Discover America’s Top Small Food and Culture Town: 27 Wineries, New Dining Spots, and Luxury Accommodations in Just 2.5 Square Miles

Los Olivos doesn’t wake up before 6 a.m. This year, when the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Resorts Collection, opened with a cafe that started pulling espresso shots at 6 every morning, the hours of Felix Coffee Shop were the talk of the town. Or, more accurately, the talk of the 2.5-square-mile unincorporated community in California’s Santa Ynez Valley.

There are 27 wineries in Los Olivos, which means you’re looking at a tasting room every .01 square mile. However, don’t worry, you won’t be driving. The main drag of Los Olivos — Grand Avenue — is just two blocks from the new hotel. Moreover, to help travelers soak up the wine — mostly pinot noirs and chardonnays marinating in the valley’s cool microclimates — are a few fantastic new restaurants, which landed Los Olivos the title of iBestTravel‘s very first best food and culture town in the U.S.

Food and Culture

It wasn’t the wineries that put Los Olivos on our radar; it was The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Bar Le Côte, The Other Room, and Gin’s. The wave of talent putting permanent roots down in Los Olivos is frankly astounding — with Auberge Resorts Collection, one of the best hotel names in California luxury, and Ryan, who is one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs of 2020 and an alum of NYC fine-dining haunts, like Per Se and Gramercy Tavern.

As Ermoni Best, the sommelier at Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, previously noted, “They say this place is like Napa 50 years ago.” It won’t become Napa, of course. The enclave is small enough to ensure Los Olivos never balloons to that extent — and no one in this town wants a slew of five-star hotels, Michelin three-starred restaurants, and castle wineries. Therefore, go now, to eat and drink and wander and laze before too many people find out about this 2.5-square-mile town in central California.

The Best Times to Visit

There isn’t a bad time to visit Los Olivos, but the best weather is in the spring and fall. The hottest month is August, while it’s coolest from December to March. Spring brings breezy weather in the 70s and rosé season — i.e., when most vineyards release their new rosés. Danielle Laudon Ruse, VP of marketing for Santa Ynez Valley, favors fall. It’s when “wine lovers get to experience a little harvest magic and watch the leaves change in the vineyards,” she says. “The weather is still wonderfully warm in the daytime while the evenings offer a nice cool down, so alfresco dining is still very much a thing as the season changes.”

Things to Do

Drink wine.

“For so long, when you heard California wine country, your mind went to Napa and Sonoma,” Ryan says. “Of course, people are aware of Santa Barbara County wines, but I think more and more people are realizing it’s not just the younger sibling wine area — that, instead, the wines produced here are world-class, incredibly interesting, innovative, and well-crafted.” In addition to the 27 wineries in town, there are tasting rooms and vineyards scattered throughout the Santa Ynez Valley. Inn at Mattei’s Tavern even has a Meet the Maker program, where guests can tour vineyards and taste wine with the vineyards’ proprietors and winemakers.

Shop local.

The name of the game in Los Olivos is locally owned businesses, whether you’re shopping for clothes, homewares, or wine. Here are some shopping recommendations:

Where to Stay

The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Resorts Collection

The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern first opened in 1886 as the seven-room Central Hotel, serving those riding the Pacific Coast Railroad. In April 2023, it reopened as an Auberge Resorts Collection hotel, yet the 64-room resort still celebrates its illustrious past. When guests check in for dinner at The Tavern, they’ll do so in the stage office where Felix and Lucy Mattei, the original owners, used to receive guests. When Felix — indeed, that coffee shop that opens at 6 a.m. is named after him — and Lucy wanted to expand the kitchen in the 1910s, they brought on Gin Luang Gin. Now, there’s an alfresco bar, painted a pristine white, just opposite a cedar barn and a red-roofed water tower, named Gin’s — serving pan-Asian snacks and local wine on tap.

Where to Eat and Drink

Stolpman Vineyards

Of all the Los Olivos and Santa Ynez wineries, Stolpman Vineyards has made perhaps the biggest national splash. Stolpman’s small-batch natural wine includes a well-known carbonic sangiovese called Love You Bunches, plus a fun chenin blanc pet’nat, both of which you can try at Stolpman Fresh Garage along with the vineyard’s hipper, new-age wines. Sample Stolpman’s estate wines — think: syrah, roussanne, grenache — at the patio next door to Fresh Garage.

The Other Room

“It was something we’ve always wanted to do,” Ryan says of The Other Room, a beer and wine bar she and Greg opened in 2022. Inspired by their frequent visits to The Back Room, in Solvang — “we’re big beer drinkers” — they created The Other Room in response. “We just wanted to open a place where we’d want to go have a beer or a glass of wine. We also focus on serving wines from other areas since, of course, the tasting rooms are focused on local wines,” she concludes. It’s open on Tuesday, a rarity in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Bar Le Côte

Bar Le Côte, opened by the Ryans in 2021, is a cozy, California-cool seafood restaurant in the heart of town. Poppy art lines the bright green and white walls, and local produce informs the menu (the olive oil cake features strawberries from nearby Finley Farms this summer), and, in true California fashion, they’re serving Santa Barbara urchin and Tomales Bay oysters.

Story of Soil

One noteworthy fact about the Santa Ynez Valley wineries is that the number of women-owned establishments is significantly higher than the national average. (“Santa Barbara County boasts more women winemakers per capita than most other regions in the world — nearly double the national average of 10 percent,” reports Visit Santa Ynez Valley.) Story of Soil is one such winery in town, owned by winemaker Jessica Gasca. The tasting room is as inviting and delicious as the syrah, pinot noir, and sauv blanc Gasca produces.

Where to Shop

Los Olivos General Store

A staple in the center of town, Los Olivos General Store has every California-cozy knick-knack imaginable. Come for the candles and pottery, stay for the local kitchen accoutrements, such as blood orange olive oil from Los Olivos Olive Oil Company and Santa Ynez sage blossom honey.

Avec Moi Decor

Do you ever wonder how folks in Los Angeles effortlessly look like they just sauntered out of a magazine cover shoot? The secret is shopping at local gems like Avec Moi Decor during cheeky weekends away.

How to Get There

The closest airport to Los Olivos is the Santa Barbara Airport, which is a convenient 40-minute drive. Alternatively, you can easily reach Los Olivos from Los Angeles by flying into LAX and driving the two-and-a-half hours (130 miles) north. If you’re planning a coastal drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco (or vice versa), Los Olivos is an easy and worthwhile stop; after a scenic drive to Santa Barbara on CA-1, road trippers can cut inland, visit Los Olivos, and then head back to the coast, picking up Highway 1 in Pismo Beach.