Santa Barbara Zoo

The Santa Barbara Zoo is the rare zoo that is pleasant even for adults without children: a compact, lushly planted campus on a hilltop between East Beach and the Andree Clark Bird Refuge, where the landscaping is as much a draw as the animals and the giraffe yard comes with what may be the best ocean view of any zoo in the country. Its size is the selling point. You can walk the whole loop in a couple of hours without exhausting anyone, see the headline animals up close — Masai giraffes, big cats, primates, penguins, and a farm area for small kids — and still have the afternoon for the beach below. It also punches above its weight in conservation: the zoo takes part in the California Condor Recovery Program (with a Condor Cam) and in the recovery effort for the Channel Island fox, the tiny endemic fox you might also spot if you take the boat to the islands. Tickets are around forty dollars for adults and thirty for children 2 to 12, with a two-dollar discount for buying online, and parking costs about eleven dollars a car (free for members). This season there is a twist: from November 11 to January 10 the zoo closes at 4pm on most days, with last daytime entry at 3pm, so it can reopen in the evening for IllumaNature, its ticketed light show. Plan a morning visit, then walk down to East Beach for lunch by the sand.

The zoo's setting is the story. It occupies a former estate on a rise above the shore, which gives it mature trees, garden beds and views that newer zoos cannot buy, and it has been shaped since its founding into a place built for families with young children: shaded paths, short distances between exhibits, and plenty of benches. The animal collection favors quality over quantity, with exhibits that let you get close to giraffes, see the condors that once nearly vanished from California's skies, and learn about local wildlife in a regional context that ties back to the Channel Islands on the horizon.

Visiting well: arrive at opening for the coolest hours and most active animals, buy tickets online to save a little and skip the window line, and expect two to three hours for the full loop with a snack stop. Strollers are easy here. During the November-to-January IllumaNature season, the zoo closes to daytime visitors earlier in the afternoon so it can reset for the evening event — a separate ticket — and members' last entry is half an hour before closing; check the calendar for low-sensory nights and special dates. Bring layers; the hilltop can be breezy when the marine layer rolls in.

Around it: the zoo sits at the east end of the waterfront, a short walk from East Beach's sand, volleyball courts and playground, and from the Andree Clark Bird Refuge's lagoon path. The Cabrillo bike path connects it to Stearns Wharf in one direction and toward Butterfly Beach in Montecito in the other, so a family day can be zoo in the morning, beach and bike path in the afternoon, and the Sea Center's touch tanks on the wharf to finish.