Santa Cruz CA: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Santa Cruz calls itself Surf City, and with some right: surfing on the American mainland began at the mouth of its river. This route starts among the rides of the oldest amusement park in California, walks out along the wharf and follows the cliffs west past the surf break to the sea arch at Natural Bridges. It is about four kilometres one way on a flat paved path, easy on a rented bike. Morning is calm and foggy, afternoon is when the surfers come out.
A short history of Santa Cruz CA
Before the Europeans arrived, the Ohlone people lived here. In 1791 the friar Fermín Lasuén founded the Spanish Mission Santa Cruz, the twelfth of the California missions. The town grew in the 19th century on redwood logging, lime production and leather. In 1907 the boardwalk and amusement park opened on the beach, and the Giant Dipper roller coaster has run there since 1924. In 1965 the University of California campus opened, and in 1989 the Loma Prieta earthquake badly damaged the town centre.
The ten best sights in Santa Cruz CA
1Santa Cruz Mission State Historic ParkThe adobe here is the only building left from the 1791 mission; small, free and often overlooked
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2Holy Cross Church
Stands on the hill where the mission church was; the view down to the bay explains the site
3Museum of Art & HistoryLocal history and changing art shows downtown; the square outside has food stalls
4Santa Cruz Surfing MuseumOne room inside a small lighthouse, with old redwood boards; pairs with watching the surfers below
5Seymour Marine Discovery CenterUniversity marine lab on the western edge of town; the blue whale skeleton outside is free to see
6Santa Cruz Museum of Natural HistorySmall and good with children; facing the sea on the east side
7University of California, Santa CruzA campus in a redwood forest above town, with ocean views from the meadow at the entrance
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8Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Entry to the boardwalk is free, you pay per ride; parking fills up on summer weekends
9Giant DipperA wooden roller coaster from 1924 that still rattles hard; sit in the back car
10Santa Cruz Municipal WharfYou can drive onto it; look through the gaps for sea lions resting on the beams
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Santa Cruz CA →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Santa Cruz CA:
Free walking tours in Santa Cruz CA
Waves and wheels
Santa Cruz calls itself Surf City, and with some right: surfing on the American mainland began at the mouth of its river. This route starts among the rides of the oldest amusement park in California, walks out along the wharf and follows the cliffs west past the surf break to the sea arch at Natural Bridges. It is about four kilometres one way on a flat paved path, easy on a rented bike. Morning is calm and foggy, afternoon is when the surfers come out.
- Giant Dipper · Built in 1924 and still running on its original wooden frame. In 1987 it and the carousel next door were both named National Historic Landmarks, and the Boardwalk had a starring role that year in the vampire film The Lost Boys.
- Looff Carousel · Carved by Charles Looff, who built some of America's first carousels, and running here since 1911. It is one of the few left where riders still grab rings from an arm as they pass and throw them at a target.
- Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf · The wharf opened in 1914 so ships could load the farm produce of the county. Today sea lions haul out on the cross-beams beneath it, and openings in the deck let you look down at them.
- Santa Cruz Surfing Museum · In 1885 three Hawaiian princes studying in California rode waves at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River on boards milled from local redwood — the first recorded surfing on the American mainland. The lighthouse that houses the museum was built in 1967 by the parents of Mark Abbott, a young surfer who drowned near here.
- Steamer Lane · Jack O'Neill opened a surf shop in Santa Cruz in 1959, and the wetsuits he developed for this cold water helped make surfing a year-round sport far from the tropics. The break below the cliff is where his customers tested them.
- Natural Bridges State Beach · The beach is named for its sea arches, and only one of them still stands — the others were cut down by the waves. From about October to February thousands of monarch butterflies cluster in the eucalyptus grove behind the beach.
Into the redwoods
Behind the beaches the Santa Cruz Mountains rise steeply, and their valleys hold coast redwoods, the tallest trees on earth. Most were cut in the 19th century to rebuild San Francisco, so the old groves that survive are precious. This route climbs from the campus to the logging town of Felton and on to Big Basin, then loops back through Scotts Valley. It is a full day by car on narrow roads; bring a layer, since it is cool and damp under the trees even in summer.
- University of California, Santa Cruz · The campus opened in 1965 among redwoods on a former ranch. When the school's teams needed a mascot, students chose the banana slug, a bright yellow slug of the forest floor, and it became the official mascot in 1986.
- Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park · Long before it was a park, this grove was a tourist stop known simply as the Big Trees. The land around it came from the family of Henry Cowell, who made his fortune from lime kilns; the flat Redwood Grove loop starts by the nature centre and takes about half an hour.
- Roaring Camp Railroads · The steam engines are Shays, geared locomotives built for logging lines too steep and curvy for ordinary trains. The ride climbs Bear Mountain through second-growth forest and stops in a grove at the top.
- Felton Covered Bridge · Built in 1892 over the San Lorenzo River and used by traffic until 1937. It is often called the tallest covered bridge in the United States.
- Big Basin Redwoods State Park · California's oldest state park, created in 1902 after a campaign to save the trees from logging. In August 2020 a lightning-sparked fire burned almost the whole park; most of the old redwoods survived with blackened trunks and are sprouting green again.
