Santa Barbara CA: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Santa Barbara looks Spanish, but much of that look is from the 1920s. On 29 June 1925 an earthquake wrecked the downtown, and the city decided to rebuild in a single style, white walls and red tile, with a board to check every design. This walk links the old Spanish core with the buildings that the rebuilding produced. About two hours, all flat; the courthouse tower is best before the afternoon haze.
A short history of Santa Barbara CA
Before the Europeans arrived, the Chumash people lived along this coast. In 1602 the explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno entered the bay on the feast day of Saint Barbara and named it after her. In 1782 the Spanish built a presidio, and in 1786 the mission was founded, known as the 'Queen of the Missions'. An earthquake in 1925 destroyed much of the centre, and the city was rebuilt in a Spanish style with white walls and red tile roofs, which became compulsory under its building regulations.
The ten best sights in Santa Barbara CA
1Mission Santa BarbaraThe "Queen of the Missions" on its hill; the museum and cemetery are on the self-guided tour
2Santa Barbara County CourthouseFree to walk in; take the lift up the clock tower for the whole red-roofed city
3El PresidioThe Spanish fort where the city began, partly rebuilt in adobe; an hour is enough
4Casa de la GuerraThe house of the presidio's commander, open on weekend afternoons
5Santa Barbara Museum of ArtA strong collection for a small city, right on State Street
6Santa Barbara Museum of Natural HistoryChumash culture and local wildlife in a creek-side garden near the mission
7Santa Barbara Historical MuseumFree and small, in adobe buildings downtown
8Arlington TheatreCatch any show just to see the inside, built as a Spanish village under a starry ceiling
9Stearns WharfYou can drive and park on the wharf; seafood shacks and the Sea Center at the end
10Moreton Bay Fig TreeA giant fig by the station whose branches spread over a whole lawn
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What is an audio walk?
Tours in Santa Barbara CA →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Santa Barbara CA:
Free walking tours in Santa Barbara CA
The red-tile city
Santa Barbara looks Spanish, but much of that look is from the 1920s. On 29 June 1925 an earthquake wrecked the downtown, and the city decided to rebuild in a single style, white walls and red tile, with a board to check every design. This walk links the old Spanish core with the buildings that the rebuilding produced. About two hours, all flat; the courthouse tower is best before the afternoon haze.
- Santa Barbara County Courthouse · Built in 1929 to replace the courthouse destroyed by the earthquake, it is one of the great Spanish Colonial Revival buildings in America. The Mural Room on the second floor is painted floor to ceiling with scenes of the county's history by Dan Sayre Groesbeck.
- El Presidio · Founded in 1782, it was the last of the four Spanish military forts built in California. One original adobe, El Cuartel, survives and is the second-oldest building in the state.
- Casa de la Guerra · Built in the 1820s for José de la Guerra, commander of the presidio. Richard Henry Dana described a wedding in this house in Two Years Before the Mast, his account of sailing to California in the 1830s.
- Santa Barbara Historical Museum · Next to the museum stands the Covarrubias Adobe, built in 1817 and one of the oldest houses in the city. The museum's own courtyard buildings were made of adobe bricks in the old way, so the block still looks like the Spanish town.
- Santa Barbara Museum of Art · The museum opened in 1941 in the city's former post office, a Beaux-Arts building on State Street.
- Arlington Theatre · Opened in 1931 as a film palace, its auditorium is designed as a Spanish village plaza at night, with house fronts along the walls and stars on the ceiling. It is the main venue of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Mission to the mountains
Behind the city the Santa Ynez Mountains rise straight from the coastal plain, and the Chumash, who lived here for thousands of years, used both the sea and these canyons. This route goes from the mission up into the canyons and over the San Marcos Pass to the Santa Ynez Valley. A full day by car, about 90 km in all; the pass road is steep and winding. The valley on the far side is wine country, so choose the driver early.
- Mission Santa Barbara · Founded on the feast of Saint Barbara in December 1786, it is the only California mission run by Franciscans without a break since its founding. The present church dates from 1820, and its facade was copied from a Roman temple design in a Spanish edition of Vitruvius kept in the mission library.
- Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History · It began in 1916 as the Museum of Comparative Oology, a collection of birds' eggs put together by the ornithologist William Leon Dawson. Today its Chumash hall is the best introduction in town to the people of this coast.
- Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens · A trail in the garden leads to the Mission Dam, built of stone in 1807 by Chumash labourers to bring water down to the mission. The garden itself, founded in 1926, grows only plants native to California.
- Chumash Painted Cave · The walls are painted in red, black and white with circles and figures that the Chumash made, perhaps in the 17th century. Their meaning is debated; one painted disc has been read as a record of a solar eclipse.
- Cold Spring Tavern · A stagecoach stop from the 1860s on the old road over the San Marcos Pass, still in its original wooden buildings. On weekends it grills tri-tip outside, the cut that made the Santa Maria barbecue of this county famous.
- Solvang · Danish-Americans from the Midwest founded Solvang in 1911 as a place for a Danish folk school. The half-timbered look came later, from the 1940s, when the town decided to lean into its name, which means sunny field.
