5 Things to do in Santa Barbara with Kids #FamilyTravel

Posted on Jul 14, 2015 | 0 comments

Santa Barbara is a sleepy, beautiful, beach town on the way North along the PCH from Malibu. It takes us about an hour to get up there and is so much fun!

If you are looking for a fun day trip or a different place to take a vacation to this year then Santa Barbara is a fun option for you. There are some amazing resorts and fun Inn’s as well as plenty of activity for the whole family.

5 Things to do in Santa Barbara with Kids

#1 Thing to do in Santa Barbara with Kids

Have a beach day! Their beaches are beautiful and the pier is lots of fun to walk down. There are plenty of great restaurants to stop into and you can even rent bikes and go for a ride on the bike path that runs along the beach. Super fun!

#2 Thing to do in Santa Barbara with Kids

The Santa Barbara Zoo! This is one of my fave zoos. We have been there many times. It is clean, the animals are always in good form and look as happy as any zoo animal can, the staff is super friendly and there is even a fun little train that runs around the whole park. There are plenty of picnic spots, a few restaurants with good food and nice playpark for the kids to burn off some of that energy on! If you wanted to speed through it, you could see the whole thing in about 2 hours, but if you take your time you can easily spend the majority of the day here. The whole zoo is completely stroller and handicap friendly and the views are incredible.

#3 Thing to do in Santa Barbara with Kids

Have a photo scavenger hunt at the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens. This is a very nice park in a canyon after driving through a beautiful neighborhood. We had a really fun time here and the kids loved having a list of things they had to photograph to win a prize (ice cream of course!). It was a lovely walk that took about 2 hours, and most of it is stroller and handicap friendly. We saw a dam built in the 1800’s, redwood trees and walked an ancient Native American trail!

#4 Thing to do in Santa Barbara with Kids

Ride the Lil’ Toot! This is a fun little ferry boat ride across the harbor from Santa Barbara Harbor to Stearns Warf continuously. A family of 4 is just $10 so this is a great, inexpensive way to see catch a unique view of Santa Barbara! They take passengers on a first come first serve basis so check the schedule here and just show up!

#5 Thing to do in Santa Barbara with Kids

Spend some time on their unique kid imagined playground in Alameda Park. This is a really cool playpark that will fascinate the mind of any child. It was completely created by kids and built by local adults, you will definitely want to swing by to check it out for a bit when in town!

We love coming up to Santa Barbara! What are your favorite things to do here?

Malibu Mama Loves Xx

#FamilyTravel