Our Honeymoon in Santa Barbara & Los Angeles

May 08, 2021

Last month I got married to my best friend. After 5 & a half years of being together and years of long distance, we finally got to make this thing official in an intimate ceremony before our family & closest friends. We were saddened that we had to cancel our wedding in Hawaii but grateful that technology made it possible for our friends & family back home to still be a part of our day. We'll get to do another wedding with everyone in Hawaii next year!

After weeks of searching, seeing what places were open, where we could go without putting ourselves & others at a major risk, we found Santa Barbara. Neither of us have heard much about this little town but from pictures it seemed absolutely perfect. We didn't know what to expect & we were completely blown away by its beauty & location.

TRIP DETAILS

We flew into LAX late Sunday morning. We spent hours navigating our way to our car rental and ended up paying hundreds more than we anticipated. Learn from our mistake: do tons of research on car rentals and read reviews before booking. We ate at In N Out (it was Josiah's first time) before hitting the road to drive to Santa Barbara which is about 1 hr 50 min drive. Once you hit Ventura, it is a gorgeous coastal drive for the rest of the way. We stayed in SB until Wednesday afternoon and made our way back to Los Angeles where we stayed our last night at The Hoxton Hotel.

WHERE WE STAYED

There were so many amazing options to choose from, but we chose the Old Yacht Club Inn for its affordable price & convenient location. This inn rests just down the street from the beach & a short drive away from downtown. It's perfect for a solo traveler or a couple staying for a few nights. It was cozy with gorgeous natural light.

The entire town of Santa Barbara is made of old Spanish architecture.

We stayed at The Hoxton in Los Angeles which we were able to book through AirBnB. We were in awe. The people at The Hoxton are design & hospitality wizards. We took many sample photos to model our living room after. Highly recommend this affordable yet chic hotel. We could have stayed there for another week.

WHERE WE ATE

Our first stop when we arrived was The Lark, located in the heart of Funk Zone. This artisan restaurant with locally-sourced ingredients & cuisine inspired by the Mediterranean sea was at the top of our bucketlist. We had no luck booking reservations because this place books way in advance. We walked around the area, which is full of outdoor eateries, & decided to try our luck to see if there was any availability. We were able to snag a spot on the community table & stayed for 2 hours, enjoying some of the best food of our lives. When I was looking at the menu ahead of time, I knew we needed to try this restaurant because of their brussel sprouts made with medjool dates. It was life changing & I think about it at least 4 times a week.

Other places to go:

East Beach Tacos - some of the best tacos I've ever had. Fusion between Mexican, Japanese, & Hawaiian

Opal - Gorgeous outdoor set up located on State St.

Scarlett Begonia - Yummy rancheros for breakfast, lots of options

Loquita - I didn't take any pictures from this restaurant, but we had the most divine paella & this was one of our favorite places we've been to

Paula's Pancake House - When we visited wine country we stopped in Slovang, a Danish village, & got to try these delicious thin Danish pancakes

Salt & Straw - probably the best ice cream you'll ever have? We went to the Venice location

Coffee:

CAJÉ is an artisan coffee shop with multiple locations throughout the town. They are known for their signature coffee drinks & stunning views. We loved it so much we visited two of their shops. Their State St. location has a gorgeous open patio area with a stunning water fountain & the best matcha I've ever tried.

Dune Coffee Roasters was on every blogpost I visited when building our itinerary. It definitely met the hype! Great coffee, great people, great art.

Drinks:

One evening we parked on State St. (Santa Barbara's downtown area closed down for outdoor seating at restaurants & bars). We strolled up to The Good Lion Bar, nestled in this grand building that is home to The Granada Theatre.

Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. - While we waited for our table at Loquita, we found ourselves at this dog friendly taproom with a huge open patio.

THINGS WE DID

When we weren't eating food sent from heaven, we were exploring all that the California mountains had to offer. We did a short hike into the clouds & made our way to these gorgeous hot springs. There are 7 rock walled pools to relax in & soak in all the benefits of the sulfuric water & clay. The views at the top of the mountain will leave you breathless. This was one of our favorite parts of the entire trip.

We took a whole day to travel to wine country in Santa Ynez. We stopped in Slovang before our reservation & felt like we were in a snow globe in the middle of the dessert. We didn't have a lot of time but we stepped into a year round Christmas shop & got a few things to add to our tree each year to remember our honeymoon. Our afternoon at Sunstone Winery was one that I wasn't expecting to be so life changing. Sipping wine under a canopy of trees in the secluded mountains made me realize my new dream life is to move to wine country & leave everything behind.

When we got to LA, we drove straight to Santa Monica Pier, rented some bikes, & rode our way down to Venice Beach. The vibes are truly immaculate. After exploring the area, we checked into our hotel room at The Hoxton & headed to the rooftop pool. We spent the rest of our day there, ordering drinks from our phones to our reclining seats, soaking up the California sun. When we decided we were too burnt, we got ready, glammed ourselves up for our last night out, & ate dinner at a hole-in-the-wall ramen shop down the street.

Santa Barbara is a slice of heaven on earth. We're going to make it a tradition to visit often & celebrate our marriage, how it started, how it's going, & all the amazing moments we have yet to experience. No matter the reason for visiting, this guide will take you to some of the best places. If you use this guide, message me on Instagram so I can keep up with your adventures!