- Mystery Spot · Opened to visitors in 1940, it is a cabin built on a steep slope so that nothing inside lines up with the horizon, which makes people seem to grow and balls seem to roll uphill. Its yellow bumper stickers are a California road-trip classic.
Mission town to Capitola
Before the surfers there was a Spanish mission on the hill above the river, and the town grew around it. This route starts at what is left of the mission, walks the main street that an earthquake flattened in 1989, then drives along the east cliffs to the oldest beach resort on this coast. Half a day, part on foot and part by car. Wednesday afternoon adds the farmers market downtown.
- Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park · The mission was founded in 1791, the twelfth in the Spanish chain of California. Earthquakes in 1840 and 1857 brought its church down; the long adobe that survives was built in the 1820s to house Native families who worked for the mission.
- Holy Cross Church · Santa Cruz means holy cross, and the town took its name from the mission. The present Gothic church went up in 1889 on the mission's old site, and a smaller replica of the mission chapel was built beside it in 1931.
- Pacific Avenue · On 17 October 1989 the Loma Prieta earthquake, centred in the mountains about 16 km away, wrecked the brick buildings along this street. Much of what you see was rebuilt in the following decade.
- Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History · One of the oldest museums in town, it began in 1905 with a donated collection of shells and specimens. The life-size gray whale sculpture outside is there to be climbed on.
- Pleasure Point · A string of reef breaks along the east cliffs, and the neighbourhood where Jack O'Neill lived in a house overlooking the waves.In winter the swell wraps around the point and the line-up fills before dawn.
- Capitola Village · Capitola began as a seaside resort in the 1870s, among the first on the Pacific coast. The candy-coloured Venetian Court on the beach was built in 1924.
Getting to Santa Cruz CA and getting around
- San Jose Mineta International Airport · The nearest big airport, about 50 minutes away over Highway 17 — a twisting mountain road best driven in daylight
- Roaring Camp Railroads · No regular passenger trains reach Santa Cruz; the rails in use carry steam excursions from Felton and down to the Boardwalk
Cheap eats in Santa Cruz CA
Santa Cruz eats casually: burritos from the taquerias that serve the farm workers of the Pajaro and Salinas valleys, pizza by the slice, and ice cream, which is close to a religion here. The fields just up the coast grow artichokes and Brussels sprouts, and summer strawberries come straight from them. Prices are Californian, but a filling lunch still costs less than a sit-down meal on the wharf.
- Zachary's · Big breakfasts downtown, a long queue on weekends; about $15-20
- Taqueria Santa Cruz · Burritos on the west side, a meal for about $12-15
- Pleasure Pizza · Pizza by the slice downtown, about $5-6 a slice
- The Penny Ice Creamery · Ice cream made in house with local fruit, a scoop about $6
- Marianne's Ice Cream · Dozens of flavours on Ocean Street, a cone about $5-7
- Ferrell's Donuts · Old-school doughnut shop on the west side, a doughnut about $2-3
- Verve Coffee Roasters · Coffee from the local roaster, about $5-7 a cup
- Gayle's Bakery · Bakery and deli in Capitola for a picnic, pastries about $5, sandwiches $12-15
Museums in Santa Cruz CA
- Santa Cruz Surfing Museum · Surf history in a lighthouse on the point; small, give it half an hour
- Seymour Marine Discovery Center · Touch pools and a working marine lab; the whale skeleton outside is free
- Museum of Art & History · Changing exhibitions and county history downtown
- Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History · Local wildlife and Ohlone culture, small and child-friendly
- Neary-Rodriguez Adobe · The surviving mission building, with rooms set up as they were lived in
Nature and day trips near Santa Cruz CA
- Natural Bridges State Beach · Sea arch, tide pools at low tide, monarchs in winter
- Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park · Old-growth redwoods on a short, flat loop
- Big Basin Redwoods State Park · The oldest state park in California; check which trails are open since the fire
- Wilder Ranch State Park · Flat bluff walk over coves, and the old ranch to explore
- West Cliff Drive · Cliff path for walking or cycling, with pelicans and sea otters offshore
Things to do in Santa Cruz CA with kids
- Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk · Rides for every age on the sand; buy a wristband for a full day
- Roaring Camp Railroads · Steam train ride through the redwoods, about an hour and a quarter
- Mystery Spot · Optical illusions in a tilted cabin; book a time slot
- Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History · A whale to climb outside and live animals inside
- Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf · Sea lions barking under the deck
Where to eat in Santa Cruz CA
- Shadowbrook · Romantic dinner above Soquel Creek in Capitola; book ahead
- Gabriella Café · A small, candlelit room downtown with local produce; book ahead
- Johnny's Harborside · Seafood with a view of the boats at the harbour
- Crow's Nest · Casual seafood and sunset on the harbour beach
- Kianti's Pizza and Pasta Bar · Easy Italian on Pacific Avenue, good for families
Frequently asked questions about Santa Cruz CA
What is there to see in Santa Cruz CA?
The top sights in Santa Cruz CA are Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, Holy Cross Church and Museum of Art & History. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Santa Cruz CA?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Santa Cruz CA without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Santa Cruz CA?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Santa Cruz CA, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Waves and wheels.
How do you get to Santa Cruz CA and get around?
The main ways are San Jose Mineta International Airport and Roaring Camp Railroads. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Santa Cruz CA, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Santa Cruz CA that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Santa Cruz CA for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.