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Budget Friendly Adventures: Santa Barbara

Budget Friendly Adventures: Santa Barbara

Welcome back everyone, to our weekly blog series: Budget Friendly Adventures. Today we are stopping by Santa Barbara! I know what your thinking -- "Santa Barbara, that can't be too budget friendly". And your right, there is a lot of things to do in Santa Barbara that do cost a pretty penny. But there is just as much to do that is free or budget friendly! Today we will talk about both inexpensive and somewhat expensive things to do there. We want to remind everyone that this is a weekly series and we are working to do more than just written blog posts. We are also working on some video blogs, and podcasts, so please subscribe at the bottom of this page so you can be the first to know when all this is available. 

We start our weekend in Santa Barbara after a few hours in traffic coming from our Disneyland trip. I don't know what had caused so much traffic but my legs were starting to get anxious. You know that feeling of being confined for too long and you just want to get out and run? Well that's what I was feeling and I know Cassidy was feeling the same way. We decided our first stop would be Chase Palm Park but on the beach side near the Chase Palm Park Center! Why Chase Palm Park? It was pet friendly and we had our fur baby, Aiko with us so it was much needed stop. It turned out to be such a beautiful park. A nice place to enjoy a walk right along side the beach. Dog friendly and beautiful palm trees that line the park. Although the beach in this area is not dog friendly, the path and pier are. 



The best part of this park and path is that its free! Getting to enjoy the nice ocean air and talking a nice stroll at sunset was definitely worth it. You can absolutely enjoy a day here. Bring a frisbee, your lunch and enjoy a picnic. Weather of course is great, when we went it was December. With a sweater you can enjoy the park no problem. At the harbor there is a lot to see. Once you walk down the Wharf there is Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center. At $12 for adults and $7-$8 for kids it's a fun and family friendly activity to do. You can also have some wine at Eat This Shoot That, here you can do some wine tasting and food touring. 

After a few hours walking around and enjoying the fresh air it was time to check in to our hotel. We had our dog so it was important for us to find a hotel that was pet friendly. We stayed at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beach Front Resort. They are pet friendly, and have an entire building on the resort dedicated just for guests with their pets. We throughly enjoyed our stay here! We played tennis and ran our dog around the resort grounds. If you are looking for more budget friendly hotels there are a lot. The Harbor House Hotel has a home feel with full kitchens and living rooms. Another awesome place to stay is Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara. Both great places to stay and under $200 a night. 





The Downtown area of Santa Barbara is a really cool place to hang out. Lots of things to do and yummy food to try. Located on State St., it begins right on W Cabrillo Blvd but continues a lot further down once you go through the underpass of highway 101. There are numerous restaurants ranging from inexpensive to super pricy. There is also an array of shopping and storefronts. Now if you venture off the main street to the bordering streets Helena Ave, Anacapa St, Gary Ave, and Santa Barbara St., you will see a variety of wine tasting rooms, breweries and farmers markets. As well as art stores and museums. Santa Barbara has a lot to offer and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there. What are your favorite things to do in Santa Barbara? Favorite place to eat? We would love to hear from you. 

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