Santa Barbara -two days with tweens?
 

Hi all,

We are spending two days in Santa Barbara on our CA road trip this July. Will be in SB over a Friday and Saturday night.

Trying to decide what activities would be best for our 11 and 13 year old girls. We plan to visit MOXI bc older girl is especially interested in science stuff. Also notionally have down the SB Courthouse. Is Stearns Wharf centre for younger kids? I know the mission is well regarded but it's not really of interest to us.

Should we add in some beach time? East Beach? Butterfly Beach? Is the water swimmable in July temps-wise? We will be kayaking elsewhere on the trip. We are staying in Goleta.

Thanks in advance!

Do they like to shop? It's a fun college town which should appeal to tweens.

Is the mission of interest? It's beautiful

Here's a list of Santa Barbara attractions.

http://www.santabarbara.com/points_of_interest/

I also recommend a trip into the Santa Inez valley just north of SB. The Danish town of Solvang there is interesting, and there is an Ostrich farm at the west end of the Valley. Visit the huge Moreton Bay fig tree near the railroad station in downtown SB.

In general, the water along the Pacific Coast is quite chilly, even in summer. The surfers use wet suits.

UCSB is well known as one of the premier "party schools" in the US. (FWIW.)

See if there are any interesting concerts at the Santa Barbara Bowl:
https://sbbowl.com/concerts
We always used to stop at the Harbor Restaurant (valet parking) for lunch, if you want to eat outside Longboards is upstairs there.

Ok thanks all. Will definitely add in the fig tree and Solvang - I am curious to try Danish patries!

I think we will have more than enough to do in 2 days. Will allow a bit of time for shopping.

Any last thoughts if it's a must see to visit Stearns Wharf?

Just realized that Longboards/Harbour restaurant are on Stearns Wharf so could kill two birds?

Besides Danish pastries, you will want to sample the aebleskiver. Wonderful!

https://www.solvangrestaurant.com/about-aebleskiver/

Solvang is one of the cleanest towns we've ever visited.

Your girls will enjoy Solvang. Lots of little nik-nak shops, restaurants, and bakeries.

We were at Sterns Wharf last week. There is a LOT of heavy construction that's going on around the beach end of the Wharf. I though the Wharf was quite tacky anyway. Nice views back to Santa Barbara & the mountains - but that's all, IMO.

The shopping street was a lot more interesting than I expected. The area closest to Sterns Wharf in what the map we used called "Old Town" was less interesting than the section farther north on the same shopping street.

Stu Dudley

Moxie was fabulous! Went a few weeks ago and all ages loved it! You might want to book online, it just opened and might be crowded.

Agree about Stearns Wharf, it's ok but not a must-see. Upper State Street is fun to walk along, and if you like cute little unusual gift stores, stop at Lewis and Clark. Lots of inexpensive jewelry, gift items, and the loosely laid brick floor clicks and clacks as you walk on it. If you get off the 101 at Mission, go towards the mission a block past State to Anacapa then make a right, there are lots of parking lots. Stop in one after Victoria or Figueroa and you'll be far enough north for the best areas of State street.

If you want a restaurant recommendation, we always go to Oilo pizzeria up off Victoria and State. Fabulous food, nice ambiance, reasonable prices. Highly recommended!!

We like going for walks in the Botanical gardens (up past the mission). The Natural History museum near the mission is fantastic for ALL ages, I think they'd really like that. The museum on Stearns Wharf is very, very small and IMO not worth it - we were in and out in 25 minutes. But the one by the mission - hours. Very cool bird exhibits (taxidermy), bugs, a T Rex, geodes, Chumash Indian exhibits, and sometimes they bring out the live birds of prey, too.
http://www.sbnature.org/

Santa Barbara is our favorite town - we live about 1.5 hours away and go just for lunch and a walk, about every six weeks. So relaxing! Have a wonderful time!