The hook
The one California mission with two matching bell towers looks down over Santa Barbara from its hill, and Franciscan friars have kept it running without a break since 1786.
01Why it's worth it
They call it the Queen of the Missions, and for once the nickname fits. Founded in 1786 as the tenth of the chain, Mission Santa Barbara got its second bell tower in 1831, making it the only one of the twenty-one built with the symmetrical twin towers that give it that cathedral look, a pink sandstone facade above a long formal rose garden. It's also one of just two missions the Franciscans have run continuously since founding, and the only one in California never handed off, so the place has an unbroken thread most of the others lost. Behind the church are a museum of mission-era life, an old cemetery where thousands of Chumash converts and early Californians are buried, and quiet arcades. It sits up on a rise with the city and the sea below, worth the visit for the setting alone.
02How to experience it
It's on the Riviera hillside above downtown Santa Barbara, about five and a half hours from the Bay. There's a small admission for the self-guided route through the church, museum, gardens, and cemetery; docent tours run some days. Go in the morning for the light on the facade. It pairs with the courthouse and the rest of a Santa Barbara day.