Things to Do in Santa Barbara

The things to do in Santa Barbara that we could check are Old Mission Santa Barbara, Stearns Wharf, State Street and the Funk Zone, the Courthouse clock tower, East Beach and Butterfly Beach, the Botanic Garden, Lotusland, the Channel Islands and Solvang. You can reach Santa Barbara from Los Angeles by train in about 2.5 to 3 hours. We read each page on 15 October 2026.

The sights, with address, hours and price

Old Mission Santa Barbara

Address: 2201 Laguna Street, Santa Barbara (Old Mission Santa Barbara, santabarbaramission.org, read 15 Oct 2026)

Hours: Self-guided tour: Monday to Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Sunday 12:30 to 5:00 p.m., last tour ticket sold at 4:00 p.m. The Mission is closed on Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Serra Shop is open daily 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Because of weekend Mass, the church and cemetery are not part of the tour after 3:15 p.m. on Saturdays. Weddings and funerals can also close them, and we did not confirm those days (same site, visit and home pages)

Price: Adults (18 to 64) $17, seniors (65 and over) $15, active military with ID $15, youth (5 to 17) $12, children 4 and under free, Museums for All (SNAP EBT) $3 (same page)

The site says the grounds cover 15 acres, with the church, a cemetery, a nine-room museum and gardens. The self-guided tour includes an audio tour in six languages.

Stearns Wharf

Address: At the end of State Street. The cross street parallel to the beach is Cabrillo Street (Stearns Wharf merchants' site, home page, read 15 Oct 2026). The page gives no street number

Hours: The wharf's FAQ answer to "What are Stearns Wharf's hours?" lists only the parking kiosk, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. We did not confirm opening hours for the wharf itself (same site, FAQ page)

Price: Parking: everyone gets the first 90 minutes free, then $3.00 an hour or part of an hour, with a $20 maximum a day. A disabled placard gets the first 2.5 hours free. Vehicles over 20 feet may not drive onto the wharf. Fishing from the wharf is free. We found no entry fee (same site, FAQ and parking map pages)

The site lists restaurants, shops, wine tasting, a water taxi, bait and tackle, and a Sea Center. Bikes are allowed, but four-wheel surrey bikes are not.

State Street and the Funk Zone

State Street runs from downtown to the wharf. The Amtrak station is at 209 State Street (Pacific Surfliner timetable). The Downtown Santa Barbara association says its Holiday Parade returns to State Street on Friday, 4 December 2026, for the first time since 2019 (Downtown Santa Barbara, posted 25 Jun 2026).

The Funk Zone is an arts and business district between State Street and Garden Street, and from Montecito Street to Cabrillo Boulevard, says funkzone.net. The site says you can pick up a Funk Zone Map at the visitor centers and at many hotels. Each shop and tasting room sets its own hours, and we did not check them.

Santa Barbara County Courthouse and clock tower

Address: 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara (Courthouse Docent Council, hours and parking page, read 15 Oct 2026)

Hours: Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Weekends and court holidays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Christmas Day. No visitors admitted after 4:30 p.m., and you should allow extra time for security screening (same page). The clock tower deck is open every day until half an hour before closing, with no reservation (Docent Council, docent tours page)

Price: The docent tour is free and lasts about one hour. It leaves from the Mural Room on the second floor, Monday to Friday at 10:30 a.m. except court holidays, and every day except December 25 at 2:00 p.m. No reservation is needed. The Docent Council pages list no fee for the tower deck, and we did not find a ticket price (same pages)

Note: The building is a working courthouse and a National Historic Landmark, says the Docent Council. It was finished in 1929 after a 1925 earthquake. City Lot 7 across the street is free for the first 75 minutes, then $3.00 an hour or part of an hour. Street parking nearby is limited to 75 minutes (same pages; the parking page has no date). A bus stop (Anacapa and Anapamu, stop 126) is across the street

