Attended with a party of 9. The wait is the wait, if its gonna ruin your experience, consider eating somewhere else. We ordered family style (tea leaf salad, rainbow salad, mint chicken, sesame chicken, lamb, pastry, coconut rice). All the food lived up to its billing and the service was attentive. I also got a burma cooler, which was delicious.

Beautiful. Its such an amazing place to visit and see the history of our earth. The views of the ocean are spectacular too.

Clean Beach with some rocks to check out during low tide. Safe waves for kids & a Lifeguard tower - station nearby (50 yards North).

This is one of my favorite stops along the California coast. The seal viewing and tar pit trail are so unique and always memorable. My favorite time to visit is sunset or sunrise. Dont be surprised to see other wildlife along the way. And if you need a cup of caffeine, stop in to the Lucky Lama before you head to the cliffs!

Amazing to see the seals and their pups. The beach is beautiful and worth a walk. The rock formations are interesting. Watch for globs od tar!!

Fun place to explore! Go check it out, if you havent already!

My daughter touched dead dinosaurs! Awesome! (Acetone removed the tar easily.)

This place was truly beautiful. I visited it on the last morning of my trip to Carpinteria, and took one last deep breath of coastal California beauty. Youll breathe easier here, not least because of the ocean air and eucalyptus trees!

Lovely informative local lady filled us with informative and educational conversation. Beauty view with seals if youre sneaky enough.

Great place to sacrifice your newborn

More tar than you might like. But the name means it shouldn’t really surprise you.

My favorite stop driving up the coast to see natural tar seeps and seals. Great walking paths and friendly community

Very interesting sights and a great experience. One of the very few places in the world where natural tar seeps from the ground and right on the beach. The place is free to visit and I recommend it highly if youre in the area.

Magical place good for the body and soul!

Great trails and beautiful scenery!!

Good to know this land belonged to natives

This park is pretty small, but the trail is nice to walk on and overlook the beach. You can almost always see huge amounts of sea lions hanging out below getting some sun and sleeping.

Great walks along the ocean coastline. Very beautiful views of the ocean and of the sea life (if you are lucky).

On the way to the tar pits from the Carpenteria Bluffs Nature Preserve entrance there are seals hanging out there with a volunteer watching over them. Well worth the trip just to see them. There were 74 seals in all. Do be mindful of crossing the railroad tracks as the Amtrack does continue to use those rails.

Amazing how tar is literally coming out of the earth! Feels very prehistoric. Whatever you do, dont touch the tar, very sticky and difficult to come off (heavy duty soap and sponge will do it). Enjoy!

I find it amazing how tar just comes out of the Rock, other than that its nothing spectacular.

Cool spot!

This where the tar seeps naturally out of the ground. Its all over the beach.

Nature at its best. Took my sisters maternity photos here and they came out amazing!

You should expect , from this mostly private, public park This is an incredible historical spot for Seal watch, January, Feburary, part of March. The Oil rig, workers leave from this Pier. and you can be sure to get the bottom of your feet covered with oil .he he

Super scary trip at night. Spooki

I went out here for the tide pools and stumbled upon tarpits I didnt know were there. Beautiful place to visit.

A good place to take your dog. Beautiful first thing in the morning... Greens and blues.... stunning

Gorgeous views

Nice little hike. Very clean.

All the locals are good people and its a beautiful place

Interesting geology where tar is slowly oozing out of the ground and runs into the sea. The campground nearby looks clean and good to use.

Just old tar on nature

Great place for an easy hike with gorgeous scenery. Excellent for kids, too. We always see some cool wildlife or new, interesting plants, and the beaches are gorgeous.

Parking lot is a ways away but it is nice

Beautiful view of the ocean and sea life.

It was neat.

Its really sad

Well I cant imagine how anyone can have a great experience here. The view is plagued with large oil rigs that are sucking poison out of the ground for us to burn then breathe. So much for Californias environmental conservation.

I enjoyed the scenery very much. So much natural history to discover. The exhibits were very well done, so realistic.

Best was seeing the cotton tail! Train came by!

Awesome views of seals that hang out by the beach!

A great place to watch the surf or great surfing.

Love to walk the Carpinteria bluffs.

Excellent seaside shore walk study.

It looks like land was sold between the seal sanctuary and the park.

Its really nice, but their are people there that do not respect the animals.

Great scenic low to mid energy strolling. Keep an eye out for active tar seeps.

I go for the tide pools. Pretty rustic and natural still.tar pits are not easily distinguishable from surrounding hiking area. Expect tar on feet. Seals must still haul out here cuz saw depression on beach and scraped path where the lumbered back into water. Ok to bring dog here off seal pup season . First time saw white heron with baby fishing on shore in waves. Sweet.. good background for pix. Not crowded.

You will enjoy this Oceanside experience the Tar Pits are actually tar seeps and theyre right on the edge of the ocean beautiful

Nice, beware of tar.

Beautiful beaches. Great trail

Have not seen much just getting on and off a boat for work

Again, one of those must see little places when youre out and about and have the time to do so in Los Angeles.

Great views, very pleasant trail, overlooking the seals testing beach. I took off one start because I would like it to be longer and take over the oil company agree.

I liked it because it was strange. Almost took off a star because the naturally occurring tar is easy to get on your feet.

Beautiful beach

Great trail

Neat bluff overlook.

Its a parking lot for some sort of industry, so not really a tourist attraction. However, the trails that surround the park are nice to walk along, and you pass the seal rookery where you can spot the animals in the right seasons.

Beautiful view

Beautiful and Relaxing place!

Nice vistas of the Mountains the Ocean and Wildlife!!

Beautiful natural space. Full of surfers and locals. Great views of the sunset.

Really cool to see the tar seeping out of the ground. Worth a visit.

Worth trying to find if only because it is one of three active tar seeps in California and one of a limited number worldwide. There is no parking nearby (the other reviewer described parking that is not public and security will tell you to leave). The closest parking is the lot for Carpenteria Bluffs further east on Carpenteria Avenue. From there its about a 3/4 mile hike along the railroad tracks and past the industrial parking - not really as bad as it sounds, and you may see some seals on the beach below, near the pier that handles boats that are servicing the offshore oil platforms.The seep itself is unimpressive, but it is obviously active, as there are little shiny black rivulets of tar pushing downhill toward the sea edge of the bluff. If you touch the fresh shiny part, it is surprisingly solid and does not cling to your finger. Nonetheless, it will move inexorably downhill, faster if its hot and sunny, until it reaches the more level edge of the bluff, where it will stop and harden, picking up a layer of sand on its surface that will make it look more like a rock than a glob of asphalt.

Beautiful place to relax and enjoy the view

Dog friendly, very cool to see the tar

Dog friendly. Watch out for seals.

Beautiful beach park.

Dont visit. Super localized and dangerous.

Tar oozing out of the side of a wall. Dont get it on hands or shoes.

Cool!

Good walk

Nice place

Busy trail

Fun

Love it here

Seal watching

Access denied to public by ø as of past present no anti future exited but G.a S -M trespassing my currency I claim as universal earned over paid cost loss

Interesting!

The parking lot located at this spot is private property and the security guard will not let you park there.