SR-22, the Garden Grove Freeway, runs east-west straight through the city and is the fastest way to reach Long Beach to the west or Orange and the 55 to the east.
I-5 clips the north end toward Disneyland and Los Angeles; I-405 runs just southwest for the beaches and LAX; SR-57 heads north from the 22 interchange toward Angel Stadium and the 210.
Peak congestion is roughly 6:30–9:00 AM westbound and 3:30–6:30 PM eastbound on the 22. The 405 through Westminster is slow in both directions most afternoons.
Orange County Transportation Authority routes cover the main boulevards — Harbor, Brookhurst, Euclid, Garden Grove Blvd and Chapman — and connect to the Santa Ana and Anaheim transit centers.
Route 543 and the Harbor corridor buses are the useful ones for visitors: they link the Resort District hotels with Anaheim.
Service is frequent on the boulevards during the day and thin at night. For evening plans, plan on a car or a rideshare.
There is no rail stop inside Garden Grove. The nearest Metrolink and Amtrak stations are Anaheim (ARTIC) and Santa Ana, both about 15 minutes away.
John Wayne Airport (SNA) is the closest at roughly 20 minutes — by far the easiest arrival.
Long Beach (LGB) is about 25 minutes, LAX about 45 minutes without traffic and considerably more with it. Rideshare from LAX is the common choice.
Parking is free almost everywhere in Garden Grove, including Main Street's lots and nearly every strip mall — this is not Los Angeles.
Main Street between Garden Grove Blvd and Acacia is the one genuinely walkable stretch: park once and walk the block.
Bike lanes run along several boulevards, and the Santa Ana River Trail is a short ride east — a flat, paved run all the way to the beach at Huntington.
From the Harbor Boulevard Resort District, the park entrance is roughly 10 minutes north — many hotels run a shuttle, and rideshare is cheap at that distance.
Driving yourself means paying Disneyland's parking fee; the shuttle almost always wins.
Staying in Garden Grove and commuting to the parks is the classic Orange County value move: same trip, lower nightly rate.