The coastline between Santa Barbara and Carmel, a distance of about 200 mi, is one of the most popular drives in California. Except for a few smallish cities — Ventura and Santa Barbara, in the south, and San Luis Obispo, in the north — the area is sparsely populated.

Santa Barbara California

The countryside’s few inhabitants relish their isolation at the sharp edge of land and sea. Around Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Oxnard, Southern California peters out in long, sandy beaches. To the north the shoreline gradually rises into hills dotted with cattle, and by the time you reach Big Sur, the Santa Lucia Mountains drop down to the Pacific with dizzying grandeur.
 

 
Sunny, well-scrubbed Santa Barbara, only 95 mi north of Los Angeles, is the link between Northern and Southern California. Santa Barbara’s Spanish-Mexican heritage is reflected in the architectural style of the mission, courthouse, and many homes and public buildings. Inland from the Pacific a burgeoning Central Coast wine region stretches 100 mi from Santa Ynez north to Paso Robles; the 190-plus wineries here have earned reputations for high-quality vintages that rival those of Northern California.

Visual artists create and sell their works in towns such as Ojai and Cambria. The town of Solvang, where restaurants serve Scandinavian fare and windmills line the streets, is a European outpost in this otherwise quintessentially Californian landscape.

Santa Barbara Must-Sees

Historians start at the Old Mission – the site where Santa Barbara began in 1786. The city’s main cultural landmark, the mission is home to a community of Franciscan friars and features an active parish, a museum and 10 acres of landscaped gardens.

Devote an afternoon to Santa Barbara’s waterfront and experience three serene beaches, a wharf, a harbor and a museum.

At the Santa Barbara Zoo, marvel at some 500 fascinating animals. Bring a picnic basket and enjoy lunch on the grounds.

The 78-acre Botanic Garden offers docent-led tours of 1,000 native plants. The site is also a world-class research center for the study of California flora.

Learn about the early days of automobile transportation at the Carriage and Western Art Museum. The collection includes circus wagons and mud wagons, as well as more than 50 saddles that belonged to celebrities such as Will Rogers, Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart.

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