What to Do in Santa Barbara for 1 Week: The Mediterranean Masquerade of California's Coast

Your Day-By-Day Guide: What To Do In Santa Barbara For 1 Week

Planning what to do in Santa Barbara for 1 week requires the strategic precision of someone dividing the last slice of cheesecake among hungry relatives. With seven precious days to allocate among beaches, mountains, wineries, and cultural attractions, this guide carves your week into manageable, thematic chunks that balance activity with the requisite coastal lounging.

Day 1: Downtown Immersion

Begin your Santa Barbara adventure on State Street, the 3.2-mile commercial artery that serves as the city’s main thoroughfare. Recently transformed into a pedestrian-friendly promenade, this street offers prime people-watching opportunities—from surfers with sun-bleached hair to ladies who lunch wearing designer sunglasses large enough to qualify as satellite dishes. The street’s architecture alone merits attention, with Spanish Colonial Revival buildings housing everything from surf shops to artisanal olive oil emporiums.

Wander through Paseo Nuevo, an open-air shopping center where Mediterranean-style courtyards create the illusion you’ve somehow teleported to Seville. Nearby La Arcada offers a more whimsical shopping experience, complete with a turtle pond and bronze statues posed in such lifelike positions that tourists frequently attempt conversations with them. The dolphins frozen mid-leap particularly attract photographers attempting to capture the perfect “jumping through a hoop” optical illusion.

No downtown exploration would be complete without visiting the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, a Spanish-Moorish fantasy that makes most government buildings look like they gave up at conception. Free to the public and gloriously un-courthouse-like, its 85-foot clock tower offers panoramic views that deserve their own postcard series. The sunken gardens outside host more wedding photography sessions than actual legal proceedings, suggesting Santa Barbara has its priorities admirably aligned.

End your first day in the Funk Zone, a formerly industrial area that has undergone the inevitable warehouse-to-hipster-haven transformation with remarkable success. Dinner at The Lark (entrées $28-45) showcases local ingredients in a converted fish-processing facility where the only thing being processed now is your credit card. The neighborhood’s transition from producing actual goods to producing Instagram content is complete, and you might as well enjoy the results.

Day 2: Beach Day and Seafood

Santa Barbara’s coastline features a string of beaches, each with distinct personalities like siblings who chose different career paths. Butterfly Beach in Montecito attracts the early morning crowd—dog walkers, joggers, and those wealthy enough to live nearby. The beach lacks facilities but compensates with dolphin sightings and fewer tourists. For a more developed beach experience, East Beach offers volleyball courts, a playground, and the psychological comfort of nearby restrooms.

Rent beach cruiser bikes ($35/day) and pedal along the 4.5-mile Cabrillo Bike Path, where the ocean views come with a side of smug environmental virtue. The path passes several beaches, allowing you to beach-hop without having to relocate your towel and the small village of accessories most beachgoers now consider essential.

In the afternoon, visit Stearns Wharf, California’s oldest working wharf (built 1872) and a masterclass in separating tourists from their money. The key to enjoying the wharf is treating it like a theater production—appreciate the staging and performances without buying the overpriced merchandise. The exception is the fresh seafood, which delivers authentic maritime flavors despite the tourist-targeted ambiance.

For dinner, head to Santa Barbara Harbor where Brophy Bros offers harbor views and seafood platters ($18-45) that taste like they were swimming mere hours before arriving on your plate. The Harbor Restaurant provides a more upscale option, though in Santa Barbara “upscale” often just means the server doesn’t wear flip-flops. Finish your day with sunset photos from Shoreline Park, where the coastline curves in a way that makes even amateur photographers look like they know what they’re doing.

Day 3: Wine Country Excursion

Santa Barbara’s wine scene offers two distinct experiences: the Urban Wine Trail with over 30 tasting rooms within downtown’s walkable radius, or a day trip to the Santa Ynez Valley where the grapes actually grow. Begin in the Funk Zone, where former industrial spaces now house sleek tasting rooms offering flights for $15-25. The area’s concentration of wine establishments means you can sample varietals from multiple vineyards without worrying about driving—the only navigation required is avoiding the inevitable wedding parties that descend like well-dressed locusts on weekends.

For a more immersive wine experience, drive 45 minutes to the Santa Ynez Valley, where rolling hills studded with vineyards create landscapes that wine bottles try desperately to capture on their labels. Guided tours ($130-200 per person) offer the advantage of designated drivers and insider access, while self-guided tours using rideshare services between wineries allow for more spontaneity at the cost of occasionally waiting 25 minutes for your Uber in what feels like the middle of nowhere.

