surfimp

+1,000 but then I'm biased

You can be car-free in this town, easily, if you want to. If you live in/around downtown Santa Barbara, everything from Carpinteria to Goleta is within an easy, rolling 15 miles in either direction. It's often faster to get places by bike than by car, and the ample bike parking provided means it's truly "door to door" almost anywhere you go downtown.

In terms of civic amenities, we may not have "the best" of any one thing, but we've got everything... zoo, museums, theater, abundant public parks & gardens, harbor & waterfront, historic downtown, lots of beaches, mountain wilderness, and all of it is within an easy 10-30 minute bike ride from town. Unlike other SoCal areas, where everything is at least an hour by car from everything else, usually through rush hour traffic.

Oh, and the weather is awesome, too. You can easily commute year round, and only have to deal with occasional rain a few times a year. There is tons of great riding between Santa Barbara and Carpinteria, or you can charge up the mountains if you like. Cycling is very popular here, everything from college kids, to urban hipsters, to commuters, to racers, to tourists cruising in surreys and pedicabs. Very active local bike advocacy community, too.

If this isn't a bicycle paradise, I don't know what is! The only problem is that it's expensive, but like most expensive places, it's with good reason