What Is Santa Cruz California Known For (What Is There To Do Here)?
Planning A Trip To Northern California And Wondering What The Santa Cruz Area Is Known For, If There Are Any Fun And Interesting Things To Do Here, Or If It’s Even Worth Visiting?
Santa Cruz was always on my California bucket list because of the activity it is most known for, but while visiting I found that Santa Cruz and the area around it has some even more awesome natural, historical, and adventurous things to see and do, plus it’s location makes it great for exploring even more of Northern California.
🏄♀️ What Is Santa Cruz, California Most Known For?
Santa Cruz is definitely most known for it’s surfing, surf apparel, and surf culture, but there is much more to this Northern California area than just that, so I found that it was definitely worth visiting.
Northern California has a lot of amazing places to visit so it just depends on your specific interests and plans, but below are some of the best things to see and do in Santa Cruz so you can decide for yourself if this surf town is worth adding to your itinerary.
🌲 Best Things To See & Do In Santa Cruz, California
Although surfing is what Santa Cruz is most known for and there are a few ways to experience it here, these are other fun, beautiful, and interesting things to see and do around this Northern California area:
1. Take A Surfing Lesson
Since Santa Cruz is a major California surf town and it’s what this area is most known for, it’s a great place to go surfing or take a lesson and try it out for the first time if you’ve always had it on your bucket list.
Even if you’ve surfed before, going out with an instructor is a great idea in Santa Cruz because the water and terrain can be dangerous with all of rocks in certain areas and it being a part of the shark red triangle (my Sharkbanz helps with my anxiety since I’m going to be out there anyway) and the locals aren’t always the friendliest so it really helps to go with someone who knows the area.
➡️ If you’re a beginner and Santa Cruz doesn’t sound like the best spot for surfing to you, here are some other great beginner surf spots up and down the coast of California
2. See The Redwoods
Although there are lots of places to see the Redwoods in Northern California and some might be more famous, you can easily see some beautiful Redwoods just outside of Santa Cruz.
I went to the Henry Cowell State Park early in the morning and had some incredible views, with some wildlife, and less people.
3. Visit The Boardwalk
A little bit like the Santa Monica Pier and beach in Los Angeles County, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk is a little amusement park right along the beach that’s a very popular place for locals and families.
4. Spot Sea Lions/Seals At The Wharf
Right next to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk is the Santa Cruz Wharf and although parking is paid and can be hard to find, if you walk on the pier, it’s free and you can often spot sea lions/seals around or under the pier.
5. Check Out The Surfing Museum
Although it’s small, the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum is a fun place to learn a little bit more about the history of surfing in this area, plus it’s in a great location where you can often watch some surfers down in the water and it’s free to visit.
6. Explore A Historic Mission
While California has lots of missions and some more well known ones like San Juan Capistrano, the Santa Cruz Mission is still worth stopping by to check out if you love history.
It doesn’t take long to look at, but I got some nice photos here as we stopped on our way in between hiking in the Redwoods and eating some Mexican food lunch.
7. Shop The Famous Santa Cruz Apparel
If you’re into the surfer/skater clothing style, the famous “Santa Cruz” apparel company (Pacific Wave) is a must add to your itinerary. I love their clothes and have found some pretty good deals when visiting on a weekend sale.
8. Search For The Banana Slug Mascot
While most schools choose some stronger, more intimidating mascots, the UC Santa Cruz school chose the more unique banana slug as their mascot (named Sammy the Slug), and they really are all over this Santa Cruz area.
If you go hiking in the nearby Redwoods, especially in the morning when it’s a bit damp, you’re very likely to find one of these cool looking slugs scooting around.
9. Watch Surfers or Cliff Jumpers
If you don’t want to get in the water in Santa Cruz, going to the beach or watching from the cliffs can still be very interesting because it seems like there are always people surfing or cliff jumping in these waters.
Where the surfing museum is located is a great spot to people watch. When I visited, there was a surfing competition going on over to the left and lots of beach goers and cliff jumpers over to the right.
10. See The Natural Bridge
California is full of nature parks and Santa Cruz has quite a few themselves, one of the most well known being the Natural Bridges State Park because it is so close to town and has the famous “natural bridge” rock pictured above.
The park itself has a cost per vehicle, but there is also a free 20-minute parking lot that overlooks the bridge (I took the picture above from this lot). It is usually pretty crowded but if you’re patient, you’ll eventually get a spot.
11. Cruise Down W Cliff Dr
I absolutely love driving along the coast with the windows down and music playing, and W Cliff Dr is the perfect road to drive down in Santa Cruz to do just that.
If you start at that 20 minute parking lot at the Natural Bridges State Park, you can drive along the ocean until turning onto Beach St which runs along the Santa Cruz Boardwalk area.
12. Go Whale Watching In Monterey Bay
Although whale watching that leaves out of Monterey is more popular, Santa Cruz still sits along Monterey Bay which is one of the best spots in the world to see whales (and other marinelife) almost all year long.
- Ocean Safaris Whale Watching – small group (up to 6) whale watching experience for about 3 hours in Monterey Bay which leaves out of Santa Cruz Harbor
- Ocean Safaris Great White Sharks – similar experience but with a focus on finding Great White Sharks
13. Take A Day Trip To San Jose
The closest big city to Santa Cruz and a likely airport you’ll use to fly in and out of Northern California is in San Jose. It’s only about 40 minutes from Santa Cruz and there are a few interesting things to see and do here like the Winchester Mystery House or the beautiful Rose Garden.
14. Play A Round At Pebble Beach
Although it’s ridiculously expensive and difficult to get a tee time at Pebble Beach Golf Links, it’s one of the most famous golf courses in the world and I’ve never met anyone that was disappointed with the course.
There are also a number of other Pebble courses that are much easier and cheaper to play (the Hay is very cheap and has a replica of Pebble’s famous hole number 7), or you could just do the 17 mile drive and see a little of the coast and the corse.
15. Explore The Bay Area
I don’t think San Francisco should be explored on just a day trip (there’s too much to see and do here), but if that’s all the time you have and/or you don’t want to pay the high prices to stay in San Francisco, then it can definitely be done on a day trip from Santa Cruz.
If you drive, don’t leave anything in your car because break ins are not uncommon here. If you do find a safe place to park and want to let someone else do the driving (which I definitely recommend here), these are a few good small group tours in San Francisco that are easy to add onto a day trip.
16. Drive Through Big Sur
By far one of the best scenic drives in California is the Big Sur route and even though it’s a little further from Santa Cruz, I think it’s definitely worth it if you love beautiful natural areas.
It can definitely be done on a day trip from Santa Cruz (depending on how far south you drive), or it’s an easy and fun way to road trip from Northern California down to Southern California.
📆 How Many Days Do You Need In Santa Cruz?
I think you can explore most of the sites in Santa Cruz in just one day, but if you want to spend more time in the water surfing, in the woods hiking, or on the water whale watching, then I think three or four days would be better (luckily Santa Cruz is a little bit cheaper to stay at least compared to cities like San Francisco).
🔁 Sum Up: What Is Santa Cruz, California Known For?
Although Santa Cruz, California is most known for it’s surfing spots and surfing culture, there is even more interesting, fun, and adventurous things to do in and around this area, plus it’s location makes it easy to visit other parts of Northern California like Big Sur, Monterey, Pebble Beach, San Francisco, San Jose, or even Yosemite, so it’s definitely a place worth checking out in my opinion.
