San Fernando Valley Valley

The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley region in northern Los Angeles County, California, often referred to simply as “the Valley.” It includes many residential and commercial districts and is bounded by mountain ranges on three sides.

• Size and geography: A broad urban valley roughly 260 square miles in area within Los Angeles County, bounded by the Santa Monica, San Gabriel and Simi/Santa Susana ranges and containing both neighborhoods of Los Angeles and several independent cities.

The San Fernando Valley is the northern valley portion of Los Angeles and is reached by multiple freeways: I‑405, US‑101, I‑5 and SR‑134 provide direct access from other parts of the Los Angeles area. Travel times vary with traffic; local transit (Metro buses and Metrolink commuter rail connections) and surface streets connect the Valley to downtown Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods.

• Avoid rush-hour traffic by planning drives in the San Fernando Valley for mid-morning or early afternoon; peak inbound/outbound commute times on the freeways can add large delays between neighborhoods.
• Use the Metro G (Orange) Line bus-rapid-transit and Metro rail connections (e.g., Red Line to North Hollywood) to cross parts of the Valley without driving into heavy traffic or hunting for parking in busy centers.
• Explore neighborhood pockets (e.g., Burbank, Toluca Lake, and Sherman Oaks) outside major corridors - many visitors miss the Valley's small, diverse dining scenes and local parks if they only pass through on the freeways.