21 Best Sights in The Central Coast, California

The beach's usually gentle surf makes it ideal for families with young children. It's a local favorite because you can walk for miles in both directions when tides are low. Leashed dogs are allowed on the main stretch of beach and westward; they are allowed to romp off-leash east of the slough at the beach entrance. The parking lots fill early on weekends and throughout the summer, but the park is relatively quiet at other times. Walk along the beach just a few hundreds yards away from the main steps at the entrance to escape crowds on warm-weather days. Surfers, swimmers, stand-up paddlers, and boogie boarders regularly ply the waves, and photographers come often to catch the vivid sunsets. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguard (in summer); parking; showers; toilets. Best for: sunset; surfing; swimming; walking.

The wide swath of sand at the east end of Cabrillo Boulevard is a great spot for people-watching. East Beach has sand volleyball courts, summertime lifeguard and sports competitions, and arts-and-crafts shows on Sunday and holidays, plus Saturday on holiday weekends. You can use showers, a weight room, and lockers (bring your own towel) and rent umbrellas and boogie boards at the Cabrillo Bathhouse. Next door, there's an elaborate jungle-gym play area for kids. Hotels line the boulevard across from the beach. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards (in summer); parking (fee); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: surfing; swimming; walking.

The 37-acre estate—with gardens that are often ranked among the world's 10 best—once belonged to the Polish opera singer Ganna Walska, who purchased it in 1941 and lived here until her death in 1984. Many of the exotic trees and other subtropical flora were planted in 1882 by horticulturist R. Kinton Stevens. On the docent-led or self-guided tour—the only options for visiting unless you're a member (reserve well ahead as spots fill fast)—you'll see an outdoor theater, a topiary garden, a lotus pond, and a huge collection of rare cycads, an unusual plant genus that has been around since the time of the dinosaurs.

It took more than two decades of unrelenting community advocacy to develop this exceptional science hub, which opened in early 2017 in a three-story, Spanish-Mediterranean building next to the train station and a block from Stearns Wharf and the beach. The 70-plus interactive exhibits—devoted to science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM)—are integrated so curious visitors of all ages can explore seven themed areas (called tracks).

In the Speed Track, build a model car and race it against two others on a test track—then use the collected data to reconfigure your car for improved performance. In the Fantastic Forces space, construct a contraption to send on a test flight in a wind column. Other sections include the Light, Tech, and Sound Tracks, plus the Innovation Workshop maker space and the Interactive Media Track, which hosts temporary exhibits. On the rooftop Sky Garden, which has terrific downtown panoramas, make music with wind- and solar-powered instruments, splash around in the interactive Whitewater feature, and peer down through glass floor windows to view the happy faces of explorers below.

Dating from 1786 and widely referred to as the "Queen of Missions," this is one of the most beautiful and frequently photographed buildings in coastal California. The architecture evolved from adobe-brick buildings with thatch roofs to more permanent edifices as the mission's population burgeoned. An 1812 earthquake destroyed the third church built on the site. Its replacement, the present structure, is still a functioning Catholic church. Old Mission Santa Barbara has a splendid Spanish/Mexican colonial art collection, as well as Chumash sculptures and the only Native American–made altar and tabernacle left in the California missions.

Hand-painted tiles and a spiral staircase infuse the courthouse, a national historic landmark, with the grandeur of a Moorish palace. This magnificent building was completed in 1929. An elevator rises to an arched observation area in the tower that provides a panoramic view of the city. Before or after you take in the view, you can (if it's open) visit an engaging gallery devoted to the workings of the tower's original, still operational Seth Thomas clock. The murals in the second-floor ceremonial chambers were painted by an artist who did backdrops for some of Cecil B. DeMille's films. Take a self-guided tour, or join a free one-hour docent-led tour, daily at 2 pm and weekdays at 10:30 am.

This peaceful lagoon and its gardens sit north of East Beach. Bike trails and footpaths, punctuated by signs identifying native and migratory birds, skirt the lagoon.

In 1923, copper king and Montana senator William Andrews Clark bought the 24-acre Bellosguardo (Beautiful Lookout) estate on a bluff between East Beach and Butterfly Beach. After his death, his widow, Anna, built her own summer residence there, designed by famed architect Reginald Johnson and completed in 1937. When she died in 1963, the property passed on to daughter Huguette. (The Clarks’ other daughter, Andrée, died as a teenager, and the family donated funds to create the adjacent Andrée Clark Bird Refuge in her honor.)

Although Huguette, a recluse in New York who died in 2011 at age 104, hadn’t visited Bellosguardo in more than 50 years, she kept it maintained as if she and her family would walk through the door at any moment. Huguette willed the estate to a foundation so that it could become an arts and culture center, and today, Bellosguardo is slowly opening to the public.

For now, access is only via 90-minute, docent-led tours, conducted several times a day, of the garden and the ground floor of the main house. Of particular note are the carved wood panels in several of the rooms and the European art and antiques that once adorned the Clark luxury town house in New York. To book tours, which sell out quickly, click on the "Become a Supporter" option of the website, and subscribe to the mailing list for the latest information on ticket releases.

