Santa Barbara is a beautiful city that has a lot of nature... it has the beach and also majestic mountains. The waves are good for surfing, and Isla Vista is the UCSB student town which has a lot of small shops and food joints. La Superica is an amazing authentic Mexican food place that is very popular also. Downtown SB and Paseo Nuevo are nice places for shopping, and the mission is a pretty and historic place. If you are looking for a nice relaxing time, Santa Barbara is the place to go!

Living in the bay area, Santa Barbara is a great place to go for a 3-4 day trip. There are so many shops, restaurants, and places to check out. From State St. to the wharf, and even the Mission, Santa Barbara has a lot to offer. The courthouse offers a spectular view of the city and the weather is great almost any time of the year.

Since moving to Santa Barbara I've had the time to see and do nearly all the different types of recreation the city has to offer. With the highlights being swimmng, kayaking, bike riding, running, hiking, fishing, and sailing. The best swimming in Santa Barbara is at West Beach (which means west of the pier) because the water doesn't get deep in any one place unless you go past the buoys of course also West Beach has very little seaweed during the summer. If you're wanting to avoid seaweed the best beach is in front of the 4 Seasons Biltmore Hotel but it does have more moderate sized rocks in the surf. The most fun kayaking is from the harbor to the pier (called Sterns Wharf) which is about a half mile stretch, also there are ladders under the pier for kayakers to climb up. Santa Barbara is a very bike friendly town with separate bike lines in the streets (except in the hills surrounding where there arern't even sidewalks) and all along the coast. There is a main bike path from the bird sanctuary and the zoo westward along the coast to Weast Beach, about a mile stretch. The pedestrians have there own path parrallel to it. Running is also as common as bike riding with running paths as often and in the same places as the bike paths. Make sure you bring water as there aren't many water fountains. The running paths and bike paths have two lanes each. There are many hiking trails surrouding the city with so many different trail heads that typing them all isn't going to happen, the trails offer an awesome view of the ocean and city with more cooling from the ocean as you get higher. The two main fishing spots are on the pier ( which has stations to clean fish and its own baitshop) and in the harbor. Fishing in the harbor requires a fishing license and typically has much less people. There are octopus, CA spiny lobster, rays, and fish of course, some of the fish being opaleye, rockfish, sand bass, giant sea bass, topsmelt and others. Opaleye is very common. Sailing is also popular becauseof the regular winds that come in the afternoon. Most sailing is done off the coast of WestBeach. There are many tourboats, watertaxis, and even sunset dining boats at the harbor that can be taken also. Thats my condensed report of doings in SB.

Santa Barbara is an absolutely little city. The architecture is gorgeous, and the view from the top of the courthouse is absolutely breathtaking. Although the ocean is way too cold to swim in, it is always a pleasant experience to take a long walk along the beach. There is a great variety of restaurants to enjoy. You can also rent bicycle for a group of people and ride around the beach. The people are pleasant and the atmosphere is relaxing. I would definitely recommend a trip to Santa Barbara for someone looking for a relaxing, stress-free time!