Wineries like Sunstone, Bridlewood, and Rusack offer distinct atmospheres ranging from Tuscan-inspired architecture to rustic barn aesthetics. Most charge $15-25 for tasting flights, with fees typically waived if you purchase bottles. And purchase you will, as the combination of alcohol, scenic beauty, and peer pressure creates the perfect environment for acquiring wine you’ll later wonder how to fit in your luggage.

Cap your wine country day with dinner at The Hitching Post II in Buellton, made famous by the film “Sideways” but worth visiting regardless of its Hollywood connection. Their oak-grilled steaks ($32-52) pair perfectly with the region’s pinot noir, creating a dining experience that will recalibrate your expectations for future barbecues. For those concerned about transporting their wine acquisitions home, specialized wine shipping services ($15 per bottle) ensure your liquid souvenirs arrive intact, if significantly delayed.

Day 4: Culture and History

Begin your cultural immersion at Mission Santa Barbara, the “Queen of the Missions” founded in 1786 and looking remarkably good for her age. The $15 admission feels like contributing to a historical preservation fund rather than paying an entrance fee, especially when you learn about the ongoing restoration efforts. The mission’s pink-hued facade against mountain backdrops creates photos so calendar-worthy that visitors can be observed taking multiple versions with slight variations in their poses.

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art ($12 admission, free on Thursdays) houses a collection surprisingly robust for a city this size, featuring works spanning 5,000 years of human creativity. The museum’s Monet and Matisse pieces suggest that at some point, Santa Barbara’s art acquisition team went on a French art shopping spree with remarkable success. The intimate scale means you can appreciate the collection without developing the peculiar shuffling gait that larger museums induce.

Afternoon tea at El Encanto hotel ($45 per person) offers a civilized interlude where you can rest your museum feet while observing wealthy locals who treat their small dogs with the reverence typically reserved for visiting dignitaries. The cucumber sandwiches and scones arrive with the precision of a military operation, though the jam-to-scone ratio suggests America still has things to learn from Britain.

In the evening, check the schedule at the historic Granada Theatre or Lobero Theatre (tickets $35-150), where performances range from symphony orchestras to surprisingly edgy contemporary dance. These venues exemplify Santa Barbara’s cultural duality—historic exteriors housing artistic expressions that wouldn’t be out of place in metropolitan centers. Attending a performance provides both entertainment and the opportunity to observe local fashion, which tends toward what might be called “casual affluence”—clothing that appears simple until you notice the designer labels.

Day 5: Nature and Outdoor Adventure

Channel Islands National Park, often called “America’s Galapagos,” lies just offshore but feels worlds away from mainland comforts. Island boat fees ($60-120) and the one-hour crossing filter out casual visitors, leaving mainly nature enthusiasts and those who enjoy using specialized gear. The islands offer hiking trails through landscapes untouched by development, where island foxes—having evolved in isolation—display a concerning lack of fear toward camera-wielding humans.

For terrestrial adventures, Los Padres National Forest presents hiking options ranging from gentle nature walks to ambitious climbs that make you question your fitness regimen. Trails like Inspiration Point (3.5 miles round trip, 800 feet elevation gain) deliver panoramic views that compensate for the cardiovascular exertion required to reach them. The forest’s diverse ecosystems transition from coastal chaparral to pine forest within remarkably short distances, creating what ecologists call “compression zones” and hikers call “unexpected wardrobe challenges.”

Whale watching excursions ($50-90 per person) offer close encounters with marine mammals that make aquarium visits seem like watching wildlife through a dirty window. The peak season runs December through April when gray whales migrate past Santa Barbara, though humpbacks, blue whales, and dolphins appear year-round with varying degrees of predictability. Captains typically guarantee sightings, which means if the whales don’t show, you’ll be invited back—cold comfort when you’re already queasy from three hours at sea.

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden ($14 admission) showcases California native plants across 78 acres of thoughtfully designed landscapes. The free canyon trail offers a backdoor entrance for budget-conscious visitors, though the karmic implications of circumventing the admission fee to a nonprofit conservation organization are worth considering. The garden’s sections recreate California’s diverse habitats, from coastal dunes to mountain meadows, allowing visitors to experience the state’s botanical diversity without the associated road trip.

Day 6: Local Neighborhoods and Hidden Gems

Montecito, located just 10 minutes from downtown Santa Barbara, offers a masterclass in understated wealth. This enclave of 8,500 residents includes Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Prince Harry among its homeowners, though celebrity spotting requires patience and the ability to recognize famous people wearing strategic baseball caps. The village center features boutiques where price tags are discreetly absent, suggesting the economic principle: if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.

