Things to do in Santa Cruz, CA

Santa Cruz is a beach town situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, about 75 miles south of San Francisco. It is known for its moderate climate, natural environment, coastline and redwood forests. In Santa Cruz County, the fun only begins at the beach. With over 14 state parks, wineries, museums, farmer’s markets and outdoor activities like hiking, stand up paddle boarding, surfing, canopy tours and mountain biking, there are plenty to choose from.

Mystery Spot: The Mystery Spot is a gravitational anomaly located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California. It is a circular area of effect around 150 feet in diameter. Within the Mystery Spot you will be stunned as your perceptions of the laws of physics and gravity are questioned. The location is ultimate and the short drive through the Redwood forest is breathtaking. The tour cost is $8 a person and $5 for a parking; the tour is 45 minutes long with a professional guide.

First, the tour guide calls for two volunteers. A man and a woman step forward onto level concrete slab and face each other. The guide was standing just outside the invisible border of the Mystery Spot. “So as you can see, you are looking at just about the top of her head, and you are looking at about his bottom lip,” she tells them. The man is definitely taller than the woman. Then she makes them trade places. “You can see, she has grown a little bit. It’s pretty weird,” she says. “You have shrunk a little bit, sir. Sorry about that. It should come back in a couple of days, don’t worry.” People seemingly growing and shrinking is just the start.

Then the tour makes its way up a hill to a crooked wooden cabin, where things get even stranger. Inside, it was like a two-room fun house, with tilted walls and an angled floor and ceiling. People were standing at 17-degree slants without falling over, easily walking up the wall and watching a billiard ball roll uphill.

You will become dizzy when climbing up the hill and compasses read north when it should have been south.

Some speculate that cones of metal were secretly brought here and buried in our earth as guidance systems for their spacecraft. Some think that it is in fact the spacecraft itself buried deep within the ground. Other theories include carbon dioxide permeating from the earth, a hole in the ozone layer, a magma vortex, the highest dielectric bio cosmic radiation known anywhere in the world. Whatever the cause is, it remains a mystery.

Why am I tilted at a 17 degree angle, but I don’t feel like I’m going to fall over? That’s a mystery..)

Here, the laws of gravity and physics seem to disappear as the balls roll uphill and people lean over past their toes without tumbling over. Psychologists at Berkeley state that “All of the mis-perceptions stem from the simple fact that the house is slanted at a 20 degree angle. When the perceiver’s body also is tilted, the distorting impact on vision is greatly magnified (up to two or three times)”.

5 people with different height were asked to stand in a level concrete slab based on their height (tallest on the right side and shortest on the left side). When they switch their places in reverse, all looks same height almost.

The Mystery Spot was the first gravity-defying tourist attraction in California and was the most prominent illusion-based tourist attraction in California in the mid 20th century.

The Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad is a 3 feet narrow-gauge tourist railroad in California that starts from the Roaring Camp depot in Felton, California and runs up steep grades to the top of nearby Bear Mountain, a distance of 3.25 miles. The travel is through a redwood forest. Please make sure you book the ‘steam’ train to go into the redwood. If you want to see the Santa Cruz downtown and the beach, then book the ‘Diesel’ train. The total travel time is around 1 to 1 and half hour.

Make your way to the historic steam train’s departure point at Roaring Camp in Felton, California.  Settle in to your seat in the open-air car and breathe in the clean forest air as you chug into the old growth redwood forest.

The historic train dates back to the late 19th century and is one of the best preserved narrow gauge steam engines in the country. Listen to the conductor’s commentary on the history of the railroad and the area’s diverse ecosystem.

Big Basin Redwoods State Park is California’s oldest State Park, established in 1902, earning its designation as a California Historical Landmark. Its original 3,800 acres have been increased over the years to over 18,000 acres. Big Basin can be approached from the east, through redwood forest and coastal mountains. The below picture is a park’s headquarters.This route, over State Route 9 through Saratoga and smaller towns like Boulder Creek is more popular because of the famous trees. This park has more than 80 miles of hiking trails. The Santa Cruz Mountains are home to thousands of coast redwoods, many of which are over 1,000 years old and well over 250 feet tall.

My wife and I stayed inside the state park on a tent cabin at around 0’c at midnight. These spacious cabins are the most luxurious place to stay on your next Big Basin Redwoods State Park camping adventure. The thought of a bed with mattress pads and a wood stove should motivate you to rest your bones after hiking through the waterfall, ancient redwoods and lush canyons in this park.

Each tent cabin can hold 4 campers and there is space in the area to pitch a tent for 4 more occupants. Lock up your valuables if you would like, the tent cabin door can be secured with a hook latch on the inside. If you are leaving to go on a hike or day trip, you can bring a padlock to secure your cabin from the outside. Very very dark inside, even with the tarps rolled up. Bring plenty of bright light or it will be a struggle to get anything done while inside. 

We stayed in Tent Cabin 21. Bring firewoods (at least 2 case of 14 lbs each), torch light, match box, lantern and bug repellent. There are restrooms and showers available. Bring quarters for showers.

Important point: cabins have tarps on the outside that can be lowered to keep the inside of the cabin warmer. We feel foolish to realize this in the morning after we shivered most of the night. We won’t forget to check next time..)

Father of the Forest may not be the tallest, but he certainly is the widest redwood in the Santa Cruz Mountains at 16.10 feet across.

At 329 feet, Mother of the Forest was once the tallest tree in Big Basin. But she lost her top portion in a storm a few years back. She’s now 293 feet tall and still going strong.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk: It is an oceanfront amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. Founded in 1907, it is California’s oldest surviving amusement park and one of the few seaside parks on the West Coast of the United States.

It is consistently voted Best Boardwalk. It offers everything you could want. A great roller coaster and all the usual amusement rides, as well as a two story arcade with a mini golf course. Plenty of food options available.

Natural Bridges State Beach: It is a 65-acre California state park in Santa Cruz, California in the United States. The park features a natural bridge across a section of the beach. It is also well known as a hotspot to see monarch butterfly migrations. The Monarch Butterfly Natural Preserve is home to up to 150,000 monarch butterflies from October through early February.

Natural Bridges State Beach is named for the naturally occurring mudstone bridges that were carved by the Pacific Ocean into cliffs that jutted out into the sea.

West Cliff Drive: It is a scenic, 3 mile walking and biking path along the Pacific Ocean in Santa Cruz. Watch surfers, observe wildlife or just admire the incredible ocean views.

Start your walk at the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and head past the iconic Santa Cruz Dream Inn to watch some of the best surfers in the world catch a wave at world-renown Steamer Lane. West Cliff Drive ends at Natural Bridges State Beach, winter home of the Monarch butterfly. You can see the entire Santa Cruz boardwalk from the Wharf.Santa Cruz is the quintessential California beach town, no matter what you are looking for, relaxation, adventure, fantastic scenery or all of the above, you are sure to find it here.