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Top choice in Santa Cruz
This educational center is part of UCSC’s Long Marine Laboratory. Interactive natural-science exhibits include tidal touch pools and aquariums, while outside you can gawk at the world’s largest blue-whale skeleton.
Guided 45-minute tours run at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm (free with admission; first come, first served) and teach you about the research taking place at the lab. There's also a 30-minute family tour at 11am.
24.55 MILES
Monterey is practically synonymous with its world-class aquarium overlooking Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which protects dense kelp forests and…
2.83 MILES
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has been an Americana classic like few others for over a century. Now as in 1907 when the amusement park first opened, the…
17.82 MILES
Just over a dozen miles southeast of Pescadero State Beach, Año Nuevo State Natural Reserve is home base for one of the world's largest mainland breeding…
29.46 MILES
This museum will interest almost anyone, even if you don't know anything about Salinas’ Nobel Prize–winning native son, John Steinbeck (1902–68), a…
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo
29.14 MILES
Carmel's strikingly beautiful mission is an oasis of solemnity with flowering gardens and a thick-walled basilica filled with Spanish Colonial art and…
26.82 MILES
Definitely the most interesting tech visitor center in the area. You'll be met by an army of Geniuses in red shirts offering information from how to use…
26.23 MILES
This ridiculous yet fascinating Victorian mansion is filled with 160 mostly non-utilitarian rooms with dead-end hallways and a staircase that runs up to a…
25.71 MILES
Find out what's currently open at Monterey State Historic Park, grab a free map and buy tickets for guided walking tours inside this 1847 adobe building,…
1. Natural Bridges State Beach
0.43 MILES
Great for sunsets, this sandy beach fronted by a natural sandstone bridge is a family favorite and tops for wildlife viewing. Scan the bay for whales,…
2.02 MILES
The only official off-leash beach for dogs (before 10am and after 4pm) in Santa Cruz is just west of the lighthouse. The field across the street is…
2.13 MILES
A mile southwest of the wharf along the coast, this tiny museum inside an old lighthouse is packed with memorabilia, including vintage redwood surfboards…
2.32 MILES
Amble around this peaceful arboretum and picturesquely decaying 19th-century structures from Cowell Ranch, upon which the UCSC campus was built.
5. Sanctuary Exploration Center
2.45 MILES
Operated by the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, this educational museum near the beach boardwalk is an interactive multimedia experience that…
6. University of California, Santa Cruz
2.45 MILES
Check it: the school mascot is a banana slug! Established in 1965 in the hills above town, UCSC is known for its creative, liberal bent. The rural campus…
2.52 MILES
Seafood restaurants, gift shops and barking sea lions all compete for attention along Santa Cruz's wharf, the longest wooden wharf in the US.