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Print Friendly MapThe Santa Barbara Beach Trail, occasionally signed as the Coast Route, begins at Shoreline Park, a long but thin area encompassing the bluffs just west of Santa Barbara Point. The park offers plenty of places for picnics and barbecues, equipment for the kids to play on and a stairway leading down to the beach, where you can enjoy a quiet walk along the cliffs all the way to Arroyo Burro Beach.
The path continues northeast from Shoreline Park as a coastal trail with amazing views of the ocean. At the trail's eastern end, the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge, a 42-acre brackish wetland, provides a safe haven for a diverse bird population. There are self-guided interpretive and environmental tours along this stretch of the trail. Note that the dirt path along the northern shore of the refuge's lake is open to walkers only.
Parking for the Santa Barbara Beach Trail is available at Shoreline Park or Leadbetter Beach Park on Shoreline Drive and at the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge on E. Cabrillo Boulevard.
Easy bike ride and nice walk for families.
We rode this trail between the marina and bird refuge a few years ago. The photo op highlight was peddling our bikes between the rows of giant palm trees for that stereotypical California beach scene, but for a couple of native southern Californians palm trees are no big deal. In addition, the ride is so short it just wasn't worth getting the bikes out of the SUV.
This trail feels most appropriate for tourists, walkers, joggers, skateboarders, and vendors renting those quadcycle things to families.
Started our ride at west parking lot of Shoreline Park. Needed to ride the bike lane on the street before connecting to the actual bike path at east end of park. The bike path is paved but not real wide but does work, a wider path would be better for walkers and bikers. We rode to the end of the path at the bird refugee. This path is nice for a slow cruise along the beach front. Plan to dodge the many walkers on the bike path, a number of them aren’t paying any attention to the bike traffic. It seems like maybe the planners got the main section of the path reversed. All the walkers want to be on the bike path which is closest to the beach rather than the wide sidewalk 25 feet further away from the beach. If needing to ride fast, there is a nice designed bike lane on the street.
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