![]() What better way to start this list than with one of the top surfing spots in the world? Sometimes known as Boardwalk Beach for its iconic boardwalk that spans the stretch of its waterfront, Santa Cruz Main Beach offers a lot of the best things to do in Santa Cruz. It might take a while to choose, but we listed down the best beaches in Santa Cruz, CA to spare you from hours of research. Santa Cruz may not offer you palms and cottages, but it does feature dramatic rock formations, secret tide pools, boardwalks, cliffs, golden sand, rich wildlife, and majestic views of the Californian horizon. Dinner main dishes $24-$70.If you’ve set your eyes on Santa Cruz for your upcoming getaway and wonder whether both the city and county have amazing beaches, you’ve come to the right place. The citizen-critics of yelp give it 4 stars and I intend to try it soon. These days you arrive at street level, then take the cable car down to the restaurant and bar, nestled in the canyon below. The community is about 2 square miles with about 10,000 residents.įor a special occasion, there’s the Shadowbrook, which began with a log cabin along Soquel Creek in the 1920s, became a restaurant in the 1940s and added a cable car in the 1950s. Be warned that when weather is warm parking can be tough, and the kitsch factor can get pretty high in the shops along Capitola Avenue and environs. The colorful beachfront apartments of Capitola Venetian Court are always good background for a photo or two, and there’s plenty of eating and drinking to be done along Esplanada. Anyone who visits this spring will be doing the community a big favor. But some have already reopened, including Margaritaville, and plenty of temptations remain. It took a hit in the storms of January, which closed the wharf and restaurants including the Wharf House, Zelda’s on the Beach. This beach zone has been a summertime family travel magnet for generations. Others include the Oregon Vortex (,since 1930 in Gold Hill, Oregon), Trees of Mystery (since 1946 in Klamath) and Confusion Hill (since 1949 in the Mendocino County town of Piercy), and Mystery Hill (since 1958, or perhaps sooner, in Blowing Rock, N.C. I went home with a tilted coffee mug.īonus tip: Unique as it may seem, the Mystery Spot is part of an entire genre of roadside attractions based on optical illusions and gravity and born in the 1930s and ‘40s. And the gift shop - it’s as cheesy and extensive as they come. But you do get free bumper stickers at the tour’s end. Besides the $10 admission fee, parking costs $5 per vehicle (cash and checks only). It’s open daily with tours every half hour, reservations recommended. It’s good, clean, kitschy fun “nature’s black magic”), neighbored by a 30-minute hiking trail amid redwoods, oak and eucalyptus. ![]() Guides demonstrate tricks of balance and perspective and speculate about mysterious forces. Seeing the optical illusions it made possible, the property’s owners opened it as a tourist attraction in about 1940, telling tales of strange compass readings, etc. ![]() The main attraction is a small cabin that wound up tilted on the slope of a hill in 1939. Now feel the “gravitational anomaly” that has kept this roadside forest attraction going for decades. You’ve seen the yellow-and-black bumper stickers. Despite the pandemic, ambitious and distinctive restaurants have multiplied in recent years, including Copal (see below), Vim and Bad Animal, a restaurant-bar-bookshop hybrid that I hope to hit on the next trip. For good reason, the city carries a reputation as an artsy, woodsy, liberal enclave. If you find your way there, whether it’s summer or not, you’ll see that Santa Cruz is dominated by surfers, tech workers and students at UC Santa Cruz. I love the sight of its lights and scaffolding at night, and if you remember the 1987 movie “The Lost Boys,” you’ll recognize it as a hangout for a vampire gang led by Kiefer Sutherland. That amusement park might still be the city’s most widely recognized attraction. It has been attracting heat-fleeing visitors from inland California since at least 1907, when the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk opened. The thriving is no great surprise, really: Santa Cruz sits on a handsome perch at the northern edge of the Monterey Bay, neighbored by redwood forests. On a spring day in Santa Cruz, visitors have a perplexing opportunity: to see a city thriving and shrinking, all at once. ![]()
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