Girl's Weekend Getaway | Santa Barbara, CA
This past weekend I drove down to Santa Barbara to get together with my best friends for a girls trip.
There is so much to do in this cute coastal city and I would highly recommend it for your next destination for a Girl’s Weekend Getaway.
We chose Santa Barbara because we had never all been there together and it's only a few hours' drive from Los Angeles and San Francisco, where we are all coming from.
Check out our itinerary for a weekend trip to Santa Barbara:
Day 1:
Morning: Drive down to Santa Barbara from the Bay Area.
Afternoon: We stopped on the way down in Paso Robles for lunch. I recommend breaking up the drive by stopping in San Luis Obispo or Pismo Beach. We ate lunch at the Red Scooter Deli for a quick little bite to eat. Our friends from SoCal got to Santa Barbara faster and had lunch on State Street.
Evening: Have dinner at one of Santa Barbara's many excellent restaurants. We didn’t plan ahead too far but recommend having dinner at Oku. One of our friends has a gluten allergy but they had a lot of options here for her which was great! Highly recommend if you’re in the mood for Japanese food. After dinner we went to State Street to get a cocktail and ice cream. Two of us stopped at McConnell’s for ice cream and the rest went to Blackbird for a cocktail. They have a good espresso martini if that’s your thing!
Crispy Korean Cauliflower
The Spicy Flying Newton Roll
McConnell’s single scoop ice cream.
Day 2:
Morning: We had a slow start to our day and ended up having breakfast at our hotel called the Terra.
Afternoon: We decided to take a little day trip to Solvang for the afternoon. I would say we were pretty surprised how much there is to do out there for such a small town. The Danish-style buildings were so cute and I loved seeing all the windmills! It did take us a while to find parking but once we did we were able to just explore and walk around to see the sights. We stopped at the Clean Slate Wine Bar for some drinks and charcuterie. Loved our server there she had so much knowledge of the wines and loved that they were all pretty much from local wineries. We got an late lunch at Juniper on Fourth based on a recommendation from the staff at Clean Slate Wine Bar. Unfortunately, it looks like the restaurant might be closed. They had good drinks and snacks. After some shopping and walking around the streets of Solvang we headed back to our hotel.
Evening: After arriving back to our hotel in the evening we decided we didn’t want to go back out for dinner. So we stayed at the hotel and got some drinks from the bar and DoorDashed some pizza to eat. It was a nice and chill evening in.
Breakfast at Terra
Solvang, California
Shopping in Solvang
Day 3:
Morning: Most of the morning was packing up, but those that were earlier risers got coffee at Dune Coffee Roasters. Then after packing up we got some brunch at Lilac Pâtisserie. We chose this cute spot because one of our friends has a gluten allergy and this bakery has gluten-free baked goods.
Afternoon: Explored State Street in the day time which they have so many cute stores and one of our favorites was Ace Rivington. They had everything from handmade bandanas to custom leather belts to denim for men and women.
If you’re looking for your next girls trip destination I highly recommend Santa Barbara. We visited during mid-October and the weather was perfect sunny during the day and a little chilly at night. We definitely could of stayed longer and explored more but for just a quick little recharge and reconnect with the girls it was the perfect spot.
stay
The Steward - Such a cute hotel with a lot of amenities but we chose this because it was one of the few places that could accommodate all of us. We were hoping to stay at an Airbnb but we looked accommodations kind of late. The Steward was also a 12 minute drive to Downtown Santa Barbara.
Hotel Milo - I stayed here with my fiancé years ago and it was a convenient location for sure. Walking distance to the beach and State Street.
eat
More Things to do
If you have more time in Santa Barbara or if you want to choose your own adventure there is so much to do :
Visit the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, which has a collection of over 27,000 works of art.
Take a walk through the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, which has over 1,000 native plants from California and other parts of the world.
Visit the Santa Barbara Zoo, which is home to over 500 animals from around the globe.
Take a drive along the scenic 17-Mile Drive, which winds along the coast and offers stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.
No matter what you choose to do, you're sure to have an amazing time in Santa Barbara. It's a beautiful city with something to offer everyone.