Last weekend my husband, toddler and I decided to hop in the car and head up the coast for some adventure. We found ourselves in Carpinteria, an easy 1.5 hr drive north, which ended up being the most perfect day trip spot from Los Angeles.

After some initial research, we decided to start with Santa Claus Beach knowing we could always head north to Santa Barbara if it didn’t work out. I also bookmarked several other spots on Yelp in the area in case we wanted to get lunch or explore later in the afternoon.

We arrived at Santa Claus beach around 10:30am and everything about it was perfect. There is a teeny tiny parking lot which was full so we parked on the street without any issues. We assumed that since it was a holiday weekend it would be packed but we were very wrong. The beach is just over the train tracks (which are very easy to cross safely) which I knew my toddler would love and I also thought was pretty cool. Right after we parked two toddler miracles occurred - first the train drove by (we were there for several hours and only saw the train pass once or twice) and then we saw a bunch of dolphins swimming! Miracle I say!

When we first got to the beach we pretty much had it to ourselves. There were maybe five or six people spread across the entire beach as far as we could see so we had space to do whatever we wanted. We set up shop in the middle of the beach, frolicked in the ocean without any fear of people taking our stuff, attempted to fly a kite and played with all the sand! The beach is perfect for walking, building sand castles and swimming. The water was clear and the sand was not rocky at all (plus it had a perfect amount of shells and sea glass for our toddler to discover). The only downside was the lack of shade. It wasn’t overly sunny when we were there so it was totally fine but if we come back in the summer I would definitely pack an umbrella. We stayed for about two hours and even by the time we left it was by no means busy at all.

After a few hours at the beach we were ready for some food (and drinks!) so we drove up the road to the extremely popular spot Padaro Beach Grill. If we were wondering where all the people at the beach were, here was our answer! Located in a little shopping strip, this order-at-the-counter spot is the perfect place to go with kids, but obviously everyone else in the area had the same idea. After waiting in line to order for upwards of 20 minutes, we got enough food to feed a small village and all of it was really tasty. The standout was definitely the calamari but the fish tacos, margaritas, guacamole, shakes etc were equally delicious. See, I told you we really ordered enough for multiple families but don’t worry, we packed it away like the pros that we are. The Padaro Beach Grill has several different seating areas. There is a small inside, a few tables beneath a covered patio, outside tables that are pet friendly, an adults-only section and then a very kid friendly area in the grass and another in the sand. Since it was packed and there appeared to be a birthday party going on, we sat under the awning which was perfect for us because I was a bit sunned-out by this point.

After eating we popped into the surrounding stores. There was a cute surf shop, some clothing boutiques and an amazing home goods store called Porch. I wanted all the thousand-dollar chairs but sadly all we left with was a lollipop from the amazingly friendly staff.

We still had a little bit of energy left so we decided to make one last stop before heading home. I had bookmarked several different spots related to the Carpinteria Seal Sanctuary and we figured it would be a quick walk to the lookout point.

Now anyone who has a toddler probably just did a major eyeball at “quick walk” and in hindsight I should have known better. Thankfully I had my hubby so he was the lucky winner of a dead weight 35 lb toddler and a 20-minute roundtrip walk. In all seriousness though, it was a nice little walk through the woods that took us 10-15 minutes in toddler time each direction and ended up with an amazing view of the ocean and a handful of full grown seals and a couple adorable pups too. There seemed to be another parking lot that was much closer and involved less “hiking” but I’m not sure how people got to it. On the way back we saw someone walking with kids and they brought a stroller so they were clearly pros and much smarter than us.

We took a quick drive to see the downtown after our walk and it looked like a very cute baby version of Carlsbad. Next time you’re looking for an easy day trip from Los Angeles, I highly recommend this one to Carpinteria. I definitely plan on recreating this day again when it’s a bit warmer and maybe even staying over a night.

Happy travels!