Buellton sits at the junction of Highway 101 and Highway 246, which is why most people first arrive by accident and why it works so well as a base. The town itself is small and functional, holding an ostrich farm, a botanic garden and a row of tasting rooms, while the Sta. Rita Hills vineyards, Solvang, Los Olivos, the Lompoc wine warehouses and the Gaviota coast all sit within half an hour of it.
The top 12, ranked
Ranked by how consistently each pick appears across official Buellton sources, the local destination marketing organization, and recent independent roundups.
- Top pick
#1Best for Families · #1 of 12Ostrich Land USA
Family AttractionBuellton and Highway 246Open daily on a long daytime schedule with the gate closing shortly before the last entry, and feed trays sold at the shopTicketedA working ostrich and emu farm on the highway between Buellton and Solvang, where visitors buy a feeding tray and hold it out over a low fence while very large birds decide how enthusiastic to be about it. The birds strike hard and fast, the tray is deliberately shaped to keep fingers out of range, and children find the whole thing thrilling.
Local tipHold the dish flat and low with a straight arm, because the pecking is a great deal firmer than the photographs suggest.
- Top pick
#2Best for Wine · #2 of 12Sta. Rita Hills wine trail
TourSanta Rosa Road and the Sta. Rita HillsIndividual wineries keep their own limited schedules, with more open at weekends and appointments usual at the smaller estatesTicketedThe appellation immediately west of Buellton runs in a rare east to west corridor that pulls Pacific fog and wind straight inland, which is why its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay carry the reputation they do. Tasting is spread across small estate rooms on Santa Rosa Road and Highway 246 rather than concentrated in a village, so it is driven rather than walked.
Local tipMost estate rooms take appointments and several open only a few days a week, so book two or three ahead of the day rather than improvising along the road.
- Top pick
#3Best for Wandering · #3 of 12Solvang
Neighborhood LandmarkSolvang, Los Olivos and Santa YnezShops and bakeries keep daytime hours with longer evening trading at weekends and through the summerFree with paid optionsThree miles east of Buellton, Solvang was founded by Danish immigrants in 1911 and has leaned into it ever since, with half timbered facades, working windmills and bakeries selling aebleskiver by the dozen. It is a separate town rather than part of Buellton, and it absorbs a full half day between the pastry shops, the museums, the theater and the tasting rooms.
Local tipPark once at the edge of the village and walk, and go early in the day if the aim is bakeries rather than crowds.
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4Best for Wine · #4 of 12
Alma Rosa Winery Estate Ranch
TourSanta Rosa Road and the Sta. Rita HillsThe estate ranch house opens daily on a daytime schedule by appointment, with a separate tasting room in Solvang keeping longer hoursTicketedRichard Sanford planted some of the first Pinot Noir in the Sta. Rita Hills, and the Alma Rosa estate that grew out of that work covers well over six hundred acres of ranch land on Santa Rosa Road. Tasting happens in a ranch house looking out over the vineyard rather than in a storefront, which is a different experience from a village pour.
Local tipThe ranch house takes bookings and welcomes walk ins, but the drive out along Santa Rosa Road is half the point so allow time for it.
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#5Best for History · #5 of 12La Purisima Mission State Historic Park
Historic SiteLompoc and the Gaviota coastBuildings and grounds open daily with the visitor center closed one day a week, and a per vehicle day use chargeTicketedTwenty five minutes west near Lompoc, this is the most completely restored of the twenty one California missions, rebuilt in the 1930s as a work relief project. Ten buildings stand in a line rather than around a quadrangle, workshops hold the tanning vats and blacksmith gear, and burros, longhorn cattle, sheep and goats graze the meadows around them.
Local tipAim for one of the demonstration Saturdays, when volunteers work the forge, the looms and the candle molds in the original rooms.
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6Best for Beer · #6 of 12
Firestone Walker Barrelworks
Neighborhood LandmarkBuellton and Highway 246Open daily from late morning into the evening, with slightly later closing at weekendsFree with paid optionsFirestone Walker keeps its wild and sour beer program in Buellton rather than at the main brewery, ageing beers in a warehouse of oak barrels with locally foraged fruit and herbs. The taproom sits in among the barrels, and the wild ales poured there are largely unavailable anywhere else, which makes it a genuine stop rather than a convenient one.
Local tipAsk what is pouring from the barrel program specifically, because the standard lineup is available across the state and the wild beers are not.
