Our six favorite Santa Cruz spots, from a botanical garden and old-growth redwoods to tide pools, surf cliffs and a colorful beach village, balance forest time and beach time for a roadschooling family.
November 8th, 2026
Ever since our first fall on the road, Santa Cruz has been one of our very favorite places to be. It has surf breaks, tide pools and California sunshine, along with redwood forests, hiking and biking trails. It's the perfect balance of beach and forest all in one place.
We spend each fall and spring here, and are fitting in some extra Santa Cruz stays here this winter as well. Each year we spend a little more time here. One day we might just not leave at all.
Here are the six places that always make our list, with what each one offers kids who are learning on the move.
Hours, fees and trail closures change, so check each park's website before you go. The details below are as of November 2026.
The Arboretum is a living museum of plants from Mediterranean climates around the world, tucked into the UCSC campus hillside and open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It began in 1964 with a gift of roughly 90 species of eucalyptus and has grown into a garden of rare and remarkable plants.
It is an easy place to slow down. Kids can follow the paths to hunt for hummingbirds, compare leaf shapes and smells, and see how plants from South Africa, Australia and Chile all thrive in the same kind of climate. We visited in the spring and are due for a fall visit to see how it looks in a different season.
Roadschool angle: botany, adaptation and biogeography, with a built-in scavenger hunt.
Good to know: General admission is $10 for adults, and the Arboretum is free on the first Tuesday of each month.
Natural Bridges earns its spot on our list twice: once for the tide pools and once for the monarchs. The 65-acre park sits at the end of West Cliff Drive, named for the sea arches that once lined its cliff. Only the last one still stands.
From roughly October through February, thousands of western monarch butterflies overwinter in the park's eucalyptus grove, the only state monarch preserve in California. Around 10,000 spent the winter here in 2024. We have visited early in October in previous years when the butterflies are just starting to arrive and are excited to see more this year since we will be here later into the fall and winter. Come at low tide and the pools at the far end of the beach are packed with anemones, crabs and sea stars.
Roadschool angle: migration and life cycles in the grove, then intertidal ecology a short walk away.
Good to know: The park is open from 8 a.m. to sunset. Check the tide chart before you go, and ask at the visitor center about the monarchs, since they sometimes arrive late or leave early. Dogs are not allowed.
Henry Cowell protects a 40-acre grove of old-growth coast redwoods only about six miles from downtown Santa Cruz, which makes it one of the most accessible ancient groves anywhere. Some of the trees here are well over a thousand years old.
The Redwood Grove Loop is under a mile, ADA accessible and easy for small legs, with numbered stops along the way. Look for the fire-scarred trunks, the burned-out giant where explorer John C. Frémont camped in 1846, and the slender dawn redwood, a close relative once thought to be extinct. If you want more, the park's longer trails climb into sandhills, ending at a lookout with a view of the Monterey Bay and along the San Lorenzo River, where the kids like to swim on warm days.
Roadschool angle: forest ecology, fire history and a lesson in how one grove escaped the logging that cleared most of California's redwoods.
Good to know: The park is open sunrise to sunset, with a vehicle entrance fee. The visitor center is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Parking can fill up on weekends, so go early. Dogs aren't allowed on the grove trail.
Nearly 10,000 acres above Aptos with about 30 miles of trails, it was heavily logged more than a century ago, with steam trains hauling redwood logs out of the canyon. Today it is a regrowing second-growth forest, and many of the old rail grades are now hiking routes.
The park also sits on the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and a trail leads to the spot. Kids tend to love the creekside walking, the bridges and the sense of real wilderness so close to town. When we have more time we want to check out the waterfall at Five Finger Falls.
Roadschool angle: earthquakes and fault lines, logging history, and how a forest heals itself over time.
Good to know: The day-use area is open sunrise to sunset, and the entrance is on Aptos Creek Road. Some trails have been closed for storm damage and erosion, including the Aptos Creek Trail, so check the State Parks page before you plan your route.
Pleasure Point is the heart of the East Side surf scene, and the best part is that watching it costs nothing. East Cliff Drive runs along the top of the bluff, with a sidewalk and small grassy parks that look right down on the surfers.
The county parkway section is about 1.7 miles round trip and takes around 40 minutes at a stroller-and-toddler pace. It is paved, free, and has restrooms at both ends. Sam surfs here several times a week and the kids love to surf too when the waves are just right. Otherwise we play on the beach, watch surferes, otters and dolphins from the cliffs, or stroll into town.
Roadschool angle: wave science, tides and swell, plus the surfing culture that made Santa Cruz famous.
Good to know: Parking along East Cliff Drive is limited, especially on weekends, so go early or park a few blocks back.
Capitola Village feels like a beach town from a storybook. It is a handful of walkable blocks between the beach and Soquel Creek, and it is often called California's oldest beach-resort town. It started in 1874 as Camp Capitola, a camping resort on Monterey Bay.
The icon is the Venetian Court, two rows of 24 pastel townhouses built in the 1920s right on the sand. Soquel Creek runs through the beach and forms a shallow lagoon, so the kids can wade in calm water while the surf stays on the other side. There are plenty of places to eat and shop but we always grab a few slices at Pizza My Heart and love the ice cream sandwiches at Polar Bear Ice Cream.
Roadschool angle: local history, architecture and how a creek, a beach and a town shape each other.
Good to know: The village fills up on sunny weekends, so a weekday afternoon is calmer.
This is our sixth trip to Santa Cruz, and we have settled into a rhythm that often revolves around this list of favorites. We stay in Scotts Valley, right off Highway 17, which puts every spot above within 10 to 20 minutes of home base.
What we love most is the balance of forest time and beach time. Redwoods and creekside trails one day, tide pools and cliffs the next. Each trip we revisit the old favorites and add something new to check out, so the list keeps growing along with the boys.