LA Station, how safe/accessible?

[Faraz]

I am taking the Coast Starlight end of May and it is supposed to arrive around 9PM in LA. How far is the nearest metro and is the area generally safe at night? I need to get to a hotel probably near LAX airport.

I also noticed I could get off at Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, Simi Valley etc. How easy is it to get from those places to LAX the next day ?

What would you suggest for sight-seeing, given I only have a day to spend their?

 

[AlanB]

I'll leave the answers of most of your questions for others who know LA better than I do. However the nearest METRO's are right in the Amtrak station. You have access to the Gold line on the upper level as it were, the same level that your Amtrak train will arrive on. And the Red Line, which is the line you would need to use to start your journey to the airport, is underneath the station. Note: Reaching the airport requires a transfer to the Blue line, and then eventually to the Green line to get into that area.

 

[gswager]

There is a direct link bus ride to the airport. It's called FlyAway. Once you dropped off at the airport, you can board on one of the hotel shuttles.

There are taxis waiting in front of the Union Station, but it may be expensive.

Be prepared if the Coast Starlight may be several hours late.

 

[AMTRAK-P42]

Here is what you should do. Every 1/2 hours (After 1am to 6am its every hour) there is a $4 FlyAway shuttle that operates from the MTA plaza, which is connected to the station. There are signs which clearly mark the bus so no need to worry. The bus takes about 20-30 minutes (longer with traffic, but looking at your arrival time, that shouldn't be a problem). Have the bus drop you off at any of the terminals, go inside, and then go down the stairs to where the baggage claim is. Walk outside. Locate the sign labeled hotel courtesy vans, or something of that nature (I go through LAX a lot, but cannot remember the exact terminology used), and catch one of the many shuttles to your specific hotel. If you already have a reservation, you can just give your hotel a call and they will tell you which shuttle to take. Make sure if you are getting a hotel near LAX that when you book, you ask which one of the hotel shuttles operates to their specific hotel.

If you don't want to worry about waiting for the shuttle, every terminal has numerous taxi's on call, and a ride to an LAX airport hotel wont be more then 6-7 dollars at most.

Hope this helps!