The Santa Barbara Zoo is a beautiful place to spend an afternoon. It is open daily from 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Reservations are required for general admission. Admission for adults is $25 and children 2-15 are $15.

State Street is the heart of Downtown Santa Barbara's retail and entertainment district, an expansive 10-block pedestrian walkway between Sola and Gutierrez Streets. You can explore, browse, shop, sip, and dine while enjoying the architectural beauty, sights and sounds of State Street—without car traffic. The conditions couldn’t be more ideal for taking a stroll!

Explore California’s unique natural landscape at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, a 78-acre living museum designed entirely with California-native plants. Five miles of easy walking trails crisscross the wild-crafted gardens, so you can venture from a towering coastal redwood forest to an inland cacti-filled desert in just one hike. Take in sweeping views of the San Ynez Mountains and Santa Barbara’s Channel Islands and wander among more than 1,000 plants, trees and flowers that exemplify the diverse botanical beauty of the region.

The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History preserves extensive natural history collections of approximately 3.5 million objects used for research ranging from anthropology to zoology. Every year, they discover and describe new species, investigate past and current changes in our natural environment, and assist in projects of environmental conservation and restoration.

Discover the wonders of ocean life at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center. Located on historic Stearns Wharf, this highly interactive regional aquarium offers you close encounters with marine animals from the Santa Barbara Channel. In addition to permanent exhibits, the Sea Center hosts unique events and special educational programming.

Celebrate 5,000 years of human history and creativity on a visit to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA). First opened in 1941, the Museum is located in the heart of downtown in a stately building that was once the Santa Barbara Post Office. SBMA’s renowned 25,000-piece permanent collection spans both the centuries and the globe, with works ranging from classical antiquities to modern installations. Explore a fascinating array of 19th-century French, British and American art; 20th-century and contemporary European, North American and Latin American art; Asian art; sculptures; photography; and works on paper.