Santa Barbara Trip...need some suggestions

[octechgeek]

hey guys,
I'm planning take a cruise to Santa Barbara and spend a weekend there but have know clue where should i stay and what to do? Wine tasting would be cool and maybe something to do after that. I know some of your are very familiar with SB and could give some great recommendations on where i should book my hotel (without breaking the bank) between the wineries and maybe downtown. Might also need some good suggestion on restaurants too.

 

[SoCalDude]

See Calvin's Santa Barbara thread.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56898&highlight=santa+barbara

 

[CDX_NSX]

The Santa Barbara wine country isn't in the city of Santa Barbara itself. The wineries are about an hour north of the city.

Here's some info you can use: http://www.santabarbara.com/winecountry

Within the city itself, there's basically the beach, the wharf and shopping. On Sundays, there is a crafts fair along the beach near the wharf. Info

More info.

 

[queenlives]

if you're into it, the sb "wine country" area is wonderful for bicycling... hilly, beautiful and once away (say 3 blocks) from any main city street, there is next to zero traffic.

north of sb is a small town called "solvang" that can be a bit of fun to spend a few hours/afternoon walking through. on your way to solvang from hiway 101, you'll be in a town called "buellton" and in buellton, there is the most interesting and remarkable best-kept automotive secret on the west coast (ok, at least in buellton http://www.oilstick.com. this place is so packed with automotive history that it'll keep you busy for several full days - or weeks, i'm sure - if you let it. it's tucked away on a residential street and has no obvious signage - it's really a boys hangout with the name "museum" tacked on to add "legitimacy" to it. if you can talk them into letting you in to walk around, it's free. the guy who collected all this stuff, jack mendenhall, passed away earlier this year, so you won't get a chance to hear his stories from him, but his buddies tell them pretty well, too.

finally, if you're a scuba diver, truth aquatics out of sb runs a pretty nice charter dive operation and are highly recommended.

have fun, nice area there.
hal