My boys 8 and 10 loved this park, usually playgrounds are too young for them these days but this…read moreone was perfect for their age. They can't wait to come back and visit Santa Barbara my home town again do they can go here again:) they also loved the chickens in the yard nearby, it made us feel content in nature

Clean, shady, small. There is a smaller area for little kids and a bigger area for 5-12 year olds…read more Wish there was a restroom for little ones.

This is a perfect park for families. I like that all the features are close to one another so it is…read moreeasier to keep eyes on multiple kids. Accessible courts for pickle ball including a multi-tiered basketball hoop which I've never seen. The playground looks new and is adjacent to a skatepark that's for kids 12 and under (for skating and skateboard only but there are plenty of littles who ride their bikes). Lots of shade with tables. A walking and bike path. What a cool find! We did come early on a Sunday morning - 945am - because I read that parking can be difficult. There were 2 spots left in the lot and street parking, because it is shared with apartments, was non existent.

This a small very clean park with brand new equipment. They are still building the other parts of…read morethe park. Looks like there are multiple basketball options, ping pong table, skate park, tennis court, handball court, and splash pad area. Restroom nearby

It's a nice park in the middle of a master planning process. Room for volleyball, softball and…read moreswinging. In the 1970s, there were old wooden forts here. It's hard to compare.....

It was a beautiful, hot Santa Barbara afternoon and we wanted a place to sit in the shade under…read moretrees and eat our sandwiches. This was a GREAT spot. First, the trees are beautiful, I'm from Southern California, and there were trees that we don't often see in the beach area, so we were awe struck by the beauty. Second, there are plenty of picnic benches and lots of trash receptacles. This park is not super large but a good spot for kids to run around and play on the park equipment... most important, an idyllic spot for a picnic.

What a beautiful scenery you get when you walk up to the Goleta Beach Park…read more The vibe on Labor Day weekend is relaxed and cool. Mellow like a jello vibes here this morning.

We spent 4th of July weekend in Goleta and hit Goleta Beach on our Saturday afternoon. Was it the…read moreprettiest beach in Santa Barbara? No. But it was pleasant and super easy, with free parking and zero crowd. We'd be lucky to have a beach like it in L.A. The sand wasn't especially nice, I guess, coarse and rocky and full of ocean debris. There was also a water quality advisory out for the day we went, which we only discovered once we had all our stuff set up. Otherwise, though, I have no complaints. The view was beautiful, and we were able to claim a prime spot to put down our friends' massive cabana. We brought chairs and beach toys and spent the afternoon relaxing, as all five kids in our crew were thoroughly entertained. My older boy even enjoyed the rockiness of the beach, collecting several interesting rocks that he requested to take home (we let him pick two). If you're looking for a quiet beach to lay out and entertain children, Goleta Beach is a great option. We had a lot of fun here and would be happy to go back for more rocks and sun.

Stayed at Marriott down the street and came here to get the wiggles out. Lovely little park with…read morelots of amenities. I saw baseball and soccer practices, pick up games on the courts, dog walkers, stroller moms, all the usual community park participants. The playground is small and aimed at toddlers but kids will play anywhere there's a slide or stuff to climb on. The grounds were clean and well manicured. One star off for broken bathroom stalls. Also the flowering bushes planted outside the bathrooms attracted tons of bees, which is great! Unless you put them right next to the playground. Terrible horticulture planning IMO.

Girsh Park is a major reason why I love this neighborhood! Our whole family enjoys walking through…read morethis park every couple of days. The park is beautifully maintained - clean, with nice short grass, decent bathrooms, and good resting and picnicking spots. It's so convenient for a pleasant walk to and from the Camino Real Marketplace - no need to go along busy streets. This is a great park for dogs - lots of space to walk on-leash, hang out on a blanket, or play off-leash fetch. My pup and I also appreciate that they provide dog bags and have plenty of trash cans along the walkway. The park seems very safe. For a year I came here at night with one or two other women, to work out on the basketball court, and we never ran into any trouble. There are also some fun events here - local craft fairs from time to time, and of course the Lemon Fest. Enjoy!

Great park within Calle Barquero Open Space. They have a structure for little kids and a structure…read morefor bigger kids. Trees help keep it shady.

I love this place. Great for slacklining!!!! just remember to use the pads when you slack line so…read morethe bark on the trees don't get ruined. Beautiful view of the ocean

Lake Los Caneros is excellent for bird watching as well as cross country running. Despite ample…read morefoot traffic, you can still find places where you are entirely alone.

Really pretty park; lots of trails; saw birds, baby bunnies, and beautiful wildflowers. Found a few…read moregeocaches along the way.

Park closes at sunset Nice area for kids and has two ways…read moredown, both concrete, one is steeper and the other much less, and there is a playground and grass field above it. Watch out for the poison ivy and oak

This is such a cute, little park in a residential area of Santa Barbara. It's a bit of a drive into…read morethe residential community, but a great spot to take small children if you want them to be able to run around and not worry about them taking off. The park is settled down in a valley-type setting. They have a jungle gym/playground area and benches to sit at, plus lots of grassy area to take advantage of! Ample parking on the streets nearby and easy to find with a large sign out front. Great spot to meet up with people/have a picnic!

Just Winging It We…read morethought we had a pretty good handle on all the major Monarch butterfly stopovers from Pacific Grove to Pismo, but somehow this place eluded us until we saw a display on it at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. The Coronado Butterfly Preserve is ±9.3 acres of protected open space and--more importantly--a Monarch butterfly overwintering site. It is located in the City of Goleta and sits adjacent to Santa Barbara Shores Park. The Good: * Free to visit * Trails are flat and in great shape. They can get a bit muddy after a rain, but it wasn't terrible. * Trails lead into Santa Barbara Shores Park. * Beach access. The Meh: * Butterfly viewing can be very hit-or-miss here, as we only saw a small handful floating about. The Ugly: * Street parking in neighborhoods, which isn't my favorite, but it is what it is. Conclusion: Nice place to visit regardless of the butterfly count.

They have a parking lot at Santa Barbara Shores park, which is located across from Ellwood School…read moreon Hollister Ave. This parking lot has an entrance to the preserve with a general map for viewing. We followed directions through Yelp however; and it brought us to a neighborhood street where we could park and enter the preserve via a trail. This worked great until we realized the trails are not marked and it was hard to know where you were headed and if and when we would loop back to our car. I highly suggest parking in the lot and using a different map than the one through Yelp. That being said the preserve was a different habitat for us to walk through with so many tall trees to shade you and create wonderful places for the many birds we could hear and see. We did see a couple of butterflies, so that was nice. This preserve seems to be a work in progress and donations are being accepted to aid in their goal. I think it is going to be a fabulous asset to the community when it is completed.