California cities named most beautiful college towns in the US

Two Golden State destinations have been named among the most beautiful college towns in America, with Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz both making a new list of 11 picturesque places where students get higher education with a side of scenery.

House Beautiful unveiled its picks this week, looking for college towns that combine natural beauty with a laid-back atmosphere, along with the shops, coffee joints, restaurants, and watering holes that give students plenty to do even after graduation.

Santa Barbara — home to the University of California, Santa Barbara — landed at number four on the list. The famously ritzy coastal enclave, roughly 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles, earned high marks for its picture perfect combination of mountains and ocean.

Palm trees line the waterfront, while red-tile roofs and Spanish Colonial architecture dominate the landscape. The city’s mild coastal climate also make it possible to bounce between the beach and the hiking trails. Student’s aren’t exactly hurting for extracurriculars, either, since the town is surrounded by wine country and packed with wineries, and farm-to-table restaurants.

Farther up the California coast, Santa Cruz came in at number seven, offering a very different flavor of California cool.

Santa Cruz has long been synonymous with surf culture, sandy beaches and nearby towering redwood — resulting in a unique setting where students can go from the sand to the forest in a relatively short period of time. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has also been drawing in tourists for more than a century, helping make the college town a tourist destination in its own right.

California was one of a handful of states to make the list.

Other destinations that made the grade included Ames, Iowa; Madison, Wisconsin; Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina; Georgetown in Washington, DC; Bellingham, Washington; Manhattan, Kansas; Syracuse, New York; and Wellesley, Massachusetts.

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