East Beach and Butterfly Beach

Note: East Beach: the city's parks page says dogs are not allowed on East Beach. Two beach wheelchairs, one manual and one motorized, are free to borrow seven days a week. They are kept at the Cabrillo Pavilion at East Beach (call 805-897-2616). The city says its beaches along the south edge of town cover four miles. We found no entry fee and no opening hours on the pages we read (City of Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation, East Beach page and waterfront visitor page, read 15 Oct 2026)

Address: Butterfly Beach: 1260 Channel Drive, Montecito, CA 93108. There are no public facilities. Park on either side of Channel Drive, or on Butterfly Lane if Channel Drive is full. Coast Village Road is about a five-minute walk and has food, drink and shops (Visit Santa Barbara, Butterfly Beach page, read 15 Oct 2026). We found no parking time limit on an official page

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Address: 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93105 (Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, visit page, read 15 Oct 2026)

Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Last reservation 4 p.m. on the hours page, but 4:30 p.m. on the main visit page, so book before 4 p.m. to be safe. Members' hour 9 to 10 a.m. Reservations are required for non-members, and the reservation includes parking for one car (same site, hours and reservations page)

Price: General admission: adults $23, seniors (60 and over) and military $18, students (13 and over, with ID) $18, youth (3 to 12) $14, children under 3 free, Museums for All $3. Peak season, March 1 to May 31: adults $25, seniors and military $21, students $21, youth $17. Leashed dogs are welcome and free (same page)

Lotusland

Address: The visitor entrance is near the corner of Sycamore Canyon Road and Cold Spring Road. The garden has no street address for visitors, and the site tells you to use a navigation app or follow your confirmation email (Lotusland, visit page, read 15 Oct 2026)

Hours: Open to the public March 11 to October 31, 2026, and the 2026 visitor season closes on October 31. It reopens on February 17, 2027. Reservations only, Wednesday to Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., for a two-hour timed visit. The page says Lotusland has sold out the 2026 season and does not re-release cancelled tickets. The first 2027 public release it lists is January 19, 2027, at 9:00 a.m. PST, and dates may change (same page)

Price: Adults $70, youth (3 to 12) $35, children 2 and younger free, Museums for All $5. A docent-led tour is $15 more and uses the whole two-hour visit. Each reservation includes one car ticket, and extra vehicles cost more (same page)

The page says the Tropical Garden is closed while the garden finishes fire mitigation and water projects. Food and picnics are not allowed, and the garden sells no food.

Channel Islands National Park day trip

Note: NPS says an entrance pass is not required for Channel Islands National Park. The park is open all year. The Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center in Ventura is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily, except Thanksgiving Day and December 25. The Outdoors Santa Barbara Visitor Center is open 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, except Thanksgiving Day, December 25, January 1 and the first Friday in August (NPS fees page and hours page, hours page updated 26 Jun 2024, read 15 Oct 2026)

Getting there: NPS says there are no food stores or gear rental shops on the islands, and it tells visitors to contact the concessionaires for island transportation (NPS, basic information page)

Getting there: Island Packers lists its main office at 1691 Spinnaker Drive, Suite 105B, Ventura, CA 93001 and a second facility at 3550 Harbor Blvd, Oxnard, CA 93035. We found no Santa Barbara departure on its pages. Its Santa Cruz Island page puts the island 20 miles offshore from Ventura Harbor and the trip at a little over 1 hour. Its Anacapa page puts that island 12 to 14 miles off the coast and says it cannot guarantee a landing, with ticket costs prorated if the boat cannot land. It asks day visitors to arrive 45 minutes before departure and to bring all food and water, since the islands have no stores. Parking at Oxnard Harbor is free. At Ventura Harbor it costs $1 an hour for the first 4 hours or $10 for the day on Fridays, weekends and major holidays, with free parking along Spinnaker Drive (Island Packers, home, Santa Cruz Island, Anacapa Island and FAQ pages, read 15 Oct 2026)

Note: Santa Rosa Island: NPS says areas hit by the Santa Rosa Island Fire are closed during recovery (NPS current conditions page, read 15 Oct 2026). Island Packers' alert says NPS allowed limited day visits from July 1 and that campground reservations were cancelled through October 13. We could not read Island Packers fares or a full list of departure times. Its site books through a separate ticketing page

From Santa Barbara, the Pacific Surfliner timetable shows the Ventura station at 39 E. Harbor Blvd. The six southbound trains take 39 to 49 minutes between the Santa Barbara and Ventura stations. We did not confirm how far the Ventura station is from the harbor.

