Can you stay in SC a week without being a surfer?

Thinking about staying a week in Santa Cruz to just chill out and take in some scenery. Is there enough to do in the town itself for a week or will we end up on the road every day in search of something to see? We%26#39;re not surfers.

Can you stay in SC a week without being a surfer?

Santa Cruz is a very nice area to spend time in, very close by is Capitola which also has a great beach and quaint downtown area there. Aptos is also nice with Manresa Beach, I have some photos of these areas posted on this site of our day trip to this area not too long ago.

I would suggest the Shadowbrook Inn for a nice meal one night, it is in Capitola. Where are you considering staying? :)

Can you stay in SC a week without being a surfer?

Depends some on the time of year, but if you%26#39;re not happy sitting on a beach, my guess is that you%26#39;ll be on the road more days than not. And I doubt it would be to Capitola or Aptos; Monterey Peninsula and points south seem more likely.

If you are ok with just walking around and laying on the beach (if you%26#39;re going during beachtime), then you%26#39;ll be fine. People do live there and go to the university there for 4 years and find things to do :) However, I would drive to nearby places if you haven%26#39;t been such as BIg Sur, Hearst Castle, Carmel, Monterey etc.

Few people who live in Santa Cruz are surfers. They come from out of town because of the wave action.

That said, if you just want to ';chill out'; and take in some scenery you should be good here for some of those days. If you hike, Nicene Marks State Park in Aptos is great. If you like to wander around a nice downtown, with a tree-lined street, and lots of boutiques and coffee houses, we have that. We have one of the best bookstores around. The University of California at Santa Cruz campus is 2000 acres of beautiful with drop dead views of Monterey Bay and paths through the forest and over ravines connecting the various colleges and lecture halls. The Monarch butterflies are here for their wintering at Natural Bridges State Park. If you are here on a weekend, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has one of the best historic wooden roller coasters there is. You can watch people fish off the Municipal Wharf (or fish yourselves) or take a boat ride out on the Bay. We have redwoods at Henry Cowell State Park. The Mystery Spot is a hoot, a ';magic'; spot in the forest where balls appear to roll uphill, etc.

If you want more ';to see';, you might be happier in the Monterey area with the 17-mile drive and Point Lobos and the upscale shopping of Carmel, and the world class Monterey Bay Aquarium, or you could combine the two, since they are only about 45 minutes from here. Someone mentioned Big Sur and Hearst Castle. That really isn%26#39;t just ';day trip'; from this area, but you could drive down the Big Sur Coast, enjoying the great scenery and stop overnight at Cambria for a tour of the castle the next day, either from Santa Cruz or Monterey.

No matter where you are in this area, don%26#39;t count on ';beach time';. The northern California water is really too cold to swim in (without a wet suit) and in the fall and winter it may not be comfortable to like on the beach.

Oops, '; to LIE on the beach';.

I see a conflict in your request - you want to ';chill out'; yet at the time don%26#39;t want to be bored. This area is excellent for walking around and seeing sights. Not all the beaches are the same, they each have their own character, so it%26#39;s not like you%26#39;ve seen one beach you%26#39;ve seen them all. You can go from the ocean to the redwoods in about 10-15 minutes. For the evening, check out local listings for the clubs, the Catalyst has some good bands, although there%26#39;s limited seating- most people stand during the shows. Or look into the Capitola Book Cafe, they often have famous authors on book tours. The other Tripadvisor members gave great recommendations. About the only thing lacking in this area are fabulous restaurants, shopping and conservatives. Otherwise I think you%26#39;ll enjoy a week here.

I stayed in Santa Cruz for 17 years , without being a surfer.

