Arroyo Burro Beach(Arroyo Burro Beach County Park, Hendry's Beach)

Located near the downtown area of Santa Barbara, Arroyo Burro Beach - also known as Hendry’s Beach - is a popular and clean beach with light brown sand. This beach is situated at the base of steep oceanfront bluffs. The Arroyo Burro Creek flows through the beach into the Pacific Ocean. 

Arroyo Burro Beach has many amenities including lifeguards, restrooms, picnic tables, showers, and barbecues. While generally dogs are allowed on the beach on a leash, dogs are allowed to be off-leash in a special dog-friendly area that is present towards the east of the Arroyo Burro Creek mouth. 

Arroyo Burro Beach offers many fun activities including beachcombing, sunbathing, wildlife watching, swimming, fishing, surfing, kitesurfing, picnicking windsurfing, tide-pooling, bodysurfing, bodyboarding, kayaking, canoeing, boating, jet-skiing, and wake-boarding. The water near this beach is popular among experienced surfers as it offers thrilling and consistent surfing waves, especially during spring. However, if you are planning to go into the water near Arroyo Burro Beach, we recommend being careful as the water is occasionally known to have rip currents. In addition, we recommend checking the water quality before swimming here as the water here has high levels of microbial contamination. This poor water quality usually is prevalent near the beach after the Arroyo Burro Creek has recently flowed into the ocean. Depending on the time of the year, you can view many kinds of animals in the water near this beach including seals, sea lions, and migrating whales. If you are planning to fish in the water near Arroyo Burro Beach, we recommend that you comply with the local fishing regulations. The Watershed Resource Center is present near this beach and regularly organizes interesting educational programs for kids. In addition, volunteers from this resource center often organize coastal clean-up sessions in Arroyo Burro Beach, which is the reason behind this beach’s cleanliness despite its popularity.  

The blufftop area above this beach has many interesting recreational parks including the Douglas Family Preserve, which is an undeveloped piece of pristine coastal land and has a vibrant landscape that consists of many habitats including oak forests, riparian habitats, coastal scrub, and grasslands. You can explore this park via interesting hiking and biking trails. As an interesting fact, the preserve is named in honor of eminent actor Kirk Douglas, whose son and famous actor Michael Douglas played a crucial role in saving this land from infrastructural development and preserving its natural beauty. Elings Park, which is also situated on the blufftop area above this beach, is one of the largest recreational open spaces in Santa Barbara and offers many fun activities including baseball, softball, biking, rugby, hang-gliding, and paragliding. 

The beach also has a grassy park and offers access to people with disabilities.

Getting to Arroyo Burro Beach is easy - the beach entrance is present near 2981 Cliff Drive, where a large free parking lot is also available nearby. This beach is open from 8 am to sunset. We recommend visiting this beach early during summers as the beach can get crowded quickly during this season. 

As an interesting fact, the alternative name of this beach (Hendry’s Beach) comes from a local landowner named William Nicol Hendry, who lived in the area near this beach. 

There are many attractions near Arroyo Burro Beach. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History offers many interesting exhibitions on the local natural and cultural history. This museum also has the only full-dome planetarium along the Central Coast region of coastal California. In addition, the museum also has one of the largest existing collections of Native American basketry artworks created by Native American Chumash craftsmen. The Carriage and Western Art Museum offers a vivid exhibition of Old-Western-themed memorabilia including horse-drawn vehicles and saddles. This museum also has saddles that were used by many prominent celebrities including Clark Gable and Will Rogers. If you are looking for another attraction near Arroyo Burro Beach, Stearns Wharf was originally built during the 19th century and offers amazing Instagram-worthy views of the Santa Barbara shoreline. This wharf also has many interesting shops and restaurants and is also a great fishing spot. The beach offers amazing Instagram-worthy views of the South California shoreline and the Pacific Ocean. 

If you get hungry, there are many great restaurants near Arroyo Burro Beach. Bouchon Santa Barbara is an upscale restaurant that serves amazing Fusion dishes with Californian and French influences. The restaurant has been praised by the Time Out magazine and also offers interesting "foodie strolls" around the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market. These tours, led by Chef Greg Murphy, are conducted during Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings and are often followed by a three-course evening dinner. Boathouse at Hendry’s Beach offers a pleasant oceanfront dining experience and serves amazing seafood. If you are looking for another good and affordable restaurant near Arroyo Burro Beach, East Beach Tacos offers an amazing variety of tacos. 

If you are looking for a hotel near Arroyo Burro Beach, there are many great nearby options. Hotel Californian is a 5-Star hotel that has Spanish Colonial-style architecture and offers many amenities including multiple restaurants, a pool, a hot tub, and a Moroccan-style spa. As another upscale option, the 4-Star Mar Monte Hotel - In the Unbound Collection by Hyatt offers many amenities including a restaurant, a bar, a pool with a hot tub, a fire pit, and a gym. A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star Beachside Inn that has many amenities including complimentary breakfast and a pool. If you are looking for another good and affordable hotel near Arroyo Burro Beach, the modestly priced 2-Star Ala Mar Motel offers many amenities including complimentary breakfast and a sundeck with umbrella-shaded tables that offer amazing views of the Pacific Ocean.