16 Days between San Diego and Santa Barbara

This family of 4 (two teens) spent 4 days in Anaheim and 4 days in Santa Barbara last summer. We loved the beaches in Orange County, we found the piers great for people watching and we loved Rubies Shakes or was it Rudies. We went to DL and Knotts Berry Farm. I would recommend DL to you even though you are not traveling with kids but Knotts Berry Farm is strictly for teenagers.

One highlight of the trip was the Getty Museum - it has a nice art collection but the buildings and gardens are really what its all about.

Another highlight was seeing Hearst Castle. Its about 2.5 to 3 hours north of Santa Barbara - made for a long day but it was worth it.

We stayed at the Fess Parker Doubletree in Santa Barbara - very nice - large comfortable rooms, nice pool. We rented bikes and rode along the bike trail which was a lot of fun. There was an art show along the trail that was okay but we didn't see anything worth buying.

There is plenty of golfing around and shopping to poke around. There was a farmer's market going on State St one early evening and that was cool.

Overall we really enjoyed our trip and would love to go back again. Enjoy your trip.

Some time in Laguna Beach would be nice, go to the beach on back of the Montage if you like tidepools. Main Beach is nice for sunning and people watching. Las Brisas is a good casual restaurant with beautiful views. Have fun! ***kim***

In addition to the Getty, consider the Gene Autry Museum in LA's Griffith Park. Morro Bay is worth a side trip from the 101. If you're into wine, there is great wine country around Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo as well as Santa Barbara/Santa Maria. Check out some of the historic California Missions in places such as Ventrau, Santa Barbara, Lompoc and more. DO make the trip up to San Simeon for the Hearst Castle.
Farmer's Market and The Grove along with the Santa Monica pier are interesting sports in the LA basin.
Have fun!

Lucky you! The above replies have some gems. I want to double boom boom on the Santa Monica Farmer's Market on the weekend. In that area, you can either rent a bike or your hotel may have their own for your use. Biking along the beach between Santa Monica and Venice makes for a wonderful morning. The Malibu Getty has one of the nicest museum lunch stops I've ever experienced! The big Getty in West L.A. is one of the world's greatest museums. Give it a good dollop of time if you are art lovers. Up near Santa Barbara, if you like to enjoy nature and the ocean and want to get away from the hustle, you might like to take the hour-long boat trip out to Santa Cruz Island (from Ventura) in the Channel Islands National Park. Bring you lunch and sunscreen--there's not a lot of shade, but you can watch the whales from the top of the hill overlooking the ocean. These hiking trails are not so rough---running shoes are enough. You will not find anything for sale here--no commercial businesses are here except for kayaking guide companies. Island Packers can fill you in on all the details. They know all and share all.

For the Santa Barbara portion of your trip...Santa Barbara has many great B & Bs and boutique hotels. A couple that come to mind are The Inn of the Spanish Garden (well located and resonable), The Simpson House ( outstanding but pricey), The Upham ( resonable and has a great restaurant).
You could easily spend a day touring the wineries which start less than a hour from downtown. The Hearst Castle is about a 2 hour drive but it is a must see. There are also a number of whale watching and sunset cruises from The Marina. Enjoy!

Follow the Mission road from San Diego to Santa Barbara. Stop at as many missions as you can and stop at as many beaches as you can. The missions will teach you the history of the area while stopping at the beaches will give you an appreciation of the varied coastline in Southern California.

In San Diego be sure to visit the Zoo and Wild Animal Park. In Anaheim, you can visit Disneyland or Universal Studios. On the Central Coast there are a lot of good wineries.

If you get there after the start of Baseball season, you could also attend games at three different stadiums. Padres, Angels and Dodgers.

In Santa Barbara, the Harbor View Inn is great. It sits right across from the ocean on Cabrillo Blvd and is across the street from Stearns Wharf which has restaurants, etc. Book either room 325 or 225 which both have a fantastic view of the ocean and are large comfortable rooms. This property is very manicured and pretty and the pool area is nice as well.