Things to Do
By Alex V. · Owner, Beach RV Pleasure Point · Updated June 2026
Santa Cruz packs a lot into a small county — the Beach Boardwalk and the rebuilt wharf, the surf at Pleasure Point and Steamer Lane, old-growth redwoods twenty minutes from the sand, and a string of neighborhood beaches most visitors drive right past. You don't need a tour-bus itinerary. You need to know what's worth your time, and what's changed this year.
This guide is written from the office of our sixteen-site RV park in Pleasure Point, on the Santa Cruz East Side. It's the list we give guests at check-in — the classics that earn the crowds, the local spots that don't, and the 2026 reopenings and closures the big travel sites haven't caught up on.
Start at Pleasure Point
The best first hour in Santa Cruz is on foot. Walk to the East Cliff bluffs and watch the lineup at The Hook — it's one of the best surf-watching perches on Monterey Bay, and the show runs every day, no ticket required.
The blufftop path follows the water from 32nd to 41st Avenue, with benches and beach stairs the whole way. Grab coffee around the corner on 41st, walk the loop toward Pleasure Point proper, and you'll understand why people cross the country to be in this neighborhood.
The Boardwalk and the wharf
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is still free to walk into — you pay per ride, or grab a wristband — and the 1924 Giant Dipper is still the best ninety seconds in town. New for 2026 is Vertigo 360, a 60-foot spinning thrill ride. On summer Friday nights the Boardwalk runs free movies on the sand.
The Santa Cruz Wharf reopened end to end in April 2026, sixteen months after a winter storm dropped its seaward section into the bay. The rebuilt deck has a new sea-lion viewing hole — you'll hear them before you see them. Both are a 15-minute drive from the East Side.
Beaches — skip the crowds, find the locals' sand
Main Beach by the Boardwalk is the postcard, and it's packed. The East Side beaches around Pleasure Point — Corcoran Lagoon Beach (locals say Santa Mo's), Sunny Cove, 26th Avenue — are where the neighborhood actually swims, and they're a short walk from the park.
For tidepools, Natural Bridges State Beach on the Westside is the one — $10 to park, and time your visit to a low tide. From mid-October to mid-February the same park fills with thousands of overwintering monarch butterflies.
Capitola is a five-minute drive: a tiny, walkable beach town, with a rebuilt wharf that reopened after the 2023 storms and a lineup of patios over the sand.
The full beach-by-beach rundown — parking, swim conditions, bonfire rules — is in our guide to the best beaches in Santa Cruz.
Redwoods, two ways
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is the easy call — about 20 minutes away, $10 to park, and the 0.8-mile Redwood Grove Loop walks you under 270-foot old-growth trees on a flat, stroller-friendly path. Roaring Camp Railroads sits next door, running a steam train up Bear Mountain year-round and a beach train down to the Boardwalk daily in summer.
Big Basin, California's oldest state park, is still rebuilding from the 2020 fire. It's open for limited day use, and the forest growing back after the burn is worth seeing — but reserve parking ahead, and leave the rig at your site. The park can't take RVs or trailers.
Want more than a flat loop? Our best hikes in Santa Cruz guide goes deeper — ocean bluffs, waterfall trails, and the county's newest paths.
With kids
Beyond the Boardwalk: the Seymour Marine Discovery Center on the Westside hangs Ms. Blue — an 87-foot blue-whale skeleton — beside its touch tanks, and runs daily hours in summer. The Mystery Spot is the roadside gravity-illusion attraction kids love. Tickets are about $12 plus $5 parking, and weekend tours sell out, so book ahead.
Back at the park, ask about the painted rocks in the gardens. Guests have been adding to them for years, and kids hunt for them like Easter eggs.
Free, or nearly
West Cliff Drive fully reopened in 2025 after two years of storm repairs — 2.7 flat, paved miles from Steamer Lane to Natural Bridges, surfers below the whole way. The Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, inside the lighthouse at its midpoint, runs on donations (Thursday through Monday afternoons).
Downtown, the Wednesday farmers market (12:30 to 5 at Cedar and Church) puts the county's farms in one block, and Pacific Avenue's bookstores make a solid lazy afternoon.
The cheapest show in town is the one closest to your site: sunset from the East Cliff bluffs.
Know before you go — summer 2026
- The Murray Street bridge at the harbor is fully closed — cars, bikes, and walkers — for most of summer 2026. From the East Side, route to downtown via Soquel Avenue.
- Highway 1 has overnight lane closures between Soquel and Aptos into fall 2026. Arriving late with the RV? Build in slack.
- Woodies on the Wharf (late June) and the Wharf to Wharf race (fourth Sunday of July) are the two days the whole town shows up. Book early, and expect closed roads near the race course that morning.
- Summer mornings are often foggy and burn off by midday. Do redwoods in the morning, beach in the afternoon.
About the author
Alex V. — Alex owns and runs Beach RV Pleasure Point, a sixteen-site RV park a nine-minute walk from the surf on the Santa Cruz East Side. These guides are the same advice we give guests at the office.