Leadbetter is nice, but not walkable to all that downtown Santa Barbara has to offer - State Street is the main hub.
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I spent a few days there last winter with my home exchange points, and can’t think of anywhere better. Agree with the above suggestions of the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden, which in addition to featuring some redwoods at the far southern end of their range, has interesting history of the waterworks that supplied the mission. The view point at the gardens is to die for, looking over the Channel Islands. They have reciprocal membership with some local botanical gardens, like mine here in the Midwest. I never got the the Mission or the Natural History museum. Next trip.
On a previous trip, I really enjoyed walking Arroyo Burro beach and the small, but delicious and friendly restaurant just above the beach. A great place to watch the sunset. Perhaps I saw a biking path in that area.
As another Hyatt points member, I have stayed in the hotel there, notable mostly for proximity to Highway 1, though pleasant enough. There is a far more elegant Hyatt property that is out of my price range on the beach.
Solvang was fun and delicious for a morning, certainly scenic and filled with bakeries.
Incidentally, my research biologist neighbor who has had a Channel Islands ongoing project for decades, told me about this company for accessing the islands out of Ventura. He said the Santa Barbara boat company had unfortunate fires and is no more. Information | Island Packers
Any opinions on the Harbor View Inn in Santa Barbara? We generally choose to stay in places with more room, but we are considering staying there, and doing without a car for much of the time.
It looks like we can rent a car for a day if we’d like, and parking is something like $35 a day if we decide to rent a car for multiple days. We would stay in an oceanfront unit.
One more fun thing to kill a few hours in town, Jeff Shelton is a SB architect, who incorporates whimsical tile and unique shapes in his designs (think Gaudi-light) - there’s a self-directed walking tour (I looked at it as a kind of scavenger hunt) to locate his work in a pretty small area (under a mile) - it took my love and me about 2 1/2 hours, and I documented each one by taking photos of us with them. You can get the free map here (he doesn’t spam you for your email) Jeff Shelton Architect — Walking Tour - for the curious about his local work: https://santabarbaraca.com/itinerary/designed-jeff-shelton-walking-tour/
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Harbor View Inn is a great location. Lots of walkable restaurants. You can walk to the marina and sterns wharf.
If you’re interested in visiting the mission and botanical gardens you could uber. There are also bike rental places nearby.
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We just booked a king ocean front suite at the Harbor View. It’s low risk - can be canceled up to 72 hours ahead of time (but it was the last one available). We haven’t found anything else that has a “wow” factor or whatever, and my husband just kind of locked onto this place, and I’m going with it. Next up trying to convince SW Airlines to let us use or credit that expires in July in September.
Thanks - if we choose to get a car we can pay $32/day to park, so we may do a car for part of the week, or just rent bikes and see how we do. It’s getting more “definite” now, but I am going to consider other dates than I currently have.
Look into the downtown (waterfront) shuttle - it’s super inexpensive and gets to lots of areas where you can then walk - if it works with your timeframe - Downtown-Waterfront Shuttle – Santa Barbara MTD
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Well darn, it ends the week before we are thinking of coming 
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SB locals especially - please help if you can/have opinions.
We still have this trip scheduled, but we are debating whether we will do it, and/or whether we should stay in SB for some number of days and then go someplace else for a couple of days. (Right now we are scheduled to stay at one of the beach front hotels for 7 nights).
Can anyone tell me how best to “do” the Channel Islands? If we get a car we only want one for a couple of days. It looks like the best way is to drive to Ventura and take the ferry from there? Any advice of which islands are best to try and go to? Should we plan for multiple trips there, or is one enough?
If we decide to go someplace else in addition to SB, where would you suggest. We fly in and out of SB, so we don’t want to go more than a couple of hours from there.
Thanks in advance
September and October I think are the best time of the year to visit the central coast. SBA is my absolute favorite airport!
What type of activity do you enjoy doing? The only way to get to the Channel Islands is by going from Ventura. The only way to Ventura and back would be via rental car. If you enjoy kayaking I’d suggest a guided trip to Santa Cruz Island.
Possible other locations to add would be-Ojai (which could also be a day trip from Santa Barbara).
