callmedtop

Hi everyone - my fiancee and I are planning on taking a few days directly after our wedding to explore Southern California and was hoping for some input on how much time to spend in LA and Santa Barbara. We've only been to LA once before (for a couple of days - didn't do much), and never to SB.

We have no specific things to do on our list - a few nice restaurants, hopefully some pool/beach time, etc. We are visiting in mid-April so hopefully weather is warm enough.

We fly in Sunday night and are booked for 3 nights at the new W-A Beverly Hills followed by 2 nights at the Belmond El Encanto. Trying to decide if it's worth adding an additional night in either city, or if 3/2 is a good amount of time. We're happy to fly back Friday night (for 5 nights total) or extend to 6 nights by leaving on Saturday evening instead.

We already have flights into LAX but return flights are not yet booked yet.

Thanks for any suggestions you may have!

DaileyB

A long time ago, I graduated from High School in Carpinteria, which is southernmost Santa Barbara County. Among the attractions in SB are the wharf (which includes an Aquarium -- also on a very nice beach) and the Mission, which was the chief mission in California when Cal was part of Mexico. There is additionally, the Santa Barbara botanical gardens. The main downtown street, State St., is half touristy and would be fun for some people.


Also, if the surf is up from the right direction, Rincon (the border of Santa Barbara County and Ventura County on HWY 101) is a world famous surf spot. Because of the angle of the peninsula, when breaking correctly, surfers can get a quarter of mile ride at Rincon. Montecito, between Santa Barbara and Carpinteria is a famous destination for the wealthy and stars. For instance, Oprah has a home there. There isn't that much for most people to do there, but if you want to say that you visited a place where many famous people live, this is one place to go. See http://www.montecito-estate.com/cris...santa-barbara/

If you are looking to save money, the motels in Carpinteria are cheaper than Santa Barbara and Carpinteria has a nice beach that is roughly 1 mile long.

TWA884

The ocean is still quite cold in April; water temps will be in the high fifties to low sixties.

There are some excellent wineries in the Santa Barbara area.

callmedtop

I'm not much of an ocean guy - more a sitting around guy - so hopefully the air temperatures are warm enough for that!

Thanks for the suggestions - we had planned on doing some winery hopping while in SB.

seat38a

There are tasting rooms in SB for wine tasting. Lots of them in the funk zone area. I suggest you eat at the Lark one day your in SB. Renaurds has good pastries, breakfast and lunch. We usually take the train up to SB as a day trip but if you have a car, check out Los Olivos. It is not in the city but in the county and they have many wine tasting rooms. The area is famous for Syrah.

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