Guides
Straight answers for RV travelers heading to Santa Cruz, from the people who run the park.
Local Know-How
Planning a Santa Cruz RV trip
Written and kept current by the owners — the same answers we give guests at the office.
RV & Camping
RV camping around Santa Cruz
Where an RV can park overnight, which campgrounds take which rigs, where to dump, and where dogs can go.
Planning Your Trip
RV parking in Santa Cruz: overnight and long-term stays
Santa Cruz limits overnight RV parking on its streets and at the beaches. The legal options are a state campground with a reservation or a private RV park.
Read the guide →Beach Camping
Santa Cruz beach camping: every coastal option
No campground in Santa Cruz County is on the sand. The ocean-view options are bluff-top state beaches, reservation-only, capped at 31 to 36 feet, and none has full hookups.
Read the guide →Families
Family campgrounds in Santa Cruz: which one fits your trip
Pools and cabins sit inland, tent sites at the state beaches, and the coastal parks cap rigs at 31 to 36 feet. Which one fits, including the families we are wrong for.
Read the guide →RV Logistics
RV dump stations near Santa Cruz: open, closed, and fees
New Brighton and Steve's 76 are the two open RV dump stations near Santa Cruz, plus the call-ahead Watsonville options and corrections on Seacliff and Sunset.
Read the guide →Traveling With Your Dog
Dog-friendly beaches in Santa Cruz, plus trails and patios
Where dogs are allowed: the leashed East Side beaches, the one off-leash cove, the trail exceptions, and the beaches that ban dogs outright.
Read the guide →Beaches & Outdoors
Santa Cruz beaches, tide pools, and trails
Which beach for which day, the minus tides that open the pools, where fires are legal, and the hikes worth the drive.
Beaches
Best beaches in Santa Cruz: where to swim and where to park
Where locals swim on the East Side, which beaches have lifeguards and calm water for small kids, which lots cost $10, and where you can legally have a fire.
Read the guide →Beaches
Tide pools in Santa Cruz: where to go and which tide
The reef a short walk from the park, Natural Bridges on the West side, and how to read a tide chart so you show up on a minus tide when the pools are open.
Read the guide →Beaches
Santa Cruz beaches that allow bonfires: where the rings are
Where beach fires are allowed in Santa Cruz, which beaches have rings, the fire-ring rules, and how to get one on a busy weekend.
Read the guide →Hikes & Trails
Best hikes in Santa Cruz: redwoods, bluffs, and what's open
Old-growth redwoods, ocean-bluff loops, and the half-mile lagoon trail five minutes from the park, with current fees, closures and dog rules.
Read the guide →Trips & Getting Here
Getting to Santa Cruz, and the road trips
The drive from San Francisco, the full Highway 1 run to Los Angeles, the rental-rig logistics, and how to manage without a car.
Getting Here
San Francisco to Santa Cruz: 75 miles, 1–2 hours by car
Two ways over from the city: Highway 17 over the mountains or Highway 1 down the coast. Which suits your rig, plus drive times, the bus, and arriving from SFO.
Read the guide →Road Trips
California coast RV road trip on Highway 1: SF to LA
The full Highway 1 RV road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, stop by stop, with a coastal RV park named at each one and Santa Cruz set up as a three-night base.
Read the guide →Road Trips
Highway 1 in a rental RV or campervan: where Santa Cruz fits
The rental side of a Highway 1 trip in an RV or campervan: one-way drop fees, mileage terms, the paperwork European visitors need, and what size rig fits Big Sur.
Read the guide →Getting Around
Getting around Santa Cruz without a car: bus, bike, walk
Once you're parked on Portola Drive, you barely need to move the rig. How to get around Santa Cruz on foot, by bike, and by bus from the East Side.
Read the guide →Planning & Places
When to visit Santa Cruz, and what to do
When to come, what to do when you're here, and the two neighborhoods you'll spend the most time in.
Seasonal & Weather
Best time to visit Santa Cruz: weather and water by month
Month-by-month weather, the June-gloom marine layer and when it clears, ocean temperatures, crowds, and what to pack.
Read the guide →Things to Do
Things to do in Santa Cruz: Boardwalk, redwoods, beaches
The Boardwalk, the wharf, the redwoods, and the East Side beaches, with what closed and reopened in 2026.
Read the guide →The East Side
Pleasure Point, Santa Cruz: beaches, surf, and where to eat
The East Side surf neighborhood on foot: the walk to the Hook, coffee and dinner around Portola and 41st, the beaches close by, and the monarchs at Moran Lake.
Read the guide →Beaches
Capitola Beach: where to park, the village, and the wharf
Where to park, the colorful village and swimming cove, the rebuilt wharf, and when to go. Five minutes from the park.
Read the guide →Ready when you are
Sixteen sites, a short walk to the surf
Beach RV Pleasure Point — the only RV park in Pleasure Point. Full hookups, owners on-site.