Along the water
The coast here runs east to west, so Santa Barbara's beaches face south across a channel to the Channel Islands, which gives the light its golden quality and earned the town the nickname the American Riviera. This route follows the waterfront from the fig tree by the station to the harbour and on east to Montecito. Half a day on foot and by car or bike; there is a bike path along most of it.
- Moreton Bay Fig Tree · An Australian fig, planted here in 1877, and now one of the largest of its kind in the United States. Its canopy spreads so wide that the railway station next door has long had to share the shade.
- Stearns Wharf · John Peck Stearns built the wharf in 1872 so that ships could unload without lighters, and it is the oldest working wooden wharf in California. A fire in 1998 burned part of it, and it was rebuilt.
- Funk Zone · Once a district of fish-processing sheds, boat builders and warehouses between the beach and the freeway. Its tasting rooms are part of the Urban Wine Trail, which lets you taste the wines of the Santa Ynez Valley without driving there.
- Santa Barbara Fish Market · Santa Barbara's divers land much of California's red sea urchin, most of it sold to Japan as uni. Spot prawns, caught in traps in the channel, are the other local prize.
- Shoreline Park · Gray whales pass this coast on their migration between Alaska and Mexico, heading south in winter and back north in spring. From the bluff here you can sometimes see them blowing outside the kelp.
- Lotusland · Ganna Walska, a Polish-born opera singer married six times, bought this estate in 1941 and spent four decades turning it into gardens of cacti, cycads and blue agaves. She left it as a foundation, and it opened to the public after her death in 1984.
Getting to Santa Barbara CA and getting around
- Santa Barbara Airport · A small, easy airport in Goleta, 15 minutes west, with direct flights to West Coast and some western hubs
- Santa Barbara Station · The Pacific Surfliner and Coast Starlight stop here, a short walk from the beach and State Street
- Transit Center · Local MTD buses and the downtown–waterfront shuttle leave from here
Cheap eats in Santa Barbara CA
Santa Barbara eats from two directions: the sea, with sea urchin, spot prawns and rock crab from the channel, and Mexico, whose cooks run the best taquerias on the coast. North over the mountains is tri-tip country, where beef is grilled over red oak. A taco lunch is cheap; anything with a sea view is not.
- La Super-Rica · Tacos on fresh tortillas, a plate about $5-12; expect a line
- Lilly's Taqueria · Small tacos by the meat, about $3 each
- Santa Barbara Shellfish Company · A crab and oyster counter at the end of the wharf, about $15-30
- Santa Barbara Public Market · Food hall counters, most dishes $12-20
- Handlebar Coffee Roasters · Local roaster downtown, coffee about $4-6
- Jeannine's · Bakery for breakfast and pastries, about $5-15
- Santa Barbara Fish Market · Fresh uni and poke at the harbour, about $15-25
Museums in Santa Barbara CA
- Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History · Chumash hall, birds and a creek garden; good with children
- Santa Barbara Museum of Art · Antiquities, Asian art and California painting; an easy hour
- Santa Barbara Historical Museum · Free; local history in an adobe courtyard
- Santa Barbara Maritime Museum · At the harbour; shipwrecks, whaling and surfing
- Casa de la Guerra · A Californio family house from the 1820s
Nature and day trips near Santa Barbara CA
- Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens · Native plants, canyon trails and the old mission dam
- Inspiration Point · Popular hike to a viewpoint, about two hours return
- Butterfly Beach · Sunset beach in Montecito
- Shoreline Park · Clifftop lawns and stairs down to the beach
- East Beach · Long sandy beach with volleyball nets
Things to do in Santa Barbara CA with kids
- Santa Barbara Zoo · Giraffes with an ocean view, and a small train
- Sea Center · Touch tanks at the end of Stearns Wharf
- Stearns Wharf · Pelicans, sea lions and ice cream on the wharf
- Chase Palm Park · Playground and lawns on the beachfront
- Leadbetter Beach · Calm water by the harbour breakwater
Where to eat in Santa Barbara CA
- The Lark · Shared plates in the Funk Zone; book ahead
- Barbareño · Modern Central Coast cooking downtown
- Loquita · Spanish tapas and paella in the Funk Zone
- Brophy Bros. · Busy seafood over the harbour; expect a wait
- Bouchon · Wine-country dinner off State Street
- Arigato Sushi · Lively sushi bar downtown
- Lucky Penny · Wood-fired pizza in a building clad in pennies
Frequently asked questions about Santa Barbara CA
What is there to see in Santa Barbara CA?
The top sights in Santa Barbara CA are Mission Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County Courthouse and El Presidio. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Santa Barbara CA?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Santa Barbara CA without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Santa Barbara CA?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Santa Barbara CA, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The red-tile city.
How do you get to Santa Barbara CA and get around?
The main ways are Santa Barbara Airport, Santa Barbara Station and Transit Center. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Santa Barbara CA, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Santa Barbara CA that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Santa Barbara CA for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.