Cold Spring Tavern
5995 Stagecoach Rd
Santa Barbara, CA
A creekside cluster of dark wooden cabins in an oak canyon that was a stagecoach relay stop before the road existed, and still feels a century removed from the freeway just above it.
Cold Spring Tavern is a huddle of dark, low-slung wooden cabins beside a creek in a canyon of the Santa Ynez Mountains, and stepping into it is like stepping out of the present. It began as a relay station in the stagecoach era, a place to change horses and feed weary travelers on the hard climb over San Marcos Pass, and it has been serving meals in more or less the same rooms ever since.
Today it is a beloved and slightly wild restaurant, famous for open-fire tri-tip sandwiches and weekend live music that fills the canyon and draws everyone from families to lines of motorcycles. But under the crowd, the place is the real thing: original 1800s buildings on the original stage road, kept almost exactly as they were.
What Guests Love
- Stepping into a genuine 1800s stagecoach stop with the low ceilings and worn wood intact
- The famous open-fire tri-tip sandwiches served outside on busy weekends
- Live music and a lively crowd, including motorcyclists, on weekend afternoons
- A cool, shaded creek canyon that feels miles from anywhere
Worth Knowing
- It is genuinely tucked away off the old Stagecoach Road, so watch for the turn off the highway
- Weekends are busy and can be a scene; weekdays are quiet and more atmospheric
- The buildings are old, small, and rustic by design, not a polished restaurant
- Reservations are wise for the dining room, especially at dinner and on weekends
Details
Santa Barbara, CA
Learn about Cold Spring Tavern
The stage road over San Marcos Pass
These mountains are the homeland of the Chumash, who traveled and traded across the passes of the Santa Ynez range long before any road was cut through them.
In the 1860s, crews of Chinese laborers built a toll road up and over San Marcos Pass to connect Santa Barbara on the coast with the ranch country of the Santa Ynez Valley inland. It was a punishing climb for a horse-drawn stage, and Cold Spring became a relay station along the way, a place to swap tired horses for fresh ones and give passengers a hot meal before the next leg. The little Road Gang House on the property was built by those Chinese road builders for shelter.
Sources differ on the exact founding year, with dates in the 1860s commonly cited, but the point is that the tavern has been feeding travelers on this spot for well over a century and a half. When the stagecoach era ended and the highway moved uphill, the tavern stayed put in its canyon and simply kept cooking.
The buildings and the setting
The tavern is not one building but a small settlement of them, weathered board-and-batten cabins connected by dirt and stone under a canopy of oaks and sycamores, with a creek running through. Inside, the ceilings are low, the walls are hung with old photographs and antlers, and fires take the chill off the canyon air.
Part of what makes it special is that it was never modernized into something slick. The rooms are small and dim and full of history, and the whole place has the feel of a set that happens to be real, which is one reason it has appeared in films over the years.
The food and the weekend scene
The tavern is as much a destination for its food as its history. On weekends the crew grills tri-tip over an open fire outside and serves it up as sandwiches to a long, cheerful line, while the dining room turns out heartier fare like game and stew that suits the mountain setting.
Weekend afternoons bring live music and a big, mixed crowd, famously including rows of motorcyclists who ride the pass out to it. It can get loud and lively, so travelers who want the quiet, atmospheric version should come on a weekday, when the canyon belongs mostly to the creek and the oaks.
The mountains around it
The tavern sits in the Los Padres National Forest backcountry, in a canyon of coast live oak, bay, and sycamore that stays cool and green when the surrounding chaparral bakes. The old Stagecoach Road and nearby trails invite a short walk before or after a meal.
Just above runs the modern San Marcos Pass highway, and the tall Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge soars over the gorge nearby, a reminder of how the crossing that once took a full day of hard stagecoach travel now takes only minutes.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Santa Barbara
Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park
About 6 miles south
A small sandstone cave preserving vivid Chumash rock paintings, one of the finest examples on the California coast.
Santa Barbara
About 12 miles south
The red-tiled coastal city with its mission, harbor, and Mediterranean feel, down the mountain from the pass.
Santa Ynez Valley wine country
About 15 miles north
The rolling vineyards and small towns of Los Olivos, Solvang, and Santa Ynez, just over the pass.
Lake Cachuma
About 12 miles north
A large reservoir in the Santa Ynez Valley, popular for fishing, boating, and wildlife cruises.