A day out to Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz · 36 stops · 5 legs · 36 with pages
Santa Cruz sits at the north end of Monterey Bay, over the mountains from the South Bay on Highway 17 and down the coast on Highway 1.
Downtown is the walkable part, where Pacific Avenue and the lanes off it hold the coffee, the wine bar, the Hawaiian plates and a barbecue counter, and the wharf sits at the bottom of the street. The Westside puts its breweries and tasting rooms into old industrial units on Ingalls and Swift, and the east side runs from the harbour out along the cliffs to Pleasure Point.
The order below starts downtown, crosses to the Westside, works east along the water, then carries on south through Capitola, Soquel and Aptos to the orchards behind Watsonville. Take it in pieces, and check hours on each page before you drive.
Thirty-six rooms have a page here, twenty-two of them in Santa Cruz itself and the rest strung south through Capitola, Soquel, Aptos and Watsonville. Highway 9 climbs into the redwoods above the town at Felton and Boulder Creek, and this day stays down on the bay.
Downtown8
Pacific Avenue runs from the clock tower down toward the beach, the eating spreads a street either side of it, and the wharf is at the bottom.
Verve Coffee Roasters (1540 Pacific Ave)
Listed · Coffee · Santa Cruz
1540 Pacific Ave. Details to come.
Zachary's Restaurant
Listed · Restaurant · Santa Cruz · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
The sourdough pancakes come off a starter the kitchen says is purported to date to the Alaskan Gold Rush, and they will tell you the story if you ask.
Pono Hawaiian Grill
Listed · Restaurant · Santa Cruz · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
The recipes came off Maui with the owner the room calls Braddah Timmy, and the stage has carried Willie K, John Cruz, Makana, Led Kaapana and George Kahumoku by the venue's own account.
The Westside6
Old industrial units on Ingalls and Swift hold the breweries and the tasting rooms, and Mission Street climbs past them out of town.
Humble Sea Brewing Co.
Listed · Brewery · Santa Cruz · $$
walk-in
The cans are surf-kook nonsense and the lagers are decoction-mashed in copper and lagered horizontally.
Cafe Brasil
Listed · Restaurant · Santa Cruz · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
Cocota is toasted white flour let down with milk and cut with Tabasco and Worcestershire, poured over two soft poached eggs.
The east side8
The harbour, Seabright and East Cliff Drive carry on out to Pleasure Point, and the road stays with the water most of the way.
The Buttery
Listed · Bakery · Santa Cruz · $
walk-inthe room’s own account
It rolls its own pot pie crust, roasts its own red peppers and simmers the soup daily, seven till five, seven days a week on Soquel Avenue.
Crow's Nest Restaurant
Listed · Restaurant · Santa Cruz · $$$
book aheadthe room’s own account
Two rooms in one building on the harbour mouth: a dining room downstairs that starts serving breakfast at eight and takes bookings, and the Breakwater Bar & Grill upstairs that takes none and runs to live music at night.
Capitola, Soquel and Aptos10
Three towns run together along 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive, close enough that the beer and the bagel can sit in different ones.
Sante Adairius Rustic Ales
Solid · Brewery · Capitola · $$
walk-in
Tim Clifford and Adair Paterno brew saison in a Capitola industrial park on used dairy tanks and a kettle built out of a Lipton machine.
Aptos St. BBQ
Listed · Restaurant · Aptos · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
Local kids built dirt jumps behind the Aptos post office in 1986 and the course went world-known.
The Pajaro Valley4
Watsonville sits in strawberry and apple country, and the stops out here are farms, an orchard and a market.
Gizdich Ranch
Solid · Producer · Watsonville · $
walk-inthe room’s own account
Vincent John Gizdich came out of Croatia and bought five acres of apples on Peckham Road in 1937.
Where this came from
Drawn from Jeff's saved places, checked August 2026.