Cambria which is about two hours north of Santa Barbara. Cambria is a wilder ocean and also you could visit Hearst Castle if that is something you might enjoy. The elephant seals near San Simeon. A drive up to Ragged Point is beautiful. There is also a lighthouse that has tours but I’ve never been. You could also take a day from Cambria and cross over the hills to Paso Robles. It’s a beautiful drive. There is wine tasting, Sensorio which is an outdoor light installation. The square also has some nice shops and art galleries. Morro bay and Cayucos make nice stops. If you’re their in October Cambria has scarecrows all over town.
Solvang is another day trip or overnight. Los Olivos and Santa Ynez have some nice restaurants and shops. There is also some hiking nearby, Figueroa mountain.
Carpinteria is cute for lunch and walk down to the beach.
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You asked about biking – UCSB is one of the most bike friendly (frenzied?) campuses I know. Also, there is a nice bike path from downtown SB up to UCSB, and biking from UCSB up the coastline to Refugio State Beach is a great ride. OK, this info (my experience) is very old but look at routes mapped on Ridewithgps app/website. You should be able to rent bikes for a day in SB. I wish I can do those rides again! Enjoy!
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@mom60 - has listed all of our favorite places when we visit the Central Coast. We actually love Paso wines and wine tasting there more than Napa or Sonoma!
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This is generally the time of the best weather with a lot less of the overcast and fog that you get in the SB area in late spring or earlier summer.
One more daytrip you might want to consider from SB is downtown San Luis Obispo, about 90 miles away. If you go then the tri-tip sandwich at Firestone Grill would be high on my list! But just strolling that downtown area is nice. You could visit 4 great downtowns during your vacation (SB, Solvang, Ventura, SLO) and see which is your favorite.
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You could also rent bikes in Ventura and ride to Ojai, have lunch and ride back.
There is plenty to do in 7 days if you do a few day trips north and south.
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Thanks everyone who gave me ideas. We are going to go. We will rent a car for at least some of the days, which we were initially not to do, but now my H is looking forward to driving along the coast.
I was going to mention this! There is a nice bike path between Ojai and Ventura that is away from car traffic.
Personally, I find Ojai very small and prefer Ventura for wandering, although Ojai has some nice restaurants and I actually really like the prepared food section at the local (country) market a lot. Their food was really, really good when I was there earlier in the year.
The bike path is stunning! And if you are in Ojai, please stop in at Bart’s books. It’s an outdoor used bookstore full of tables and chairs, cats and a good vibes. It’s one of my favorite places.
Driving up the coast is a wonderful idea and you have some time. The drive up the coast is spectacular but the most famous part is Highway 1 between San Simeon and Carmel. It’s for one of the most spectacular coastal drives this state has to offer. It’ll take 4 hours or so but you can make an entire day of it and there are so many beautiful places to stop along the way. Spend 2 nights in Carmel (for luxury and romance) or Monterey (for lively Cannery Row and more every) or even Pacific Grove (super chill with Victorian architecture and rugged coast). Take the same way back but make different stops. I never, ever tire of that drive.
Have a wonderful time!
PS, sorry I just noticed you don’t want to drive more than a couple of hours from SB. That’ll put you at San Simeon/Hearst Castle. The drive to Carmel is probably 90 mins more. If you’re not likely to make it back to CA, I’d argue it’s worth the time and the overnight but save it for another time if that’s a better fit.
If you can go a bit further , the 17 mile drive (that’s its name) is a world famous coastal drive near Carmel. I was there a few months ago and it was absolutely stunning.
Thanks. Iv’e done the drive to Hearst Castle/Morro Bay, etc. from San Jose/San Francisco and been on 17 mile drive several times. (I lived mostly in the South Bay Area until I was 13). I was lucky enough to attend an event at Pebble Beach Country Club once back in the 80s or early 90s, and for many years I had a photo of the Lone Cypress from 17 mile drive hanging on a wall. I love that area, but not sure we’ll make it this trip. TBD, but last I asked H wants to stay in the place on the ocean for the week, instead of splitting time with another place.