The country's largest collection of old horse-drawn vehicles—painstakingly restored—is exhibited here, with everything from polished hearses to police buggies to old stagecoaches and circus vehicles. In August, the Old Spanish Days Fiesta borrows many of the vehicles for a jaunt around town. Docents lead free tours from 1 to 4 pm the third Sunday of the month.

Founded in 1782, El Presidio was one of four military strongholds established by the Spanish along the coast of California. The park encompasses much of the original site in the heart of downtown. El Cuartel, the adobe guardhouse, is the oldest building in Santa Barbara and the second oldest in California.

A formerly run-down industrial neighborhood near the waterfront and train station, the Funk Zone has evolved into a hip hangout filled with wine-tasting rooms, arts-and-crafts studios, murals, breweries, distilleries, restaurants, and small shops. It's fun to poke around the three-square-block district.  Street parking is limited, so leave your car in a nearby city lot and cruise up and down the alleys on foot.

Since the late 1800s, the tree-studded hills and valleys of this town have attracted the rich and famous: Hollywood icons, business tycoons, tech moguls, and old-money families. Shady roads wind through the community, which consists mostly of gated estates. Swank boutiques line Coast Village Road, where well-heeled residents such as Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle find peaceful refuge from the paparazzi. Residents also hang out in the Upper Village, a chic shopping area with restaurants and cafés at the intersection of San Ysidro and East Valley roads.

Five miles of scenic trails meander through the garden's 78 acres of native plants. The Mission Dam, built in 1806, stands just beyond the redwood grove and above the restored aqueduct that once carried water to the Old Mission Santa Barbara. More than a thousand plant species thrive in various themed sections, including mountains, deserts, meadows, redwoods, and Channel Islands.  A conservation center dedicated to rare and endangered plant species presents rotating exhibitions.

The historical society's museum exhibits decorative and fine arts, furniture, costumes, and documents from the town's past. Adjacent to it is the Gledhill Library, a collection of books, photographs, maps, and manuscripts. Tours are by appointment only. 

California's seafaring history is the focus here. High-tech, hands-on exhibits, such as a virtual sportfishing activity that lets participants haul in a "big one" and a local surfing history retrospective, make this a fun stop for families. In 2018, the museum introduced a fascinating History of Oil in the Santa Barbara Channel exhibit that traces the Chumash Indians' use of natural seeps to the infamous 1969 oil spill that spawned the modern environmental movement. The museum's shining star is a rare, 17-foot-tall Fresnel lens from the historic Point Conception Lighthouse. Ride the elevator to the fourth-floor observation area for great harbor views.

The highlights of this museum's permanent collection include ancient sculpture, Asian art, impressionist paintings, contemporary art, photography, and American works in several mediums.

A gigantic blue whale skeleton greets you at the entrance to this 17-acre complex, whose major draws include its planetarium, paleo and marine life exhibits, and gem and mineral displays. Startlingly alive-looking stuffed specimens in the Mammal and Bird Halls include a smiling grizzly bear and nesting California condors. A room of dioramas illustrates Native American Chumash history and culture while a Santa Barbara Gallery showcases the region's unique biodiversity. Outdoors, nature trails wind through the serene oak woodlands, a Chumash plant garden, and a summer butterfly pavilion.

This compact zoo's gorgeous grounds shelter elephants, gorillas, Australian wildlife, exotic birds, and big cats, and has many exhibits that educate visitors on conservation efforts to save endangered species like the California condor and the red-legged frog. For small children, there's a scenic railroad and barnyard area where they can feed domestic sheep. Kids especially love feeding the giraffes from a view deck overlooking the beach. One-hour walking tours that focus on conservation and animal care are offered weekends at 11:45 and 3:15. The palm-studded lawns on a hilltop overlooking the beach are perfect spots for family picnics.

A branch of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the center specializes in Santa Barbara Channel marine life and conservation. Though small compared to aquariums in Monterey and Long Beach, this is a fascinating, hands-on marine science laboratory that lets you participate in experiments, projects, and exhibits, including touch pools. The two-story glass walls here open to stunning ocean, mountain, and city views.

Built in 1872, Stearns Wharf is Santa Barbara's most visited landmark. Expansive views of the mountains, cityscape, and harbor unfold from every vantage point on the three-block-long pier. Although it's a nice walk from the Cabrillo Boulevard parking areas, you can also park on the pier and then wander through the shops or stop for a meal at one of the wharf's restaurants.

More than 30 winery tasting rooms in five neighborhoods form the Urban Wine Trail. Most are within walking distance of the waterfront and the lower State Street shopping and restaurant district. Santa Barbara Winery ( 28 Anacapa St.), The Valley Project ( 116 E. Yanonali St.), and Grassini Family Vineyards ( 24 El Paseo) are good places to start your oenological trek.