Ohhh California. Such a beautiful state that will always hold a special place in my heart. When Ryan, my husband, and I first started dating he spent a year in California. And I was able to visit him several times out there, including one trip that lasted a little over a month. We always loved that time together – driving up and down the Pacific Coast Highway and exploring all the little beaches and coves along the way. So it felt like a natural place to travel to when we were thinking of where to go on our babymoon! Since neither of us had been to Santa Barbara, but had heard such good things about it, we decided to make that our destination. And we couldn’t have picked a better spot.

We flew through L.A. and rented a car to drive up which was only a few hours. I remember the feeling of golden sunshine on my face as we drove up the coast (it was February and we live in Virginia, so I was ready for some warm weather!) I was 23 weeks pregnant and feeling really good – the baby was starting to move more and I was just past the halfway mark of my pregnancy.

We spent four glorious days in Santa Barbara and kept it really low key. We slept in, enjoyed long meals, walked up and down State Street, went for drives to nearby beaches, and dreamed about how our life would change when Sophie arrives.

My Favorite Things to do in Santa Barbara

First, I have to mention where we stayed. We found an adorable and affordable hotel right on the beach called Hotel Milo. The room was clean and comfortable, and they had beautiful grounds that were walking distance to everywhere we went in Santa Barbara. Each night they lit these beautiful outdoor fire pits and served wine and cheese. We really enjoyed our stay here!

Explore State Street – this is the main street in Santa Barbara with everything you could imagine. It has so many cute shops, restaurants, bars, and it’s very walkable.

Visit Yoga Soup to check out their cute shop filled with wellness goodies or take a yoga class in their studio. I really enjoyed hanging out here, and bought a few yoga outfits.

Walk down Stearn’s Wharf and enjoy the view – this is where you get that iconic shot of Santa Barbara’s coast with all the palm trees and mountains in the background. They also have a few restaurants and an ice cream shop on the pier.

Grab a coffee at Handlebar Coffee Roasters – this was highly recommended to us and it didn’t disappoint. They have some pretty creative (and delicious) drinks on their menu.

Visit Butterfly Beach – this was recommended by a friend and it’s so worth it! It’s very close to downtown Santa Barbara and it feels like a hidden cove. We loved relaxing here for a few hours.

Head to the Funk Zone – this is such a cool part of Santa Barbara! They have tons of outdoor breweries and shops to walk around and explore. We ate some food outside and Ryan had a beer. It was one of our favorite afternoons.

Eat at Bettina’s – this was by far my favorite meal. The pizza was some of the best I’ve had outside Italy!

Take a drive to Ojai – we decided to take a last minute drive to a little place in the mountains not far from Santa Barbara called Ojai. It was such a beautiful drive and I’m so glad we did it. The downtown is really tiny, but quaint. And they have a lot of yoga and wellness retreats and farms out that way if you’re interested in making a longer trip out of it!

And that was our trip in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed following along, and if you ever visit Santa Barbara I hope this post gave you some ideas for what to see/do.