Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center

My husband and I had our wedding at the Sea Center and it was incredible! A truly beautiful location with stunning views of the mountains, beach and ocean. If you're thinking of a venue for a wedding or a special event, this is the best place in Santa Barbara. You can't beat the setting or the price. We had our ceremony on the wharf, cocktail hour inside the sea center, and then back to the wharf for dancing. Thank you staff at the Sea Center for making this the best day of our lives!

Amazing place to bring kids or come yourself! Pet some sharks, touch some warty sea cucumbers and pull up some nets!

Amazing place to learn about marine animals and the ocean. Gorgeous views, knowledgeable staff, and well stocked gift shop.

Great interactive museum. First time visiting and it was a free day! However, I did donate upon entering. Although my son was only 9 months and in a stroller, he still enjoyed looking at the aquariums. There's an elevator as well to assist wheeled visitors to go upstairs. Will bring my son again when he's older.

Quite a nice place to visit. Parking was great and ticket prices were reasonable. Lots of little buildings with exhibits to wander through. The whale bone display out front was also nice.

Since we're being subjected to so much unnatural history, this is a perfect place to see some things that are charming, nostalgic, and educational. Lovely dioramas, which are being restored; a nice little gen collection; fossil remains; stuffed birds (that's why you don't need to feed them) and if you are lucky real ones, too; a live butterfly area; an outdoor area to wander; and a library, all make this an easy adventure right near the DT Santa Barbara area.

One of our favorite regular go-to-s. The kids love this Sea Center.so do I. Worth a Membership if you're local.

Staff were super friendly and knowledgeable, they didn't have any problems answering questions and were super helpful.

Not as fancy as other aquariums, but perfect for checking out animals, touch pools, and learning about the process of science. It was cool to pet sharks, starfish, and enjoy the bay. Lots of cool mini-exhibits. While it isn't huge and its not like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, its a great opportunity to see the ocean directly and engage with cool exhibits, animals, and more. Worth the trip, especially if you take advantage of parking on the pier and walk over. Its a great afternoon date must do!

Small museum with exhibits of sea creatures. Great for young children. Parking right around the corner on the wharf.

Just a really fun little center, with knowledgeable staff who genuinely care about the amazing sea creatures they care for. My girls love the touch tanks and the jellyfish!

Awsome adventure we were not planning this but wete planning to go to the Santa Barbara Pier. So this was a welcome surprise we will go again

Our daughter enjoyed her visit here. Jackie was the best and was great with our daughter when showing exhibits!

Interactive being able to touch the sea creatures and staff were very knowledgeable and approachable.

Small but very well run musuem. Volunteers were extremely knowledgable and helpful. Wonderful way to end a walk and lunch on the pier. Dont be fooled by the surrounding paid parking areas. You can park on pier for 90 mins free. Museum takes about an hour.

Nice set up on the pier. I just dropped in to buy something from the gift shop and look around. Very friendly informative staff.

If you have really run out of things to do, sure, check it out. But it should not be a priority while visiting Santa Barbara. However, their satelllite location on Stern's Warf was fun, especially for kids.

Got t the place 18 minutes before closing and were told they were closed, as young lady was counting ting out her cash drawer. We drove over 100 miles to go there and wanted a souvenir to no avail. 1 start is to many. Maybe next time my 2 yr old wi be able to rush in and see so.e fish. Which is all he wanted.

Really cool museum. Small in comparison with other museums, but the exhibits are very cool. Many things you can touch, and there is even a section where they have a station build around a hole in the floor. You can lower down a small grabber that takes some sand of the ocean floor. You can then look inside to see what there is. Shells, rocks, and small sea life can be found. The staff are friendly and know a lot. In all, a really great museum.

Nice hands on Marine exhibit. Live sharks that you can touch and tide pool exhibit. Interesting and informative staff