Santa Maria Valley
Venture north from Santa Barbara on your central California coastal road trip, and you have a quick choice to make. Both of them are fantastic options.
You can keep driving on the coastline taking Highway 1 to Gaviota State Park, where you’ll stay with US-101 up to Los Alamos to visit the famous attraction.
Or you can cruise the Santa Ynez ridge line on Highway 154 and merge with Highway 246 for a drive through the charming Danish town: Solvang, with perhaps a stopover to feed the massive, flightless birds inhabiting Ostrichland USA.
Danish Americans founded the city of Solvang in 1911, and it maintains that same heritage and then some! We highly recommend you choose this route on your central California coastal road trip.
You’ll find that Solvang is like a slice of Copenhagen on California’s central coast, complete with replicated windmills, Danish-style architecture, and even a statue of “The Little Mermaid” perched right in the heart of the town.
Take a stroll among half-timbered houses, dine on Danish cinnamon crisp pastries and kringle, or peruse Solvang’s Elverhoj Museum of History and Art to learn more about Danish history and its local roots.
