Santa Barbara has been nicknamed the American Riviera®, the last unspoiled city in a Mediterranean climate, and even paradise, for many reasons. Cruise under mostly blue skies unhampered by any skyscrapers blocking the mountain views. Wander through the beautifully groomed parks and gardens that adorn almost every neighborhood. Skim across the ocean to the wind-whipped Channel Islands and you’ll discover an untamed dimension of pure wilderness to explore. Secluded coves and sea caves lace the shores, and an amazing diversity of wildlife still thrives on these rocky isles and in their surrounding waters. Cradled between these rugged islands and towering coastal peaks, Santa Barbara has a nearly perfect climate. For most of the year, it’s so bright and brilliant and sunny that even longtime residents still revel daily in the beauty of our surroundings.
Fiercely protective of our lovely home, we Santa Barbarans work hard to preserve the qualities that make our region so special, and many issues are close to our hearts. Mention development, affordable housing, or offshore oil drilling, and be prepared for a lively discussion.
Santa Barbarans love showing visitors around their beautiful home. When you come here, you’ll see why. For such a relatively small town, Santa Barbara offers an amazing diversity of things to see and do. Explore the region, and you’ll discover nationally acclaimed museums, wildlife sanctuaries, stunning gardens, fascinating historical sights, informative tours, and an exciting lineup of ocean adventures. Look around you. Chances are many of your fellow explorers are locals who unabashedly proclaim that they’d rather spend their vacation discovering their own city than jet off to some exotic locale.
Of course, the locals have “been there, done that,” but they know that new exhibits, expansions, and upgrades make Santa Barbara attractions worth visiting again and again. That being said, even longtime residents are often surprised to discover new pockets that seem to have slipped off their radar. The continual changing and upgrading of existing attractions are why many Santa Barbarans are happy to spend their vacations at home.
If you’re a history buff, you’ll be pleased to know that most of the city’s historical sights lie within a short stroll from each other in the downtown area. You can explore them in a couple of hours by taking the self-guided Red Tile Walking Tour, which begins at the County Courthouse, one of Santa Barbara’s most famous landmarks.
If you’re more interested in some seaside fun, head for Stearns Wharf and the Santa Barbara Harbor, where you can go for a stroll in the crisp sea air, grab some fresh seafood, and browse the specialty shops.
Santa Barbara is a kid’s paradise. From an amazing zoo to a beachside skateboard park and free weekend festival, there are plenty of diversions for younger visitors that their parents will also enjoy. Families can even design an entire vacation just exploring the many free, distinctly different beaches and parks.
In this chapter, you’ll find information about Santa Barbara kids’ favorite haunts and activities. Many of these also appear in more complete detail in other chapters, for example, Beaches & Watersports, Recreation, the Arts, and Attractions. In these cases, we provide a brief description tailored for kids in this chapter and refer you to the appropriate chapter for other details.
Once a sleepy little enclave on the other side of the mountain, the Santa Ynez Valley is recognized internationally for its premium wine production. The demand has been so great that a million-plus cases of reds and whites are produced each year. Production yields over $360 million a year—one-third of which comes from the grapes alone.
Within 45 minutes of leaving downtown Santa Barbara, you’ll land smack-dab in the heart of one of California’s premier wine regions.
The North County (which is how most Santa Barbarans refer to the region on the north side of the Santa Ynez Mountain range) is a tranquil and beautiful area, with scenic roads that wind through rolling, oak-studded valleys and mountains. Reminiscent of old rural California, it’s home to ranchers, farmers, and, in recent years, more than a few celebrities escaping the glare of Hollywood.
Agriculture dominates the North County scene, and much of Santa Barbara County’s produce originates here. Strawberries and broccoli almost always rank in the top three of the county’s most valuable cash crops. The other top crop is wine grapes.
With all the people coming to Santa Barbara to escape the rigors of big-city life, you wouldn’t think Santa Barbarans would be looking for a getaway of their own. The fact is, even we enjoy a change of scenery every now and then. There are basically two choices for a day trip or getaway out of Santa Barbara: drive north to the Santa Ynez Valley or drive south to the tranquil Ojai Valley.
If you head north on US 101 (which will eventually take you to San Francisco), you’re basically eschewing the big city and looking for some peace and quiet in northern Santa Barbara County or in the little beach towns that dot the coast between here and Monterey. We’ll give you a peek at the charming Danish town of Solvang and environs in the Santa Ynez Valley.
Traveling south on US 101 will take you to Los Angeles, where you’ll find all the sights and entertainment you’ve come to expect from a large cosmopolitan city. But most people run away from L.A. to Santa Barbara, not the other way around. The artsy and rural town of Ojai, an off-the-beaten-path destination south of Santa Barbara with a bohemian feel, is a 45-minute drive inland.
The Channel Islands are 11 to 60 miles from the mainland, but they’re an entire world apart. When you step ashore, you feel as if you’ve traveled a century back in time to the pristine California land and seascapes that once dominated the coast. You won’t see hotels, restaurants, and museums lining the shores. Instead, you’ll find spectacular white-sand beaches, sea caves and hidden coves, barren mountains, rocky reefs, and incredibly clear water.
Eight islands in the waters off Southern California make up the Channel Islands. Often referred to as “the Galapagos of California,” these remote islands and the waters surrounding them are filled with unusual flora and fauna, dramatic geological formations, rare archaeological finds, and other oddities that occur nowhere else on earth.
One reason the channel is so unique is because it’s an unusual transition zone called the Southern California Bight. At Point Conception, the islands and the mainland run east–west rather than north–south. The waters lying between the islands and the mainland form the Santa Barbara Channel—a melting pot of currents from different directions. The California current brings cold waters from the Arctic into the channel from the north. Warm currents from Mexico come in from the south, carrying more subtropical marine life along with them.
The result of this complex blend of currents is an exceptional variety of cold-water and warm-water plants and animals, including giant kelp forests, seabirds, whales, seals, and sea lions. In addition, the remoteness of the islands has allowed plants and wildlife to evolve in isolation. This is the only part of the world where you’ll find the Santa Cruz Island scrub-jay, the Channel Island fox, the Anacapa deer mouse, and many other endemic species.