Elings Park
Santa Barbara · near Santa Barbara · Central Coast
Paragliding
At a glance
- Skill level
- beginner-friendly
- Best season
- Year-round · Afternoon sea breeze most reliable · Summer for consistent ridge conditions
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Paragliding detail
- Nickname
- Santa Barbara's Training Hill
- Flying types
- coastal-soaring · training
- Conditions
- A dedicated training hill above Santa Barbara with a smooth afternoon sea breeze. The up-and-down slope lets students get many repetitions of launches and landings in a single session — one of the best true beginner environments in California.
- Ushpa
- USHPA membership required for solo flying. Elings Park is a school/training site — beginners fly under instructor supervision. P2 for independent flight at the mountain sites.
- Intl tip
- Santa Barbara is one of the best paragliding towns in America — the 'American Riviera' has a training hill, coastal soaring, mountain thermals, and mountain-to-beach flights all within 15 minutes of downtown. Fly Above All's motorized coastal tandems over Carpinteria/Rincon are the most reliable option on days when the mountain conditions don't cooperate.
The guide
Elings Park is where Santa Barbara learns to fly. Perched above the city with a reliable afternoon sea breeze, the park's train…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Elings Park — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 34.4064, -119.7183