Kid-friendly wineries in Santa Barbara region

[Anonymous]

We are headed to Santa Barbara this fall and would love to spend maybe 2 days of our trip visiting two or three wineries since we've never been to the region. We'll have a 7yr old with us. A few years ago we had great success finding family friendly wineries in the Sonoma area, including one that had a picnic area, tricycles and a bocce court in their outdoor spaces.

If anyone has familiarity with the region, any suggestions are welcome. I'm just beginning the travel planning and research for the trip generally, so any other ideas of must-do activities with kids would be great.

[Anonymous]

Its not a huge winery region - are you sure you're not thinking of further up the coast?

[Anonymous]

You will want to go a bit further north, more the area around Los Olivos/Solvang

This article has some good suggestions for that area: http://beachforbaby.com/wine-tasting-with-kids-solvang-los-olivos-and-santa-ynez/2139

[Anonymous]

We'll be in Santa Barbara proper for a family function, so I was hoping to spend a few days in the region, if needed decamping a bit further north or south. We expect that airfares will have us flying in and out of LAX.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You will want to go a bit further north, more the area around Los Olivos/Solvang

This article has some good suggestions for that area: http://beachforbaby.com/wine-tasting-with-kids-solvang-los-olivos-and-santa-ynez/2139

Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

I'm from S.B. The wineries are over the mountains behind Santa Barbara, in the Santa Ynez Valley-- about a 30-minute drive from town. It's an easy day trip to and from S.B. You can also visit the little town of Solvang, which has a Danish kitschy thing going on-- my kids loved it when we stopped there for Danish pastries last year. There was a cute small bookstore and a good toy store in Solvang too, if your kid needs a break from wineries.

There are tasting rooms in Santa Barbara proper (especially in an area known as the "Funk Zone") but the actual wineries with more extensive tasting rooms are out in the Santa Ynez Valley.

I have a family member who works in a tasting room and can ask her for recommendations. I remember years ago visiting Rancho Sisquoc, which had a beautiful picnic area next to the tasting room and welcomed families. That was a long time ago, though!

[Anonymous]

This is the PP from S.B. For other family-friendly activities in town:
- Natural History museum (small, but enjoyable-- it's fun to romp around in the creekbed below the museum, too-- and it has a reciprocal relationship with the ASTC consortium of science museums including the Maryland Science Center, if you happen to have a membership there)
- S.B. Zoo is not big but is beautifully situated on a hill overlooking the ocean. You can feed the giraffes.
- The Ty Warner Sea Center is out on the wharf and has fun touch tanks in addition to other exhibits.
- Fun playgrounds are at East Beach near the beach volleyball courts (you can also eat right by the sand at the East Beach Grill) and at Kids World on Santa Barbara Street near Arrellaga
- My kids love roaming the Rose Garden across from the Mission-- we bring a frisbee and a picnic and collect rose petals that have fallen from the bushes
- The breakwater marina, near Ledbetter Beach, is a fun place to walk out and look at the boats and dodge splashes from waves that come over the wall. When the tide is low you can also walk out the little beach at the very end of the breakwater.
- There's an incredible doll museum that we discovered a few years ago; it has odd hours but is worth checking out because the collection is fabulous. www.quinlanmuseum.com/visitor/location.html
- A short drive south of S.B., off Santa Claus Lane, is the Padaro Beach Grill, an outdoor restaurant with a gigantic sandbox and train tracks that run right by the restaurant, with the beach on the other side of the tracks. My kids love it. Good foot, endless entertainment in the sand and waving at the Amtrak trains when they go by.

[Anonymous]

Would you go to Santa Ynez? It's not too far from SB. You would probably want to get a hotel room there, though.

If so, we go to Sunstone all the time with our kids. It's a beautiful winery, we do a tasting while they dip their bread in olive oil and chit-chat, play quietly. There's also a grassy area outside where I've seen other kids...cricket to play with.

http://www.sunstonewinery.com

[Anonymous]

14:06 THANK YOU! and to the next poster as well with the particular winery recommendation. These are exactly the kinds of things I'm curious about. Yes, if it isn't too much trouble, would love your family member's recommendations!

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP and our trip is a few weeks away, and I'm hoping the earlier PP asked their family member for tasting room recommendations. Thank you for the advice, we are going to head up towards Solvang and the Santa Ynez region, however we will spend one day in downtown Santa Barbara visiting the Courthouse and Doll Museum, and there are a handful of tasting rooms in that section of town. If anyone has insights into tasting rooms, as opposed to actual wineries, I would appreciate any recommendations. 2 adults and 1 elementary schooler.

[Anonymous]

I'd also recommend the MOXI science museum in SB for your 7 year old. It was great. Biking and the zoo, along with the carousel near across from the beach were hits with our 7 year old. Over spring break there was also an art exhibit running along the ocean drive -- not sure if it's year round on weekends or we just happened to hit the jackpot on time of year, but that was fun too.

We also did a horseback ride through a winery near Solvang through Vino Vaqueros. DC loved it, and so did we! As others have mentioned Solvang is a cute, German style town NW of SB. The Solvang Brewery is a fun spot with decent food.

There's also ostrich land between SB and Solvang. It's unusual, I'll leave it at that.

For wineries in Santa Rita Hills/Solvang, check out Babcock and Dierberg/Star Lane. Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd also recommend the MOXI science museum in SB for your 7 year old. It was great. Biking and the zoo, along with the carousel near across from the beach were hits with our 7 year old. Over spring break there was also an art exhibit running along the ocean drive -- not sure if it's year round on weekends or we just happened to hit the jackpot on time of year, but that was fun too.

We also did a horseback ride through a winery near Solvang through Vino Vaqueros. DC loved it, and so did we! As others have mentioned Solvang is a cute, German style town NW of SB. The Solvang Brewery is a fun spot with decent food.

There's also ostrich land between SB and Solvang. It's unusual, I'll leave it at that.

For wineries in Santa Rita Hills/Solvang, check out Babcock and Dierberg/Star Lane. Enjoy!

Also should have mentioned, if you're in SB proper and looking for good food/wine, head to the Lark/Lucky Penny/Caveau.

[Anonymous]

Fly in and out of the Santa Barbara airport - it's by far my favorite airport! You land after flying over the ocean and Channel Islands!

[Anonymous]

I was going to recommend the Moxi museum too, if you're looking for an activity for your kids

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP from 2/21 with the family member who works at a tasting room. She says, "Roblar, where I work, is very kid friendly! We have inside and a huge outside area with a wisteria covered pergola with tables and a fountain, and two ginormous grassy areas on either side of that so kiddos can run around! Picnics welcome outside, or we have a full commercial kitchen Friday, Saturday, Sunday. 11:30-4. I don't recommend visiting on a Saturday because we are insanely busy. I'll ask around about other kid-friendly wineries/vineyards."