USA California Santa Barbara

In addition to all this, Santa Barbara is much more. Santa Barbara’s 90,000 sophisticated residents demand a lifestyle rich in cultural and social amenities. Visitors can also enjoy the sort of cultural experience usually found only in much larger cities. We include some of Santa Barbara’s wonderful cultural opportunities at the end of this post.

State Street

For shoppers, Santa Barbara’s State Street is hard to beat. We enjoyed walking through the Paseo Nuevo shopping mall with its fountain and 50 upscale stores that line its brick walkway. On upper State Street you will find La Cumbre Plaza, Santa Barbara’s mall filled with the major brand name stores that you enjoy. For a more local shopping experience, drop into the pretty La Arcada Plaza. Also, try the unique Public Market for some good eats and shopping.

In the Presidio District, the El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park gives visitors a chance to see one of the last Spanish fortresses (presidios) to be built in California and attend a show at the Lobero Theatre, California’s oldest continuously operating theater.

There are also plenty of things to enjoy at the ocean end of State Street. Santa Barbara’s Waterfront and Stearns Wharf have fun seafront restaurants, museums, shops, and souvenirs. This is a great place for families with children to visit.

The Santa Barbara Harbor features a variety of seafront shops, restaurants and museums. The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is interesting and worth a visit.

Santa Barbara has four miles of beautiful sandy beaches including East Beach (Santa Barbara’s largest and most popular), Shoreline Park, West Beach, Leadbetter, and others. 

It is great fun to rent a bike or petalcab from Wheel Fun Rentals across from Stearns Wharf and take a ride along the beach. There are many other enjoyable things to do at the Waterfront including walking, volleyball, fishing, kayaking, parasailing, sailing, surfing, swimming, skating, diving, whale watching, and windsurfing.

Funk Zone

A tour we highly recommend taking is from Eat This Shoot That. Starting at Stearns Wharf, you are escorted through wine tastings and wonderful food in the Funk Zone and Waterfront neighborhoods – not to be missed.

California Driving Trip Los Angeles to Santa Barbara - Highway 101, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Solvang, El Capitan Canyon, & Glamping

The Music Academy of the West puts on a great Summer Festival offering outstanding musical presentations under the stars overlooking the ocean in the Santa Barbara Bowl such as the New York Philharmonic in concert and many others.

Fans of live performance will be well entertained in Santa Barbara with its many historic theatres (Lobero, Arlington, Ensemble, Center Stage, Granada, & others) and performing arts (i.e. Opera, Symphony, Chamber Orchestra). The wonderful nearby University of California, San Barbara and Santa Barbara City College put on many more performances.

Attending a local festival with great weather is a great way to enjoy a day with culture, food, and fun. Santa Barbara has more than their fair share of fun events. Some of the ones they are famous for are: Old Spanish Days, Summer Solstice Parade, Harbor & Seafood Festival, Vintners’ Festival, Madonnari Italian Street Painting, French Festival, epicure.sb, and Earth Day. The star-studded Santa Barbara International Film Festivalis held in January/February.

Having visited Santa Barbara a couple of times, we did not realize the vast amount of things worth seeing and doing. We would to thank Visit Santa Barbara for hosting us and showing us many more wonderful sites and the cultural aspect of Santa Barbara. Their website (www.SantaBarbara.com) is a wonderful resource for planning your trip to Santa Barbara and you can order a free travel guide.

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California Driving Trip Los Angeles to Santa Barbara - Highway 101, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Solvang, El Capitan Canyon, & Glamping 

California Driving Trip of the Central Coast – Highway 101, Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey, & Santa Barbara

California Driving Trip of the Northern Coast and Wine Country – Highway 101, Napa, Sonoma, & Mendocino

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