Butterfly Beach is a small strand on the Montecito side of town, just below the Coral Casino and the Biltmore hotel. It is the celebrity beach of Santa Barbara — Oprah Winfrey lives on the bluff above — and one of the few west-facing beaches on the coast, so it gets a real sunset.
Parking is street-only along Channel Drive and fills up early on weekends. There are no facilities, no concession, no volleyball courts; come for the sand and the view. Walk down at low tide to find tide pools off the rocks at the eastern end.