PH Travels

PH Travels offers small-group trips designed for discovery. Each journey tells a story, combining remarkable destinations with curated experiences — from behind-the-scenes tours and expert insights to time with fellow travelers who share your passion for architecture and history.

Our 2026 destination: Santa Barbara

Registration opens soon for PH Travels’ second adventure. Mark your calendar for September 16–20, 2026.

Set between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific, Santa Barbara, California, is a city shaped by reinvention. After an earthquake devastated the city in 1925, it rebuilt with unusual discipline, embracing a cohesive architectural vision that blended Spanish colonial revival, Mediterranean traditions and a commitment to human-scale design. The result is a place where the historic fabric still feels present and purposeful, guiding how the city grows today.

Join Preservation Houston in Santa Barbara from September 16–20, 2026, as PH Travels continues its mission to explore the places where preservation, architecture and community intersect. Each trip offers curated access to significant sites and the people who steward them — an inside look at the architecture, landscapes and preservation decisions that give a place its character. We’re delighted to again have PH member and veteran trip planner Lynn Kelly helping guide this journey.

About our Santa Barbara visit

Across five days, we’ll explore the architecture, landscapes and layered history that define Santa Barbara. Our plans include a guided walk through the historic downtown core and a visit to the celebrated Santa Barbara County Courthouse, a landmark of Spanish colonial revival design. We’ll spend time at Old Mission Santa Barbara — founded in 1786 and known as the “Queen of the Missions” — examining how its evolving architecture reflects centuries of cultural and environmental change.

A full-day excursion carries us up the coast to Hearst Castle for two in-depth tours that reveal the collaboration between William Randolph Hearst and Julia Morgan, the first woman licensed as an architect in California and a pioneer whose mastery of engineering and design shaped some of the West Coast’s most enduring buildings.

We’ll also enjoy a day in Montecito visiting historic estates that offer extraordinary examples of landscape, craftsmanship and early 20th-century design. Woven throughout the itinerary are memorable moments, from a welcome sunset cruise to an exclusive tasting at a Santa Rita Hills winery, that highlight the region’s natural beauty and hospitality.

Preservation Houston Programs Director Jim Parsons and tour coordinator Lynn Kelly will lead the journey, connecting Santa Barbara’s architectural traditions with the preservation challenges facing California communities today.

The trip includes:

  • Four nights’ accommodation at Hotel Californian, a luxury property blending Spanish Colonial Revival architecture with contemporary design, located steps from the waterfront

  • Three lunches and three dinners, including a catered event in a private home

  • Private experiences including a chartered sunset cruise along the Pacific coast and a reception and tasting at a Santa Rita Hills winery

  • Curated excursions in Santa Barbara and Montecito led by local historians, preservation professionals and expert guides

  • A full-day trip to Hearst Castle, including two specialized tours

  • Transportation for all group activities

  • Pre-tour educational materials and a pre-tour reception in Houston

Pricing and eligibility

$4,990 per person / double occupancy
$6,190 per person / single occupancy

Prices do not include airfare, which is the responsibility of each traveler.

Register and pay in full by Friday, January 30, 2026, to enjoy a discounted price of $4,740.50 per person double occupancy / $5,880.50 per person single occupancy.

PH Travels is a benefit of Preservation Houston membership. If you are not a current member, please join prior to registering for the trip.

Registration

Begin your trip registration by completing our traveler registration form — click the button below to get started. This form must be completed for every traveler in your group.

Register for PH Travels

Cancellation and refunds

Payment is due in full by June 16, 2026. If full payment is not received by that date, your reservation will be canceled and your deposit will be forfeited. If you need to cancel your reservation for any reason, you must notify Preservation Houston in writing.

  • If you cancel your reservation by March 20, 2026, all payments minus a $750 cancellation fee will be refunded.

  • If you cancel your reservation between March 21 and June 16, 2025, all payments minus a $1,000 cancellation fee will be refunded.

  • There will be no refunds for cancellations after June 16, 2025, but you may transfer your reservation to someone else with no penalty after that date.

Questions?

We’re happy to help! E-mail us or call (713) 510-3990.