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    Montecito Hot Springs

    4.4

    90 Reviews

    This rating is verified by Google.

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    Overview

    Reviews

    Nearby

    About The Attraction

    Montecito Hot Springs, nestled in California’s San Padres Forest, is a natural site with cascading rock-walled pools built by locals. Once a resort in the 1800s, only stone ruins and exotic plants remain. Managed by the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, it's now a popular hiking destination for those seeking scenic views and a rustic soak in historic waters.

    Hiking
    Hot Springs
    Timings:
    Open, Closes 12:00 PM
    Parking:
    Parking Available
    Phone:
    NA
    Email:
    NA
    Website:
    https://www.ultimatehotspringsguide.com/montecito-hot-springs.html

    Reviews

    All the reviews posted for this hotel are sourced from Google on August 24, 2025.

    Mike Troutman

    May 07, 2025

    5.0

    Hanging in SB for a few days. Found this hot-springs hike 20 minutes from our location Lots of pools over good a distance. Plenty of temp options. People were cool. Was there on a Wednesday in AM. Parking was filling up by 9 Trail is moderate and could be slippery when wet. Roughly 2.5 miles round trip. When hiking up the last sign to the trail was missing. Look for the water on right with white algae. Warm to touch. The trail crosses here and foes up to the springs. If you follow the pipe it will take to to another “capped” hotspring. You can see on my google map picture. Highly recommend a warm soak if you have some time. Great gem close to town.

    Christine Steele

    February 06, 2025

    4.0

    This is a shaded hike with fantastic peek-a-boo views of the Santa Barbara coastline. The hike is easy most of the time but does require some scrambling across boulders and occasional crossing over the creek. The hot springs are enjoyable but often crowded. They are shallow and smell of sulphur but relax the muscles. If you enjoy natural hot springs (no chlorine and sitting in a sandy and rocky natural creek bed) it’s worth a visit to soak in multiple pools of varying temperature. All uphill on the way to the springs, then all downhill on the way out. Parking is challenging, so arrive early or plan to add time to your hike by parking farther away and walking to the trailhead.

    Eric Zellhart

    February 01, 2025

    5.0

    Montecito Hot Springs is a true gem, if you go, please read up on history and be respectful. The trail and hot springs are looked after by volunteers who spend countless hours keeping this special place accessible to the public. It’s rare to have such accessible and beautiful natural hot spring pools with both hot and warm pools to move between. Good hiking shoes and sandles/water shoes will make moving between pools more comfortable. Bring plenty of water, it’s not a long hike but it’s still moderately difficult and the heat from the water will dehydrate you. Enjoy your hike and soak!

    Jesus Preciado

    October 16, 2024

    5.0

    Earlier you go the better. Was able to get a nice pool all to myself. Hike up is definitely challenging but so worth it. One of my favorite hikes now. Took about an hr from parking lot to the hot springs. Parking is not the best but I parked down the street from the main parking lot so maybe 5-10 min walk. Highly recommend 👌🏽was not too crowded for a Wednesday morning although there was a lot more people coming up as I headed down around noon. If you have AllTrails app use it as it gets a bit confusing in some spots.

    Stephanie Christensen

    December 30, 2024

    5.0

    It took us about an hour to get up, but we rarely hike so took a few short breaks. Two tricky areas: after about 30 min of hiking, you’ll reach a very wide dirt path that leads up and to the left, or you can veer right on a smaller path to a small creek. Go right for the hot springs. When you reach the sign with graffiti, turn left and you’ll see a river/creek with strands of white blue material streaking through it. You cross it and hike up and will be to the hot springs in 10 min. Very fun! 100+ degrees in top hot springs and tepid 80ish in lower ones. There were 20ish people but everyone got their space/privacy and rarely had to share a hot spring. So fun!!! No problem with street parking near where other cars were. Just below the entrance.

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