Solvang

Address: First Street and Copenhagen Drive, Solvang, CA 93463 (Visit Solvang, home page, read 15 Oct 2026)

Getting there: Solvang's tourism site says it is 35 miles from the south-facing beaches of Santa Barbara and 125 miles up the coast from Los Angeles (Visit Solvang, getting-to-Solvang page). The Pacific Surfliner timetable lists an Amtrak Connection bus, Route 17, from the Santa Barbara station at 2:00 p.m. and 10:05 p.m. that stops at Solvang Park at 2:45 p.m. and 10:50 p.m. Southbound, it leaves Solvang at 5:15 a.m. and 2:55 p.m. We could not read the Santa Barbara arrival time cleanly from the PDF. The timetable says all Amtrak Connection buses need advance reservations. It lists no fare (Pacific Surfliner timetable effective 4 May 2026)

Note: If you drive, Visit Solvang says the northbound US 101 off-ramp at Highway 246 in Buellton is closed from 30 September to early November 2026. Exit at Santa Rosa Road and follow Avenue of Flags to Highway 246. Highway 154 stays open. The full project is expected to finish in March 2027 (Visit Solvang, ramp closures page)

With kids

• Old Mission: youth (5 to 17) $12, children 4 and under free.

• Botanic Garden: youth (3 to 12) $14, under 3 free.

• Lotusland: youth (3 to 12) $35, ages 2 and younger free. It is closed until 17 February 2027.

• Stearns Wharf: the site lists a Sea Center. We did not confirm hours or prices.

• MTD buses: free for children under 45 inches tall, up to three children per adult.

• Downtown-Waterfront Shuttle: the route lists the Santa Barbara Zoo, and the shuttle is free for a valid zoo ticket holder, says MTD. We did not read the zoo's admission.

Free things

• Courthouse: the docent tour is free. The tower deck has no reservation, and no fee is listed.

• Stearns Wharf: the first 90 minutes of parking are free. We found no entry fee.

• State Street and the Funk Zone: no entry fee. Shops and tasting rooms charge for what they sell.

• East Beach and Butterfly Beach: we found no fee on the pages we read.

• Downtown-Waterfront Shuttle: free with a valid Amtrak ticket, says MTD, but its only listed schedule ended on 7 September 2026.

Where to stay in Santa Barbara

We did not check any hotel's rate or room list, so we give no prices. Rates change by date, so look up your own.

Downtown and the waterfront suit a first trip without a car, because the train, the wharf and the Courthouse are in or next to that area. We did not check the walking times.

Getting around

Price: MTD buses: standard one-way fare $2.50, youth (K to 12) $1.25, day pass $6.00 (also pay-as-you-go with Tap2Ride), 10-ride pass $17.50, 30-day pass $80.00. Seniors 65 and over, riders with disabilities and Medicare card holders pay a discounted fare, and we could not read the amount. Cash needs exact change. Contactless cards and mobile wallets work on all lines (Santa Barbara MTD, fares and passes page, read 15 Oct 2026)

Price: Downtown-Waterfront Shuttle: serves downtown, Amtrak, Cabrillo Boulevard, the Santa Barbara Zoo and the harbor. One-way $0.50, $0.25 for seniors and riders with disabilities, one-day pass $1.00, free for a valid Amtrak ticket. The page lists only a summer schedule, Friday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every 20 minutes, from May 29 to September 7, 2026. The page gives no service after 7 September, so do not count on the shuttle outside those dates (MTD, shuttle page, read 15 Oct 2026)

Getting there: From Santa Barbara Airport (SBA): the airport lists rental cars, shuttles, taxis, rideshare, MTD buses and a nearby Amtrak station. Pick-up and drop-off for all are in front of the terminal. The MTD bus stop is on Moffett Road across from the terminal, and MTD runs an on-demand service called The Wave. The page gives no fares, times or distance to downtown (Santa Barbara Airport, ground transportation page, read 15 Oct 2026)

