Had a quick weekend trip with some girlfriends and decided on the wine & chocolate tasting tour. It was the perfect weather, Melissa was very knowledgeable about the history of Santa Barbara, provided lots of recommendations. Very pleased with our tour! read more

Melissa was a fantastic tour guide who went above and beyond to make sure me and my boyfriend had the most amazing weekend in Santa Barbara - so much that we are seriously considering moving out there one day! She took us to 2 wine tasting spots - Riverbench & Cebada Wine Tasting - and 1 beer tasting spot - Night Lizard. Each wine tasting gave us 4 to 5 wines to taste and the brewery gave us a flight with 4 glasses! We started our tour at the train station, walked all throughout State Street, and finished our tour in the Santa Barbara Courthouse. Melissa carried so much historical facts and knowledge about the city, from the architectural design, past earthquake effects and the rebuilding process, the city's Old Hollywood vibes, significance of museums and historical landmarks, and all the delicious food spots to visit! She was so kind as to give us recommendations on places to visit as we made our own personal stop to Solvang the next following day. We couldn't have asked for a better tour and tour guide! We love the city of Santa Barbara and we enjoyed learning its history and greatly admired how the city has successfully preserved its culture, architectural traditions & vibrant patterned designs! We will see you soon! read more

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Totally Cali Tours is by far the best wine and chocolate and walking tours I have ever experienced. Melissa our guide was very knowledgeable about the, area, history, and architecture. Best part is the relationship she has with the local businesses you visit, which gives you a very personal intimate experience. For me the stop at Silver Wines was by far the best wine tasting ever, Benjamin being really immersed and passionate about his wines. Melissa is so down to earth after a while it felt like visiting with a dear friend who wanted to introduce you to everyone in town she knows, and I cannot recommend Totally Cali enough because of this. A1 top of the charts experience. read more

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Absolute BEST wine tour! Top-notch tasting experience at a surprisingly low cost...and the tastings fees were INCLUDED in the price of the tour. I highly recommend putting this at the top of your Santa Barbara "to do" list. While I have used various other wine touring companies in the past and have enjoyed them all, I'm so happy that I discovered and booked a wine tour with the relatively new company Totally Cali Tours. The experience was superb and the highlight of my most recent visit to Santa Barbara on 8/17/18. In a nutshell, Totally Cali Tours was my favorite out of all my many previous wine tours due to the well-planned itinerary, seamless VIP experience, fun and professional tour guide (Melissa), delightfully tasty boutique wineries, and the low cost of the tour for what it includes. We were chauffeured in a classy company van to 4 wineries, one olive oil tasting, lunch, and a historical bonus stop. Here are a few of the highlights: Comfort and Timeliness: We were picked up at our hotel precisely on time in a new, very clean, comfortable, company van (with a maximum of 8 seats). Personality: Melissa was knowledgeable, personable, entertaining, fun, helpful, accommodating and kind. During the 40 minute drive from Santa Barbara to Santa Ynez, Melissa was not only friendly and personable, but she was also interesting and informative. As we drove, Melissa pointed out landmarks and shared the fascinating history associated with what we saw... From fun facts, to fascinating history of the region as well as why the area is perfectly suited for winegrowing... I was impressed with her knowledge and it made the drive fun and interesting. In addition, to perfectly choreographing this tour for us, Melissa also also was sweet to take photos of us throughout the tour as well as carrying and safely storing the wine we bought. Itinerary and VIP experience: Each of the four boutique Wineries were superb in wine quality, scenery, and staff attentiveness. Each winery had different specialties. I was impressed that Melissa clearly arranged a special appointment for us, because from the moment we arrived, we were treated like royalty. We never had to wait in line, and were made to feel like we were the only people tasting. Later in the day we stopped at a small farm that had olive oil tastings for their homemade flavored olive oil. I now have my new secret-ingredient of rosemary garlic olive oil. Yum! For lunch, Melissa had arranged for us to have lunch at a splendid Italian restaurant that is often hard to get into. The food was divine and the perfectly cooked salmon melted in my mouth. Melissa had a cooler of bottled water that she seemed to magically pull lout at the right moments. Later, at one of the small wineries, we even had an exclusive, private tasting inside the barrel-room of the winery. Here, one of the staff poured the various wines as she educated us on the history of the winery and wine maker, including the challenges they have had growing the grapes, variables that effect the flavor of the wine, growing, picking, processing and aging. It was fascinating! As we learned about the process she poured the wine and let us taste the variations in the wine that she was describing. I could actually taste the subtle differences that she was describing! It was such a fun, cool experience and the whole thing made my boyfriend and I feel very special. At the end of the tour, as we were heading back, I asked Melissa if we could stop at Cold Springs Tavern briefly. Cold Springs Tavern is a historic location and I was hoping to show the historic building and cool location to my boyfriend. Even though it wasn't in the plan, Melissa was so sweet and accommodating to make this extra stop for us. Value: This was an all-day wine tour that included door to door picked-up and drop-off from where we where staying in Santa Barbara, it INCLUDED all the wine tastings fees (which surprised me at this price point), olive oil tasting, reservations for lunch, photos, bottled water, etc. Totally Cali Tours is a hidden gem and has raised the bar on the wine-tour experience. We had a splendid time and I can't wait to do it again. I will certainly be rebooking a wine tour with Melissa as well as trying some of her other local tours. Thank you so much Melissa for a fabulous experience! read more

