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Santa Barbara Motels
Santa Barbara is one of my favorite locations in California.  I may be a little bit biased seeing how I lived there for five years, but I’ve been a lot of places and Santa Barbara was certainly amongst the most memorable.  If you live fairly nearby, say in the Bay Area or the Los Angeles region, I definitely recommend Santa Barbara as a weekend getaway.

As a former resident, I didn’t spend a lot of time in Santa Barbara motels personally.  However, whenever my parents came into town to visit, which was often, they’d pick out a Santa Barbara motel and I quickly became familiar with most of them.  Now that I now longer live there, I find myself using this knowledge whenever I come back for a visit.

Depending on your reasons for visiting, there are two basic categories of Santa Barbara motels.  There’s the cheaper, affordable variety that’s basically designed for people passing through, business trips, or other short visits.  Then there are Santa Barbara hotels that are full of charm and character that are designed for more vacation oriented or romantic stays.

For the more business oriented stay, Santa Barbara motels include all the chains you’re probably familiar with, like Day’s Inn, Best Western, etc.  These are what you’d expect for the chains, but the one Santa Barbara motel that I find myself coming back to a lot is called ‘The Sandpiper Inn’.  A locally owned Santa Barbara motel, The Sandpiper Inn is everything you’d get from the other chains yet usually has better deals available and always seems to have space free.  While its on State Street, It’s a little ways from the ‘downtown’ area, but is centrally located in the greater Santa Barbara/Goleta area.

Of course, when I’m visiting Santa Barbara with a girlfriend, the Sandpiper Inn just won’t do at all.  For a little more money, there are some nice romantic Santa Barbara hotels to choose from.  One of my favorites is the West Beach Inn.  Right on the beach and walking distance from the nicest parts of town, the location couldn’t be any better.  The motel itself is certainly decent enough, but it is the area that really sells it.  Surprisingly, the rates aren’t normally that much more than the cheaper chains or the Sandpiper.

For an even more luxurious Santa Barbara hotel, there’s the Harbor View Inn and the Villa Rosa.  These are both very classy Santa Barbara hotels with great locations, beautiful rooms, and good service.  Of course, they are more expensive!