Santa Barbara, California

With evocative Spanish Mission-style architecture brimming with white-washed walls and red-tiled roofs, an innovative farm-to-table culinary scene, countless wine-tasting rooms and micro-breweries all set against the dramatic backdrop of the Santa Ynez Mountains, the smart surf town of Santa Barbara offers well-heeled Californians a welcome respite from big-city life, and warrants much more than a one-night stopover for all visitors driving the infamous Pacific Coast Highway. Just a couple of hours north of LA, Santa Barbara has long been the place where movie moguls, film stars and artists hope to retreat when they’ve “made it”, and the city still has the air of a Mediterranean oasis about it; confident, cultured and charming.

On your holiday you must include Santa Barbara’s Urban Wine Trail which takes in over twenty walkable wineries and tasting rooms, but - this being California - Ubering around the vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley is a breeze, with dedicated Uber wine tour drivers to whisk you off on a bespoke tasting tour through biodynamic wineries and family-run estates.

We believe that art and wine were made for each other, so after tasting a few local pinots, visit the Arts Fund Gallery, which showcases local and up-and-coming talent as well as established artists. Around the corner, pop into the Santa Barbara Surf Museum for a reminder that for all its fancy design stores, world-class wine and culinary verve, Santa Barbara is a beach bum at heart.