Santa Bárbara travel tips

As I gazed out the window of the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, watching the California coastline unfold before me, I couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement. My girlfriends and I were on our way to Santa Barbara for a long-awaited weekend getaway, and the journey itself was already setting the perfect mood.

“Lanzarote is a place of secrets and mysteries,” the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar once said of the place he used as a backdrop for his 2009 film “Broken Embraces.” “After I set foot on the island, the tensions I bring from Madrid disappear, as if this land had healing qualities.”

Sunsets, sandy beaches, and sunshine collide in glamorous Santa Barbara. With the Santa Ynez Mountains looming in the background and pretty Spanish downtown streets to explore, this central California resort suits outdoor enthusiasts as well as city slickers and foodies. All you need is a place to get your beauty sleep. Here’s our selection of the coolest Airbnb Santa Barbara homes and beach house rentals.

Bien Nacido, Kimsey, Larner, Peak, Moulds. Exquisite wines from five of the most storied vineyards in Santa Barbara are front and center at Dalita and Duncan Harmon’s Terre et Sang, a new tasting room on Los Olivos’ main drag that showcases the wines of the same name, produced at the mother-son duo’s winery in nearby Buellton — the best Grenaches I’ve ever tasted from Santa Barbara County. When I learned that winemaker Duncan Harmon had no previous experience in the wine industry, I was gobsmacked by the soulfulness of his single-site Syrahs and Grenaches. Lithe, balanced, elegant and terroir-driven, the wines speak to the essential nature of each vineyard site, which I toured with him and his mom, Dalita, who manages the business side of the operation, over three days last August. But my first question was: How did two newcomers to the wine industry gain access to these grapes, which are among winemakers’ most coveted vineyards in the region? The proof is in the bottle.

In Santa Barbara, California, the celebrities who live here—Harry and Meghan, Oprah, Gwyneth—aren’t the ones followed and fawned over. Whales, monarch butterflies, and a diversity of other wildlife draw fans who go on whale-watching cruises and e-bike tours, participate in beach cleanups, and volunteer for annual butterfly counts.