That said , Santa Cruz has a very unique culture and you might want to soak it in (its alright , it%26#39;ll be ';good'; for you ) on Pacific Ave. and at the renowned Catalyst. I%26#39;d agree with having a memorable creekside dinner or lunch south of town at the terrific Shadowbrook in Capitola ( I ought to know , years ago , I was their Dinner Chef). While there , a walk around the Capitola seaside boardwalk is pleasurable. North of town , you might enjoy a short trip (by car ) up into Redwood country on Hwy.9 to Felton , Brookdale and Boulder Creek. If its still there (I live in San Diego now), the Brookdale Lodge is also a memorable place to eat (a brook runs thru the restaurant). Further south , Carmel and Monterey are also very nice places to visit. Have fun.

Good advice. Incidentally, we just moved to an apartment building across from the Catalyst....a six-month temporary move while our new condo complex is being built. We moved from the country and it is fun to watch the scene, but we haven%26#39;t been here on a weekend yet, so I don%26#39;t know about noise from the Catalyst.

Puter

If the Catalyst still maintains its customary mode of operations , I suspect they%26#39;ll keep it mostly quiet so-as not to attract the wrath of the neighbors (and their liquor licanse). I haven%26#39;t been in Santa Cruz since driving thru shortly after the Loma Prieta earthquake and saw what happened to the Pacific Garden Mall. Out of curiousity , I wonder where the Catalyst ended-up being located ? In the 70%26#39;s they were just off of Pacific on the north end but later moced to the south end of Pacific (where the White Buffalo niteclub used to be). Also of interest , I heard that the wonderful Crepe Place restaurant is still in operation (somewhere on Capitola Rd.) after they were routed from the Cooperhouse in the earthquake. Both are unique features of the Santa Cruz heritage.

A funny historic tidbit; After I mentioned the Brookdale Lodge , I remembered a funny thing a Brookdale bartender told me about , years ago. I was there on a New Years date in the 70%26#39;s and while at the bar , we noticed the see-through window on the back wall of the bar. It looked directly into the adjacant in-door swimming pool and we mentioned that we thought that was kind of neat. The bartender then went on to tell a story of a couple who took a midnite swim there (while on their honeymoon). The bar was full of people and you can probably guess where this story leads from there -- yes , it happened. The couple later learned they had an audience and threatened to sue but backed-out when confronted with the fact that they weren%26#39;t supposed to be in the pool after hours anyway , let alone , carrying on. The bartender went on to say that it wasn%26#39;t ';viewed'; as a bad thing by the customers , but was thought to be an inpromptu ';romantic'; %26amp; beautiful thing.

The Catalyst was started in the mid %26#39;60%26#39;s as a sort of ';town-gown'; cooperation when the University was founded. It was located in the St. George Hotel on Pacific Avenue, but the main entrance was on Front Street. It is now on lower Pacific three doors from Cathcart, in what used to be a bowling alley.

The St. George was torn down and completely rebuilt after the 1989 earthquake, but you wouldn%26#39;t know it because they did an almost complete replica, at least on the exterior. I miss the Teacup, the Chinese restaurant which was upstairs on the flatiron corner of Pacific Avenue and Front Street. Bookshop Santa Cruz is located in this building, after losing its location across the street because of the earthquake. That is the only vacant lot left from the disaster and a condo complex is going up there, with retail below.

The Crepe Place, which was originally on North Pacific just half a block from Mission I guess relocated to Cooper House for a short period after the hillside (Mission Hill) behind it started to slide (I don%26#39;t remember its Cooper House location)....anyway, it is now on Soquel Avenue near Seabright in a cool building with a patio. The North Pacific lot now has a new three story condo building.

The powers that be did a good thing after the earthquake. They decided not to compete with Capitola Mall, so there are no department stores or drugstores or hardware stores, just a 9-plex cinema, a restoration of the Del Mar theater, lots of boutiques, sidewalk cafes, coffee houses, restaurants and apartments upstairs over the businesses. The result is a lively downtown after dark. It is no longer the ';Pacific Garden Mall'; because traffic is allowed, but limited by one-way accesses. The businesses felt that they needed people to be able to park in front, rather than being delegated to rear parking lots. %26lt;shrug%26gt;

Come back for a visit.