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The wine, the chocolate, the ice cream.....it was all delicious! And our tour guide, Liz made it all that much better. She was so knowledgeable about the history of Santa Barbara and was a lot of fun! I highly recommend this tour to anyone looking to enjoy a little history and exercise with your wine. read more

I went with a group of friends on a Totally Cali tour last weekend and had the best time! They set up all the tastings, provided comfortable transport and the best part was all the history and pop culture references throughout the whole tour. They even had a play list tailored for reach piece of history. Hands down, THE BEST wine tour I have ever been on. read more

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We've visited Santa Barbara many times, but Melissa gave us a fresh perspective on the area. We visited 3 breweries with very different vibes, but consistently good and interesting beers. Melissa was very fun to spend time with and gave us recommendations for future visits. I'd definitely book another tour with this company. read more

Me & a friend booked a tour in Ojai with this company & had a wonderful trip. They picked us up & dropped us off from our AirBnB, which was great. Our guide Melissa was wonderful...she was fun & informative. We visited an olive oil farm where she introduced us to the owner who shared a lot of cool information. The olive oil tasting was great. All 3 wine tasting spots were great! She took us to an art gallery & a chocolate tasting, the owner there was also really cool & fun. Melissa was able to meet my dietary restrictions when it came to our lunch. Anyways, I highly recommend. read more

Amazing experience! I definitely would recommend this touring company. Our guide, Melissa, was fun, friendly and knowledgeable. I will absolutely do this again. read more

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My husband and I had a great experience on a custom tour with Melissa. Because neither of us drink we weren't really interested in doing any of the traditional tours that are offered in Santa Barbara, but still wanted to go eat some good food and see some interesting sites. Melissa put together a tour that gave us history of Santa Barbara and some really fantastic food and in the end we didn't feel like we missed a thing by not participating in the wine and beer tastings that the other tours offer. Melissa is warm, funny, and a lot of fun to be with. She really cares that the guests on her tours have a great time. I've taken plenty of food tours in plenty of cities and I highly recommend that you tour Santa Barbara with Melissa to have the best possible time. read more

The tour was interesting and fun with lots of history of Santa Barbara and information about a variety of wines and pairing them with chocolates. We also really enjoyed the olive oil and basalmic tasting. It was a nice walk down State Street into the Funk Zone and back! Melissa was awesome: knowledgeable and personable. Would definitely refer this tour to others and would do other tours that are offered. read more

Totally Cali Tours was a FUN & Informative experience! Fabulous stops that covered all the Santa Ynez Valley hotspots! Fabulous Wines, food, olive oil tasting and even a quick stop at an adorable sweet shop. Don't hesitate to book with Melissa she was awesome read more

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Great tour guide Melissa. She customized her tour to individual needs. Melissa is very knowledgeable and helpful. I would recommend this trip to anyone. read more

My husband went on a Totally Cali Tour with Melissa on our very first trip to Santa Barbara and we would both recommend it! It was a walking tour because of the pandemic, but we did wine and beer tastings with only one other couple, and that truly gave us a VIP experience. Melissa was great and very personable. We got a little bit of history and had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves at each of the stops. read more

We had a wonderful tour of Santa Barbara with Melissa! She was able to accommodate all of our interests and customized a tour for us that included history, culture, food, and two local breweries. I would highly recommend Totally Cali Tours! read more

Entertaining and educational, super fun. Great spots to try wonderful new libations. Awesome snacks and terrific stories. Melissa is amazing. read more

We just had a tour today(08/20) and totally loved it! Melissa took our reservation the day before, and literally 10 mins before closing and booked us for next day 9:30am. She was so knowledgeable about the whole Santa Barbara area and California in general. She knew so much about every vineyard and was perfect for all types of wine drinkers, from novices and experts. I would recommend this tour for everyone. Next time we are in Santa Barbara we will absolutely take this tour again! Thank you Mellissa! read more

All of the good things that I've heard about Santa Barbara were confirmed in the three hours we spent with Melissa on the Historic Happy Hour Tour. She is a knowledgeable and fun guide who shared her love for the city and let us experience its history, it's beauty, and some great libations. read more

We had a wonderful, interesting tour of Santa Barbara. Melissa ( the owner of the company) was our guide and she customized it. She knew everything about Santa Barbara and was very thorough. She also included a specialized olive oil store that made their own blends and was very tasty. The tour was suppose to be 2 hours long and was about 30 minutes longer. Melissa was very nice and accommodating all the way. We would highly recommend this tour . read more

Thank you Melissa for a wonderful day of wine tasting all over the Santa Ynez valley. We booked an all day tour starting at 9am from Santa Barbara for the four of us. Melissa picked us up in a very colorful, clean van with nice individual seats in it. She took us to four different wineries and even set up an exclusive wine tasting experience at Roark with Ryan, the winery owner and wine maker. Ryan and his wines were awesome! Melissa was friendly and informative throughout the entire trip, she made sure our day was special. read more