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7Best for Wine · #7 of 12
Lompoc Wine Ghetto
TourLompoc and the Gaviota coastIndividual tasting rooms open mainly at weekends with a few adding days either side, and no single set of hours across the parkTicketedTwenty minutes west of Buellton, an unremarkable industrial park off 12th Street holds the densest cluster of small production tasting rooms in Santa Barbara County, roughly a dozen of them in roll up warehouse units. The winemakers are often the ones pouring, and the setting strips away the terrace and the view to leave only the wine.
Local tipMost units open only from Thursday or Friday through Sunday, so this is a weekend outing rather than a midweek one.
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#8Best for Outdoors · #8 of 12Gaviota State Park
ParkLompoc and the Gaviota coastOpen daily for day use with a per vehicle charge and gates that close before darkTicketedTwenty minutes south, the 101 drops through Gaviota Pass and reaches a sheltered sand beach beneath a railway trestle and a fishing pier. Trails climb inland from the same park into oak woodland and chaparral, reaching sandstone wind caves and a backcountry sulfur hot spring, which gives a wine trip a genuine walk in it.
Local tipPark at the trailhead on the inland side of the freeway for the wind caves and hot springs, which is separate from the beach parking area.
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#9Best for Wine · #9 of 12Los Olivos village
Neighborhood LandmarkSolvang, Los Olivos and Santa YnezTasting rooms and galleries keep afternoon hours seven days a week, with most closing early in the eveningFree with paid optionsTen minutes northeast of Buellton, Los Olivos is a handful of streets around a flagpole that between them hold several dozen tasting rooms, galleries and antique shops. It is the one place in the valley where wine tasting works entirely on foot, and the Foxen Canyon wine trail runs north from the edge of the village into the hills.
Local tipLeave the car at one end of Grand Avenue for the whole visit, because the village is four blocks long and driving between rooms is pointless.
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10Best for History · #10 of 12
Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum and Parks Janeway Carriage House
MuseumSolvang, Los Olivos and Santa YnezOpen on a small number of afternoons each week with a modest admission and free entry for young childrenTicketedThe carriage house behind this small museum on Sagunto Street holds the largest collection of horse drawn vehicles west of the Mississippi, from stagecoaches and covered wagons to hand carved carts and early motor carriages. Adjoining galleries cover valley ranching with saddlery, working gear and period clothing, and rotating shows fill two more rooms.
Local tipIt opens only in the middle of the week and closes early in the afternoon, so slot it in before a tasting appointment rather than after.
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11Best for Free stops · #11 of 12
Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden at River View Park
GardenBuellton and Highway 246Open from sunrise to sundown every day of the year with free entry and occasional guided walksFreeA volunteer run garden inside Buellton's River View Park, laid out to show the plant communities of the surrounding country rather than to display exotics. Paths run through chaparral, coastal sage scrub and oak plantings with the Santa Ynez River below, and the park around it has picnic tables, playgrounds and a paved path along the water.
Local tipIt costs nothing and opens from sunrise to sundown every day, which makes it the easiest place in Buellton to stretch legs between tastings.
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#12Best for Outdoors · #12 of 12Sedgwick Reserve
ParkSolvang, Los Olivos and Santa YnezAccess is by scheduled guided hikes, programs and events rather than general daily openingFree with paid optionsA University of California research reserve on Figueroa Mountain Road protecting oak savanna, grassland and creek habitat that once made up most of this valley. Public access runs through docent led hikes, lectures and scheduled open days rather than an open gate, so it stays quiet and the guiding is done by people who study the ground.
Local tipVisits have to be arranged through the reserve's own events schedule, so check what is running before driving out to the gate.
Where things cluster
Buellton is a hub rather than a destination, so it helps to think of the area as the town itself and three directions out of it.
- Buellton and Highway 246The town straddles the 101 at the Avenue of Flags, with McMurray Road, Industrial Way and Highway 246 holding the tasting rooms, the brewery, the botanic garden and the ostrich farm. Everything here is a few minutes apart and most of it has parking, which is not true of the villages nearby.
- Solvang, Los Olivos and Santa YnezEast along Highway 246 and up Highway 154, three small towns each doing a different thing: Danish bakeries and windmills in Solvang, tasting rooms and galleries around the Los Olivos flagpole, ranch history and carriages in Santa Ynez. All are within fifteen minutes of Buellton.
- Santa Rosa Road and the Sta. Rita HillsWest of town, Santa Rosa Road and Highway 246 run either side of the Santa Ynez River through the cool corridor that funnels ocean fog inland. This is the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay country, mostly working vineyards with small estate tasting rooms rather than a strip of storefronts.
