Things to Do in Santa Barbara: Tours, Tickets & Day Trips

Ranked by traveller reviews: 1) the Santa Barbara trolley tour, 2) the electric-bike tour of the waterfront and Mission, 3) the downtown walking food and drink tour, 4) a guided kayak tour of the harbour with sea lions, 5) a small-group Santa Ynez Valley wine tour, 6) the Santa Barbara taco tour, 7) the vineyard-to-table e-bike wine tour, 8) a sunset or coastal yacht cruise, 9) the Old Mission Santa Barbara and the Courthouse clock tower and 10) Stearns Wharf and the Funk Zone’s urban wine trail.

Plan two to three days. Day one: the trolley or e-bike tour in the morning, the Old Mission and the Courthouse tower, lunch on State Street, the Botanic Garden or MOXI, sunset from Stearns Wharf. Day two: a morning harbour kayak or whale-watching trip, the beach, Funk Zone wine tasting and a food or taco tour. Day three: the Santa Ynez Valley — Los Olivos tasting rooms, Solvang’s Danish bakeries and a picnic at a vineyard, on a guided tour so nobody drives. A fourth day allows the Channel Islands or Ojai.

Climb the Courthouse clock tower and wander its Spanish-Moorish halls and sunken gardens, walk Stearns Wharf, swim or sunbathe at East Beach, Leadbetter and Butterfly Beach, hike Inspiration Point, the Douglas Family Preserve or Lizard’s Mouth, browse the Tuesday State Street farmers’ market, see the harbour seals at Carpinteria in winter, watch the sunset from Shoreline Park, walk the Mission Rose Garden outside the church, and visit the Santa Barbara Museum of Art on free Thursday evenings. Free electric shuttles run along State Street and the waterfront.

The Santa Ynez Valley wine country — Los Olivos, Santa Ynez and the Foxen Canyon Trail (45 minutes; guided tours from about $235), Solvang’s Danish village and Ostrichland (35 minutes), Channel Islands National Park by boat from Ventura (40 minutes to the harbour, full day), Ojai (45 minutes), Carpinteria’s beach and seal rookery (15 minutes), Refugio and El Capitán state beaches (30 minutes), Montecito’s Lotusland (reservation needed) and, by scenic train, Los Angeles (2.5 hours).

Wine and beer in the Funk Zone’s tasting rooms and breweries, dinner and bars on lower State Street, sunset from Stearns Wharf or Butterfly Beach, a sunset kayak or yacht cruise from the harbour, concerts at the Santa Barbara Bowl in summer, shows at the Granada, the Lobero and the Arlington, live music at SOhO, a ghost tour of the historic downtown and the Thursday evening art walks. Santa Barbara is not a late-night town — most bars wind down by midnight.

Winter is mild (highs in the mid-60s°F) and green, with grey whales migrating past from December to April — whale-watching boats run daily from the harbour — and thousands of harbour seals pupping at the Carpinteria rookery. The Parade of Lights fills the harbour in December, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival runs in February, the wineries are quiet and the trails are at their best after rain. Some rain falls in January and February; the beaches are for walking rather than swimming.

The Santa Barbara Zoo with its ocean views, MOXI’s hands-on science museum, the Sea Center on Stearns Wharf, the Museum of Natural History and its planetarium, the carousel and playground at Chase Palm Park, Skater’s Point, East Beach, whale watching, the Lil’ Toot water taxi across the harbour, the trolley tour, Solvang’s windmills and Ostrichland, and the Old Mission’s courtyard. The Courthouse tower and the harbour kayak (age six and up) are hits with older children.

April to October, with September and October the warmest water and thinnest crowds. May and June bring morning fog (‘May Gray’ and ‘June Gloom’) that burns off by lunchtime. Winter is mild, green and good for whales and wine; summer is busy, especially around Old Spanish Days Fiesta in early August.

Yes — the valley 45 minutes over the mountains produces some of California’s best Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah, and a guided small-group tour (about $235–239 including tastings and lunch) lets everyone taste at three or four wineries without driving the mountain pass. Los Olivos and Solvang are the usual bases; pair the tour with a picnic at a vineyard and the drive back along the coast.