You get to see the history of downtown Santa Barbara. My personal favorites were City Hall and the Spanish presidio

I did some research beforehand and found this self guided walk on line. It is a fabulous introduction to Santa Barbara and all there is to offer in Downtown. We really enjoyed finding the historic buildings en route, taking some great photographs whilst also getting to see some of the more modern day attractions and shops. I honestly cannot recommend this enough, we are convinced that without it we would have missed some of the highlights that are slightly off the beaten track of State Street.

We spent a sunny afternoon taking advantage of this self guided walking tour. The Visitor Center provided a map with great descriptions of each highlight and the best part was that you can spend as much or as little time at each one that you choose. Stops along the way include historical buildings as well as shopping and restaurant alcoves hat highlight new Sandra Barbara. State Street is an amazing and interesting area.

We picked up the brochure for this tour at our hotel and followed the route downtown, starting at the Courthouse. Good descriptions of each stop, though the map was a little hard to follow. Had to use the GPS on my phone part of the time. It's a nice way to learn about historic landmarks in beautiful Santa Barbara, and we are especially glad to have learned about the Courthouse, a must see.

The Red Tile tour is an official walking self-guided tour that is available online and also in a printed version in Santa Barbara's visitor center. It takes you through all the historic buildings along the beautiful State street and Santa Barbara street, beginning in the county courthouse. This serves as a good guide while you are walking along State Street. Make sure you park across the starting point, Santa Barbara County Country, on 1115 Anacapa St. where a public parking garage offers 2 hours of free parking.