- Lompoc and the Gaviota coastTwenty minutes west lies Lompoc with its mission, its murals and a warehouse park full of tasting rooms, while twenty minutes south the 101 drops through Gaviota Pass to the ocean. Both directions get visitors out of wine country and into something else entirely.
Make it a day
Ostriches, then west into the fog belt
Start at Ostrich Land while it is cool and the birds are lively, then walk the botanic garden at River View Park to work out where the valley sits. Spend the afternoon on Santa Rosa Road with two Sta. Rita Hills tasting appointments, and finish over a wild ale at Barrelworks back in town.
Wine one day, everything else the next
Give the first day to wine, working from the Sta. Rita Hills in the morning to the walkable tasting rooms of Los Olivos in the afternoon. Use the second for the rest of the valley: Solvang early, the carriage collection at Santa Ynez, then west to La Purisima Mission and the Lompoc warehouses, or south to the Gaviota coast.
Big birds, a mission and a beach
Feed the ostriches first, then drive west to La Purisima Mission, where the burros, longhorns and sheep matter more to children than the buildings do. Carry on to Gaviota for an afternoon on the sand under the train trestle, or turn back for the playgrounds and river path at River View Park.
Map
Best time to visit
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Late spring and early autumn give warm days without the summer crowds on Highway 246, and September into October adds the harvest, when the wineries are working and the valley smells of fermentation. Mornings run gray and cool most of the year as ocean fog pushes up the Sta. Rita Hills corridor, usually clearing by late morning, so plan outdoor walks for the afternoon.
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Buellton things to do FAQ
Parking, timing, cost, and weather answers for a smoother visit.
Is Buellton worth staying in rather than Solvang?
For most trips, yes. Buellton sits on Highway 101 at the junction with Highway 246, so the Sta. Rita Hills, Solvang, Los Olivos, Santa Ynez and Lompoc are all within about twenty minutes. Rooms are usually cheaper and easier to park at than in Solvang, and the town has its own tasting rooms and brewery. Solvang is prettier to walk around, which is an argument for visiting it rather than sleeping in it.
Do you need a car, and can you taste wine without driving?
A car is effectively necessary to reach the area and to move between the valley towns. Once here, several tasting rooms are within walking distance in Buellton itself, and Los Olivos and Solvang are both walkable villages. For a full day across the Sta. Rita Hills, the practical options are a hired driver, a guided wine tour, or nominating someone to stay dry. Distances are short but the roads are rural and unlit at night.
What is Buellton's connection to the film Sideways?
Much of the 2004 film was shot in and around Buellton and the Santa Ynez Valley, and it is widely credited with turning this stretch of Santa Barbara County into a wine destination. Several of the locations, including a Buellton motel and a Highway 246 restaurant, are still operating and still trade on it. The wider effect was on Pinot Noir, which the film sent demand chasing for years afterwards.
What is there for people who do not drink wine?
More than the reputation suggests. Ostrich Land, the botanic garden and River View Park are all in Buellton itself, La Purisima Mission and its livestock are twenty five minutes west, and Gaviota State Park has beach and backcountry hiking twenty minutes south. Solvang's bakeries, museums and windmills fill a half day on their own, and the carriage collection at Santa Ynez is a genuine curiosity.
Do tasting rooms need reservations?
Often, and increasingly so at the estate wineries out on Santa Rosa Road and in the Sta. Rita Hills, where staffing is thin and rooms are small. Village tasting rooms in Los Olivos and Solvang generally take walk ins. A workable pattern is to book one or two estate visits in advance and leave the rest of the day loose. Weekends are far busier than midweek, and some rooms do not open midweek at all.
How far is Buellton from Santa Barbara and Los Angeles?
Santa Barbara is about forty minutes south on Highway 101, through Gaviota Pass and along the coast. Los Angeles is roughly two and a half hours, and the drive is straightforward outside commuter hours. The nearest commercial airport is Santa Barbara, with Los Angeles the fallback for wider connections. Highway 246 through the valley is slow and busy at weekends, so allow more time than the distance suggests.
Keep planning
Use these nearby guides to extend your Buellton trip with a different pace and a clear next stop.
Image credits. #1 Ostrich Land USA: DarkNight0917, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #2 Sta. Rita Hills wine trail: Bradfordschultze at en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. #3 Solvang: SvenPaulus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. #5 La Purisima Mission State Historic Park: Ligocsicnarf89, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #8 Gaviota State Park: Antandrus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. #9 Los Olivos village: Collette14713, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #12 Sedgwick Reserve: Dreamyshade, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.