The Funk Zone deserves deeper exploration beyond its wine tasting rooms. This 10-square-block district showcases street art murals alongside galleries displaying works by local artists. The contrast between the district’s industrial past and artistic present creates visual tension that art critics might call “juxtaposition” and realtors call “successful gentrification.” Third Window Brewing exemplifies the area’s adaptive philosophy, serving coffee by day and craft beer by night in a space that manages to feel both polished and unfinished.

For those seeking beaches without crowds, Miramar and Butterfly Beaches offer relative seclusion, particularly on weekday mornings when only dedicated surfers and insomniac dog walkers populate the shore. These beaches lack facilities but compensate with atmosphere—the sound of waves uninterrupted by the portable speakers that plague more popular stretches of sand.

Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden and Franceschi Park provide quiet respites from tourism’s hustle. The former features a koi pond where fish have grown so accustomed to being fed that they perform what amounts to synchronized swimming when humans approach. Franceschi Park, perched in the foothills, offers panoramic views that make real estate prices momentarily seem reasonable, along with the crumbling remains of a horticulturist’s estate that adds a pleasingly gothic element to an otherwise relentlessly sunny city.

Day 7: Foodie Farewell

Begin your final day at the Santa Barbara Public Market (38 W. Victoria Street), a food hall where selecting lunch becomes an exercise in decision fatigue. Vendors specialize in everything from artisanal ramen to craft hot dogs, creating a culinary United Nations under one roof. The market exemplifies Santa Barbara’s food philosophy: locally sourced ingredients transformed through global techniques, served at prices that remind you of California’s real estate values.

The Farmer’s Market (Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings downtown) showcases the agricultural abundance that makes Santa Barbara’s restaurants possible. Seasonal produce displayed with museum-like precision draws both professional chefs and home cooks seeking ingredients worthy of their Instagram feeds. The market’s sensory experience—fragrant strawberries, vibrant citrus, freshly baked bread—provides a more accurate souvenir of Santa Barbara than anything sold in gift shops.

McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams, a Santa Barbara institution since 1949, offers a sweet interlude with flavors reflecting both tradition and culinary innovation. Their Sea Salt Cream and Cookies demonstrates how even classic desserts can benefit from a touch of oceanic influence, while the Eureka Lemon and Marionberries variety tastes like summer distilled into dairy form. The original State Street location maintains a retro charm that makes the premium prices ($5.50 for a single scoop) feel like an investment in cultural preservation.

For your farewell dinner, consider Bouchon or Olio e Limone ($50-150 per person), where Santa Barbara’s proximity to both ocean and farmland translates to menus that change with impressive frequency. These establishments represent what to do in Santa Barbara for 1 week in microcosm—experiences that combine natural bounty with cultural refinement, delivered with an ease that belies the effort involved. Your final meal should include something you’ve never tried before, reinforcing the notion that even after seven days, Santa Barbara retains elements of surprise.

Where to Stay: Accommodations for Every Budget

Luxury seekers will find sanctuary at Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore or Hotel Californian, where $400-1,000 nightly rates purchase amenities like ocean-view terraces and staff who appear to anticipate needs telepathically. These properties deliver experiences rather than mere accommodation, with architecture and design elements that would be attractions themselves if they weren’t already occupied by paying guests.

Mid-range options ($200-400/night) include the Kimpton Canary and Harbor View Inn, where stylish comfort comes without the need for a second mortgage. These hotels occupy prime locations that minimize the need for driving—a significant advantage in a town where parking can sometimes feel like a competitive sport. Their amenities typically include rooftop pools where guests can perform the vacation ritual of reading three pages of a book before falling asleep.

Budget-conscious travelers might consider Avania Inn or Castillo Inn ($120-200/night), which deliver clean, comfortable rooms without unnecessary flourishes. These properties understand their role—providing safe bases for adventures rather than being destinations themselves. Many include breakfast, though expectations should be calibrated accordingly; continental breakfast in this context often means prepackaged muffins and coffee from machines with surprisingly complex operating instructions.

Vacation rentals present compelling alternatives across all price ranges, with two-bedroom units averaging $200-500 nightly depending on location and ocean proximity. These accommodations offer practical advantages like kitchens and laundry facilities, plus the psychological benefit of pretending you actually live in Santa Barbara rather than just visiting. The city’s regulations around short-term rentals have tightened in recent years, ensuring that legitimate listings meet safety standards—and that your temporary neighbors won’t necessarily know you’re a tourist unless your beach attire gives you away.