Getting there: From Los Angeles Union Station, six northbound Pacific Surfliner trains leave at 5:13 a.m., 7:13 a.m., 9:13 a.m., 11:13 a.m., 3:13 p.m. and 7:13 p.m. and reach the Santa Barbara station at 7:56 a.m., 9:55 a.m., 11:47 a.m., 1:46 p.m., 5:45 p.m. and 9:56 p.m. That is 2 hours 32 minutes to 2 hours 43 minutes. Six southbound trains take 2 hours 46 minutes to 3 hours 3 minutes. The station is at 209 State Street. The timetable lists no fares (Pacific Surfliner timetable effective 4 May 2026, read 15 Oct 2026). The Pacific Surfliner schedules page also lists a service break between Los Angeles and Van Nuys on 25 October for track work, and no trains anywhere between San Diego and San Luis Obispo on 7 and 8 November

Amtrak sets fares by demand, so the price depends on the date and how full the train is. Read why in our guide to why Amtrak is so expensive, and see the rail pass guide above if you plan several legs.

Do I need a car in Santa Barbara?

For downtown and the waterfront, no. The Amtrak station at 209 State Street, State Street itself, the Funk Zone between State and Garden Streets, Stearns Wharf at the end of State Street and the Courthouse at 1100 Anacapa Street are all in the same part of town. MTD buses stop across the street from the Courthouse. The summer shuttle linked downtown, the train station and the harbor, but its listed schedule ended on 7 September.

The other sights are farther out. Lotusland tells rideshare riders to be dropped at its Cold Spring Road entrance, and its reservation includes one car ticket. The Botanic Garden's reservation includes parking for one car. We did not confirm an MTD route to the Old Mission or the Botanic Garden. For Solvang there is an Amtrak bus, and for the Channel Islands the boats leave from Ventura Harbor or Oxnard. If you want more than downtown, a rideshare or a car makes the day simpler.

Best time to go

Note: NOAA's 1991 to 2020 monthly normals, Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (NOAA NCEI, normals-monthly-1991-2020, station USW00023190, read 15 Oct 2026)

The average high ranges from 63.8 F in February to 74.5 F in August, and most rain falls from December to March. Some sights have seasons of their own. Lotusland is closed from 1 November to 17 February, and the Botanic Garden charges more from 1 March to 31 May.

What we checked and what can change

Read on 15 October 2026: Old Mission Santa Barbara's visit page; the Stearns Wharf merchants' site FAQ; the Courthouse Docent Council's hours, parking and docent tour pages; funkzone.net; the Downtown Santa Barbara association's home page; the City of Santa Barbara's East Beach and waterfront pages; Visit Santa Barbara's Butterfly Beach page; the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden's visit and hours pages; Lotusland's visit page; NPS's Channel Islands fees, hours and basic information pages; NPS's Channel Islands current conditions page; Island Packers' home, Santa Cruz Island, Anacapa Island and FAQ pages; Visit Solvang's home, getting-to-Solvang and ramp closure pages; Santa Barbara MTD's fares and shuttle pages; Santa Barbara Airport's ground transportation page; and the Pacific Surfliner schedule page and timetable PDF. NOAA's normals came from the NCEI data service.

Not confirmed: the street number and opening hours of Stearns Wharf, the church closure days for weddings and funerals, the Botanic Garden's last reservation time (its pages disagree), current Island Packers fares and departure times, which parts of Santa Rosa Island are open, the Solvang to Santa Barbara bus arrival time, the distance from the Ventura station to the harbor, Amtrak fares and Amtrak Connection bus fares, MTD senior fares, any autumn Downtown-Waterfront Shuttle service, MTD routes to the Old Mission and Botanic Garden, the zoo's admission, any beach parking limit, and any hotel rate. An old web address for the Mission now shows casino spam, so we used only santabarbaramission.org for the Mission. Prices and hours change, so check the operator's page for your date. We did not visit Santa Barbara for this page.