East Beach and the Cabrillo Beachway

East Beach is Santa Barbara's main event beach: a wide, sandy sweep running east from Stearns Wharf toward the zoo and the bird refuge, with the palm-lined Cabrillo Boulevard and its waterfront path along the back. It is the classic picture of a Southern California city beach, and it is free. The sand is broad and flat, the surf generally manageable, and the facilities are the best in town. More than a dozen public volleyball courts line the sand, making East Beach one of California's beach-volleyball hubs, with pickup games and tournaments most weekends. There is a playground for children, two picnic areas on the lawns of East Beach Park, and the Cabrillo Pavilion, the city's handsome bathhouse and event building, where two free beach wheelchairs, one manual and one motorized, can be borrowed daily during operating hours with a signed waiver and ID. A self-guided audio tour tells the story of the waterfront. The beach path is the other half of the experience: rent a bike or a surrey near the wharf and ride the flat, paved Cabrillo route east past the volleyball courts and the zoo toward Butterfly Beach in Montecito, or west to the harbor. One rule to know: dogs are not allowed on East Beach, so bring them to Hendry's or the Mesa instead. On Sundays, local artists set up along the boulevard for the long-running arts and crafts show, which makes a beach morning into a browse.

East Beach is Santa Barbara at its most open and egalitarian. The hotels and the waterfront restaurants sit across Cabrillo Boulevard rather than on the sand, so the beach itself belongs to everyone: volleyball players, families with coolers, students from the city college and the university, joggers on the path and travelers from the waterfront hotels. The Cabrillo Pavilion, a 1920s landmark rebuilt and reopened in recent years, anchors the eastern section, and the views back toward the mountains and along the curve of the coast to the wharf are the city's signature panorama at beach level.

Doing it well: come in the morning for space and calmer wind, or late afternoon for the light. Parking is in city beach lots along Cabrillo Boulevard, which fill on summer weekends; arriving by bike or on foot from a waterfront hotel is easier. Bring layers even in summer, when the marine layer can keep mornings cool, and sun protection once it burns off. Check with the Cabrillo Pavilion about the free beach wheelchairs if anyone in your group needs one; reservations are taken with ID and a waiver.

Fitting it into a trip: East Beach links the waterfront's main sights. A family day can run zoo in the morning, a picnic and the playground at East Beach Park, and the wharf and the Sea Center's touch tanks in the afternoon. Couples can ride the beach path to Montecito for sunset on Butterfly Beach and dinner on Coast Village Road. Sunday visitors should walk the arts and crafts show along the boulevard.