Paso Robles or Santa Barbara??
 

My husband and I are attending a wedding in LA and would like to visit some wineries in the Santa Barbara area. We're torn regarding where we should stay while in town. I'm interested in any advice on region/town as well as hotels. Thanks in advance!!

If wineries are your main interest I would stan in Paso Robles, Los Olivos, or Solvang since they are closer to the wineries. Santa Barbara is also very nice to visit for the beach and downtown, but the main wineries are a long drive.

Are you implying you wantto commute to the wedding from Paso Robles?
That would be too far and too time consuming IMHO.
I'd even reconsider S.B. for that purpose.
Before or after the wedding, that would be different. Although I think the Santa Ynez Valley wineries are probably more easily accessible from S.B.
S.B. lodging is likely to be more expensive, though.

In Los Olivos, check out the Fess Parker Inn & Spa. In SB, we loved the Harbor View Inn. :)
Paso has many wineries, close together, more than SB. Check out the Summerwood Inn in Paso, we loved their wines and the property there is very, very nice. Have fun! ***kim*** ((f))

I would stick to the Solvang/ Santa ynez/ Los Olivos area. That way you could spend some time in Santa Barbara also.

Santa Barbara is an hour to an hour and a half's drive from LA depending on what part of the city your wedding will be. I assume you'll get a hotel near the wedding for, at least, the day of the event and spend a few days north either before or after.

As others have said, Paso Robles is closer to a greater number of wineries than is SB but it's yet another couple of hours north. The Santa Ynez valley is about 30 minutes from SB and there are quite a few good wineries there.

Be aware that, if you're traveling in the Summer, that Paso Robles and Santa Ynez's temperatures are often in the 100's - Santa Barbara (unlike them) is near the ocean and stays a comfortable 70ish degrees most of the year (with temperatures very rarely in the 90s or 100s).

If ALL you want to do is wineries, then stay in Los Olivos, Buellton or Santa Ynez.

If you want to go on beach walks, do lots of people-watching and putter around, then SB would be a better choice with a day trip to Santa Ynez/Buellton/Los Olivos (they're all in "the Santa Ynez Valley") for wine tasting.

my .02 :)

Thanks so much for all the great responses. We're actually not commuting to the wedding -- instead we're going to stay in LA during the wedding and then begin our trip north.

Look into Cambria too...

Cambria is a charming place with many nice places to stay on Moonstone Beach Drive. Nice shops and restaurants here, also. ***kim*** ((f))

If you got Paso Robles, check out this website for wineries: www.pasowine.com - great maps and LOTS of information. I prefer Paso Robles to SB for wineries.

How about spending 1 night in SB and a few in Paso Robles? My husband and I recently stayed at a wonderful B&B in Paso Robles- Le Domaine at Moss Ridge b(ledomainbb.com). I spent hours researching the "perfect" place to stay because it was for my husband's bday and this was it! There are over 100 wineries in Paso. There are more inns than hotels in Paso and the advantage of staying in a smaller place is that you will get personal recommendations to wineries, restaurants, etc. You can even get *free* wine tasting vouchers.
SB is a beautiful city but not a great winery place. The wineries are about 30 min. away and fairly spread out. Los Olivos/Santa Ynez area is small and not much to do. Paso has a cute downtown and some fabulous restaurants. Actually Los Olivos does too, it just depends what you're looking for. I live between the 2 cities and love them both, but for different reasons. Good luck deciding!