Carlsbad to San Diego commute (Oceanside, Orange: hotel, train, title)

[canucklehead]

We'll be staying in Carlsbad for 1 week during Jan 20-27th/08. My wife has meetings to attend in San Diego on the Thursday and Friday at the Marriott Harbour front hotel (across from the Coronado).

What should we plan for a commute? The meetings will likely get started around 8am and will conclude in the evening.

I've read some of the threads about Oceanside to Encinitias, etc, but haven't seen too many specifically about Carlsbad-San Diego, so I hope I'm not being repetitive here. I'm new....and Canadian .... so be patient with me

Is there mass transit (i.e. train) that she could take from Carlsbad that would drop her off near the hotel she'll be at for the meetings, or would car still be the best best for her commute?


Any feedback or tips for making the commute quicker/easier would be appreciated. Such as: is I5 the best route or would the coastal highway (highway 101?) save any trouble or time even though it's not the freeway?

Thanks for your help!

[Huckleberry3911948]

i would definitely consider the coaster.
worst commute in sd county.

[Sampaguita]

I would also consider the coaster to downtown rather than commuting.

[roger9552]

Yes definitely take the coaster down to the Santa Fe Depot, which is at intersection of Kettner and Broadway. at 1050 Kettner Blvd. I believe the Marriot you are talking about is the San Diego Marriot Hotel and Marina on 333 West Harbor Drive. It's about a half mile walk. Or you can take the Trolley. Basically you go south on Kettner till you get to the south side of Harbor Drive and go eastbound.

[MarkDM]

Like everybody else in here, I'd recommend the Coaster commuter train. Get off the train at the Santa Fe Depot, walk across the street to the America Plaza trolley station, and take the orange line trolley to the convention center, which is about a block from the Marriott.

I'm new to the forum, so I can't post html yet; you'll have to copy and paste the links.

Google map shows the Marriott (333 W. Harbor Drive) and the convention center trolley station: 333 W Harbor Dr, San Diego, CA 92101, USA - Google Maps

Info abourt the Coaster is here: gonctd.com/coaster_schedules.htm. The "Coaster" link on the left-hand side will take you to more specifics about stations and timetables.

PDF map shows the Santa Fe Depot (the closest Coaster station to the Marriott), America Plaza (where to catch the trolley's Orange Line for the convention center; it's across the street from the Santa Fe Depot) and the convention center: sdcommute.com/RegionalMaps/downtown.pdf

Home page for the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, which runs the trolley: SDMTS Home. The "Map & TimeTables" link at the top will take you to info about the trolley.

Good luck, and enjoy your stay down here!