When we decided to take a road trip through California, I immediately thought about visiting Santa Barbara. Its climate, surrounding mountains, beaches, and houses with red-tiled roofs have earned it the nickname of the “American Riviera.” As we arrived to visit Santa Barbara, we had a splendid view that immediately made us think of the French Riviera.

As soon as we arrived, we went to the famous Santa Barbara beach with its gigantic palm trees! Barely settled on the beach, and to our absolute delight, dolphins started jumping in the water. It felt surreal because they were right there in front of us, close to the shore. Our little boy was seeing his first dolphins, and they were swimming freely! We waited for sunset, and it was an unforgettable moment.

How could you not fall for it!?

In the evening, we had dinner in a very nice restaurant, and our little one was very tired and therefore impossible to handle… 🙁 Two American women sitting next to us quickly started chatting with us. They even told us, “Do not worry about the little one, we have grandchildren, we know what it is like!” Most of the time, if that happens in France, people glare at you…

 

 

It is a very kids-friendly country, and in almost every restaurant we went to, there were high chairs and coloring pages for children (something I have still never seen in France!). I talk about it in the article “Traveling with a baby in the USA“.

The next morning, we continued visiting Santa Barbara with a lovely walk in Shoreline Park. It is a beautiful park that runs along the sea on higher ground and overlooks Santa Barbara. It is ideal for a walk, and there are even small playgrounds for children. What can I say except that the place is stunning and exactly like in the movies (even if it sounds cliché, I really cannot say anything else!). On the day we were there, they were filming a commercial with moms and children. So we got to watch the filming, and it was nice.

 

We continued our walk along the seafront to the famous Stearns Wharf. It is a wooden pier on the Pacific Ocean that offers a magnificent view over Santa Barbara and its mountains. We took the time to stroll along Stearns Wharf, where we saw restaurants and a few shops. For fishing fans, it is possible to rent fishing rods at the end of the pier.

We then strolled along the waterfront and visited downtown. It is easy to explore on foot and very pretty. As you probably guessed, like many others, we fell under the spell of this city with its Hispanic style. For lunch, we went to a well-known organic restaurant in downtown Santa Barbara. In California, it is really possible to eat healthy and tasty food if you want to, especially if you are not a fan of hamburgers at every meal. 🙂

 

In the afternoon, we went back to the beach to relax. We could not go swimming because the Pacific Ocean water is really too cold, even in the middle of August! But we fully enjoyed the view and the calm atmosphere on the beach. We saw quite a lot of people jogging, and many were also playing volleyball. Santa Barbara is a city where people seem to do a lot of sport, especially on the beach.

In the evening, we had dinner in a very simple little Mexican restaurant recommended by the Routard guide. For some dishes on the menu, it was marked “spicy” or “not spicy.” Well, I can tell you that even “not spicy” for them was very spicy for me. But we had a great meal, and that is what matters most. 😉

 

Our short stay to visit Santa Barbara came to an end. We would gladly have stayed a few more days, but other destinations were waiting for us.

As we were leaving this magnificent city, we were already thinking that one day we would come back…