Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center
Managed by Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians
6 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Saschaporsche · CC BY-SA 3.0C+Outdoors
Outdoors in Santa Ynez
Santa Ynez has 8.1 miles of mapped trails, 1.7 for every square mile of land
11 acres are parks and preserves, 2.5 per 1,000 residents. 60% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 38% of U.S. towns · #630 of 847 in California. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
4 acres · of 4.8 sq mi of land
Trails
8.1 mi
1.7 per sq mi of land
Park land
11 ac
2.5 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
60%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
3.2 mi
2.0 mi lanes · 1.2 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Santa Ynez?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Santa Ynez have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Santa Ynez is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #630 of 847 in California. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
C+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Santa Ynez’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical CA town 4% · U.S. 4%DTrails1.7 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (8 mi) · CA 0.9 · U.S. 0.4APark land2.5 acres of park per 1,000 residents (11 acres) · CA 5 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home60% of residents within a half mile of a park · CA 91% · U.S. 72%B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 38%
LessMore
California towns of 2,500+ (847)Ahead of 26%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center, with 0.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
4 conserved acres
under 1% of Santa Ynez’s land. Who manages Santa Ynez’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County3 ac
Local Park · 3 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Ynez Park Local Park | County | 3 | Open |
Trails & water
1 named trail
Named trails
Camino Arroyo0.1 mi
Biking & sports
3.2 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
2.0 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
1.2 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
21Tennis
14Equestrian
9Basketball
5Baseball
2Pickleball
2Softball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Santa Ynez: April to August
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 10.1 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 13.4 | 12.3 | 11.2 | 10.3 | 9.8 |
| High (°F) | 66 | 66 | 68 | 71 | 74 | 79 | 83 | 84 | 83 | 78 | 71 | 65 |
| Rain (in) | 4.0 | 4.2 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 2.7 |
July is the driest month (under 0.1 in) and August the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.2 inches fall in February, the wettest month. The climate in Santa Ynez →
Next door
Santa Ynez and its neighbors
Santa Ynez has the most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Santa Ynez
Where can I hike in Santa Ynez?
The longest trail networks: Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Santa Ynez is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 4% for a California town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Santa Ynez’s trails?
Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center and Santa Ynez Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Santa Ynez?
3.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.0 of painted or protected lanes and 1.2 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Santa Ynez?
31,254 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Santa Ynez or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 11 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Santa Ynez have?
Ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #630 of 847 in California. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Santa Ynez neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →