This is everything I did and would recommend! Santa Barbara is what I would call a bougie city, classic California vibes and a bit pricey. I came here for a weekend to photograph a friend’s wedding and stayed a bit longer, but disregarding the wedding, there’s still plenty to do in a weekend and I didn’t nearly get to everything! Here’s the highlights and a tad bit more if you dare to pack your schedule.

Friday

I stayed at an airbnb up in the hills of Montecito since it was slightly cheaper and seemed more fun than a pricier hotel in town. Basically everything’s like a 10 minute drive from everywhere. We landed at the Santa Barbara airport and was surprised to find that it is only 5 gates big, meaning easy, breezy to board.

Butterfly Beach

If you land in the evening, I’d totally recommend to watch the sunset from the beach. On a different day, I enjoyed sunset at Butterfly Beach and a walk along the cliffs. You have to park along the Channel Dr before it turns into Fairway Rd, but there’s a paved trail that continues on Channel Dr that’s worth walking for the flowers in the spring.

On the first night, however, I instead went straight for dinner at Corazon Cocina for tacos at the public market. They were a tad too spicy for my weak tolerance but otherwise delicious and so California. Since this was the north end of the main Santa Barbara downtown, I decided to take an even walk down State Street. It’s largely closed off for pedestrians and was so gorgeous with the blooming purple jacaranda trees. There’s plenty of shops to walk through, probably through day time though and plenty of great food opportunities. I took this time to check out the Santa Barbara Courthouse, a gorgeous building with really nice gardens (as in greenery).

Saturday

The next full day (post wedding) was the adventure packed day. Start your day off with brunch since the beach is likely going to be cloudy with the marine layer that often doesn’t burn off till the afternoon. I enjoyed an avocado toast (haha classic Cali) at the Scarlett Begonia. Then get a pick-me-up at CAJÉ Coffee Roasters which is known for their specialty drinks. I was surprised that the rosemary thai tea was relatively normal priced, whereas the Woodland Latte was quite pricey.

If it’s not too hot, go out on a short hike to the Seven Falls and take a dip in the pools. Park along the street prior to reaching Inspiration Point Trailhead. Definitely follow Gaia for what trails to follow since it is not as intuitive nor are there signs everywhere. If you have extra time, check out Inspiration Point itself, but we missed the turn off when we remembered to after the falls. You can either hike up Mission Creek straight to the falls, some class 2 scrambling involved, or take a trail up but a steep trail down into the main pool. I unfortunately couldn’t take my camera swimming but from the main pool, you can scramble up about 4 other pools! It’s a bit sketchy if you’re not comfortable with climbing, so go with caution. The trail itself goes further past the main falls to 3 more falls in theory but we had enough of a great time in these pools that we didn’t end up going further. It’s a great way to cool off!

Seven Falls

La Paloma

For dinner, I’d recommend La Paloma. It’s California food, in terms of fresh ingredients and well-made food. The cornbread was absolutely delicious too! We also got drinks at Dusk Bar, which is part of an adjacent hostel. It was good, but I was most impressed by the bubble on my drink!

In the evening, head up to the Montecito Hot Springs. I went in the morning, but it seems like many people opt for morning instead of evening, according to a local I met. There’s several pools and the upper 5 or so is the hottest since the pool water comes straight from the source. The middle 3-5 are the best temperature and then the last couple are more on the warm spring scale. We waited and hopped around a couple pools before settling on the best pool, imo. People come and go and it didn’t seem like a huge issue waiting in line. My friend did suggest that if it’s 80F or lower in Santa Barbara, then it’s cool enough to go to the hot springs since the mountains are often warmer than town. Park by Hot Springs Canyon Trailhead, and pay attention to the no parking signs for the residential area. We got a little lost following the trail to a labeled “hot springs” on the map, but definitely make a left turn across the creek to what google labels as the Montecito Hot Springs.

Sunday

Okay and now lastly for your last day, take a surf lesson! We did a group lesson through Barbarian Cave Surf with Micah and it was awesome! I guess we are now on their marketing page on AirBnB experiences. I had tried it once before but had largely forgotten what to do and he was great at explaining everything and giving us tips as we failed standing on the board and most of us at least got a surf kneeling or standing! It was great and perfect way to start the day.

Since we had some extra time before the flight home, we stopped in Santa Barbara again. Helena Avenue Bakery is awesome for lunch but not the best spot for wifi. They make their sourdough in house! I also got to enjoy a baked good from Oat Bakery. There’s definitely plenty more to explore, but I felt like I got a good sampling of everything!

Photos from Barbarian Cave

Have fun on your trip and let me know if you end up going to any of the spots I enjoyed too!

Notes

Places to eat and drink plus more that I would’ve gone to had I time:

• Bakeries: Oat Bakery and Helena Avenue Bakery, Bree’osh Bakery Cafe, ALESSIA Patisserie and Cafe
• Coffee: CAJÉ Coffee Roasters, Lighthouse Coffee, Handlebar Coffee Roasters, Dart Coffee Co
• Brunch: Scarlett Begonia, Live Oak Cafe, Goat Tree
• Casual Dinner: Corazon Cocina (Santa Barbara Public Market), In-N-Out (obviously)
• Fancy Dinner: La Paloma, Oku, Santo Mezcal
• Drinks: Dusk Bar

Things to do

• Butterfly Beach, East Beach (most famous), Hendrys Beach
• Hikes: Montecito Hot Springs, Seven Falls

Photos taken on Canon 5D Mark IV and iPhone 13 mini (and other devices for those not marked mine)