better scenery? Flexibility regarding train frequency and timing, as well as things to do at the destination are no doubt skewed ridiculously in favor of San Diego, but was wondering if the scenery north was worth the risk?
Pacific Surfliner North vs South of LA
- Thread starter JC7648
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We’ve ridden the Pacific Surfliner (and the Coast Starlight) north of Los Angeles and have found the views to be worth the trip.
Going through Van Nuys, off to the left is the Van Nuys airport where some of the scenes for the movie CASABLANCA were filmed.
There is some interesting scenery in the Chatsworth area. (Beginning in the silent film era, Chatsworth was a popular Hollywood location for filming Westerns.)
Just north of Ventura, the tracks will begin to parallel the ocean and, if it’s a nice day, the scenery will be right out of an Amtrak travel brochure.
You’ll probably want to get off at Santa Barbara and explore around there. It’s an upscale town and you might even see a celebrity or two.
Eric & Pat
Going through Van Nuys, off to the left is the Van Nuys airport where some of the scenes for the movie CASABLANCA were filmed.
There is some interesting scenery in the Chatsworth area. (Beginning in the silent film era, Chatsworth was a popular Hollywood location for filming Westerns.)
Just north of Ventura, the tracks will begin to parallel the ocean and, if it’s a nice day, the scenery will be right out of an Amtrak travel brochure.
You’ll probably want to get off at Santa Barbara and explore around there. It’s an upscale town and you might even see a celebrity or two.
Eric & Pat
I do both directions on a pretty regular basis (North 3-4x/month, South 1x/month).
The Southbound does have some pretty scenery as you get to the last hour or so of the journey, around say Oceanside (sorry, I can't recall more specifically).
I'm a bigger fan of the Northbound, though. Once you pass Ventura, roughly, you've got lots and lots of pretty coastal viewing til you reach Santa Barbara.
While there's certainly a lot walking distance in San Diego, Santa Barbara is beautiful as well. The Pier is a 5-7 minute walk from the train station, during which you'll pass a couple of nice restaurants, an ice cream parlor, a wine bar, and a Tapas lounge.
If the SWC gets in on time, grab the 765 Northbound to SB, then come back in the evening on the 794, after a slightly early dinner. If the SWC runs late, you can explore LA for the afternoon, then take the 777 North. You'll only have about 90 minutes in Santa Barbara - but that's enough to grab dinner on the pier, then board the train home just in time for the sunset.
Edit: If you want to make the day trip entirely about the train, you can indeed push all the way to San Luis Obisbo. The concern there is that, if schedules do go sideways, it's a lot bigger hassle to make it back to LA. From Santa Barbara, if things go bad, you can catch an Uber to Moorpark for $75 or so, then the metrolink rest of the way back to Union Station. Can't do that from San Luis Obisbo. If you look at this option, look at the Coast Starlight schedules as well.
The Southbound does have some pretty scenery as you get to the last hour or so of the journey, around say Oceanside (sorry, I can't recall more specifically).
I'm a bigger fan of the Northbound, though. Once you pass Ventura, roughly, you've got lots and lots of pretty coastal viewing til you reach Santa Barbara.
While there's certainly a lot walking distance in San Diego, Santa Barbara is beautiful as well. The Pier is a 5-7 minute walk from the train station, during which you'll pass a couple of nice restaurants, an ice cream parlor, a wine bar, and a Tapas lounge.
If the SWC gets in on time, grab the 765 Northbound to SB, then come back in the evening on the 794, after a slightly early dinner. If the SWC runs late, you can explore LA for the afternoon, then take the 777 North. You'll only have about 90 minutes in Santa Barbara - but that's enough to grab dinner on the pier, then board the train home just in time for the sunset.
Edit: If you want to make the day trip entirely about the train, you can indeed push all the way to San Luis Obisbo. The concern there is that, if schedules do go sideways, it's a lot bigger hassle to make it back to LA. From Santa Barbara, if things go bad, you can catch an Uber to Moorpark for $75 or so, then the metrolink rest of the way back to Union Station. Can't do that from San Luis Obisbo. If you look at this option, look at the Coast Starlight schedules as well.
Thank you for the suggestion! I thought that the majority of the good ocean views were north of Santa Barbara, but if portion north of SB can be skipped, that does make a northbound journey much more possible, good to know!
Both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo have car free programs with info about getting around. Santa Barbara has a good walking page.
Santa Barbara Car Free
SLO Car Free - SLO Car Free
Santa Barbara Car Free
SLO Car Free - SLO Car Free
My boyfriend and I enjoyed our trip to San Luis Obispo so much that we got engaged there haha.
San Juan Capistrano is a great day trip as well, if you decide to head south. I love Trevor's on the Tracks.
https://www.trevorsatthetracks.com/
San Juan Capistrano is a great day trip as well, if you decide to head south. I love Trevor's on the Tracks.
https://www.trevorsatthetracks.com/
crescent-zephyr
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I’ve enjoyed both routes quite a bit.
If it’s your kind of thing, there is a little bit of 90 mph running southbound.
If it’s your kind of thing, there is a little bit of 90 mph running southbound.
Agreed, I too love Trevor's on the Tracks. Although for those of us who prefer to have masks up, San Juan Capistrano isn't exactly the best place for that.
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