Valencia (in the Santa Clarita Valley) is a tidy, master‑planned suburb with plenty of restaurants, shopping, easy hiking and biking, and family‑friendly neighborhoods — plus attractions like Six Flags and reliable short‑term housing that make multi‑week stays comfortable and engaging.
For weekend variety, downtown Los Angeles is an easy drive for museums, dining and nightlife, while coastal escapes like Santa Barbara are within about an hour for beaches and wine‑country day trips.