My husband and I would like a romantic place to stay for a couple of nights in the Santa Barbara area. We'd like it to be fairly upscale, but casual too. I've heard that the area has a Spanish influence. Could you recommend a hotel or b&b with this Spanish flair?

A small hotel which is very romantic is El Encanto. It is up in the residential hills of Santa Barbara, however, not at the beach. If you want to be at the beach, get a nice room at the Biltmore or even more famous to the area, the Montecito Inn in nearby Montecito was once owned by Charlie Chaplin (I think) and has been the location for many movies. It's on the beach and quite secluded. Sta. Barbara has many small B&Bs as well but none that I can think of that are particularly "Spanish". All of Santa Barbara is pretty casual but people do take some time to make it "chic casual". The downtown shopping area is called the Paseo and certainly has a Mexican flavor as does pretty city hall. There are some super Mexican restaurants. The favorite of most of us is Super Rica Taqueria. Not fancy but some of the best Mexican food you'll ever find. Don't forget to visit the mission if you want a real taste of Spanish/Mexican architecture and a sense of history of California. Enjoy.

I'll disagree with Kam on the Four Seasons Biltmore. We took my mother in law there for her 70th b-day. I was quite disappointed with the rooms. It's a very casual place, by intent of course, with Spanish styling, but hardly on a par with many other top-end hotels in its price range. I'd check out the nice B&B's. I wouldn't return to the Biltmore. Santa Barbara itself is very nice, of course.

Check out the Simpson House Inn--it's supposed to be one of the best B&Bs in the country.

You also may want to call the Villa Rosa...a very nice B&B...the El Encanto is very nice as is the Biltmore.