Inspiration Point Trailhead, Santa Barbara: Photos, Reviews & Location

At a glance

#33 of 52 Tourist attractions in Santa Barbara #13 of 16 Hiking areas in Santa Barbara

LocalGuideWorld score: 4.60

3.1 km from the center of Santa Barbara

Rating breakdown

5 ★72%
4 ★21%
3 ★5%
2 ★1%
1 ★1%

Spyglass Ridge Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93105

Photos of Inspiration Point Trailhead (98)

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Inspiration Point Trailhead, Santa Barbara – photo 1

Inspiration Point Trailhead, Santa Barbara – photo 2

Inspiration Point Trailhead, Santa Barbara – photo 3

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Inspiration Point Trailhead, Santa Barbara – photo 5

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Inspiration Point Trailhead, Santa Barbara – photo 11

Inspiration Point Trailhead, Santa Barbara – photo 12

Quick facts

What is the rating of Inspiration Point Trailhead?: Inspiration Point Trailhead is rated 4.6 out of 5 based on 413 reviews.
How does Inspiration Point Trailhead rank in Santa Barbara?: Inspiration Point Trailhead is #33 of 52 Tourist attractions in Santa Barbara by LocalGuideWorld score (rating weighted by number of reviews).
Where is Inspiration Point Trailhead located?: Spyglass Ridge Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93105 — 3.1 km from the center of Santa Barbara.

Reviews (8)

Zinger Learns 2023 Oct 19

A fun there and back hike that is just under 4 miles, with pretty good incline and great views.
Starts as a fire trail and ends as a single track. Signage is pretty good, but there are a couple of places where having a map might help. Was overcast when we went, I would imagine it would be more scenic on a clear day.

Mark Westman 2023 Aug 28

Short hike with beautiful views. Easy start, but mild difficulty to get to the top. Went very early morning and really enjoyed it.

marija milic 2023 Aug 01

Great hike!
Took longer than anticipated. Make sure you set aside about 3 hours to get up and down the trail

Definitely well worth the view !!!
Would recommend the hike

Dick Tandy 2023 Jul 07

Very nice track. It's constant elevation gain. Slow and steady is fast and smooth. Didn't have much of a view. It was overcast. Not too many on the trail. Wonderful hike!

Jeff McLean 2023 Jun 09

Up in the Santa Barbara mountains on a wet and misty day on a Monday. Well, I lucked out because most people don’t like to hike in those conditions. I might have seen four people the three hours I trudged up and down this lovely Disney themed jungle. Unlikely to experience this another time when 2023 winter rain and June gloom were heavy. Thank you Mother Earth.

Ted Eckman 2022 Aug 28

A good medium difficulty hike. Basically all uphill to Inspiration Point. The nice thing about that is it’s all downhill going back. Parts of the trail are shaded, so you can stop to rest in the shade if you’d like. It’s almost exactly two miles up and two miles back. Take water, even for the short hike. Also, it’s a bit confusing to get to Inspiration Point because you have to take smaller trails off the main trail. There are a lot of other trails in the area too, so it’s a good place to go hiking.

eva chan 2022 Apr 10

The trail is about 4 mile front and back with 900 ft elevation gain. The path is really well maintained and gently sloped so going up 900ft elevation gain wasn’t too bad except today is hot and the trail has no shade. Whats surprising is that there aren’t many wild flowers. The photos I took is really all there is! (For example, we went to Arroyo Verde Park trail at Ventura and the trail was full of wild flowers). The view at the very top of the entire Santa Barbara is quite cool, but since the town is far away, the view can’t be consider spectacular. Along the way, there is no view of the city. Just a lot of nature which is good but not extraordinary. Note also about a mile of the way is paved which is great.

John Cardinale 2019 Aug 22

Great hike can get rather challenging! The top view is very nice, good place for a picture and plenty of room to stand. Trail can get narrow very difficult to make it to the top with a bike. No real creeks at least when I went August 2019. Make sure you research the parking before hand, very limited street parking. Also make sure you look closely at the maps there is one fork that can be confusing somewhat early on the trail, not really labeled the best but it is well maintained. Loved it will go back when in the area. Also went early as it can get hot in the afternoon.