I just had to go in here when we were in Enseñada — this is one crazy place full of drunken young tourists. Just check out the picture galleries from the cruise ships at the Papas y Beer web site.
I recommend going just for the spectacle, if you don’t mind the crowd; or go if you’re a young tourist planning to get drunk.
We stopped in Enseñada while on a cruise, so I didn’t get to stay too long. Saw La Bufadora blow-hole, which was cool. Stopped in at Papas y Beer just because it was there – that’s one crazy place.
over 7 years agoI really don’t have much to say – I visited the USNA for a week when I was 17 for a sciene & engineering “thing” — which was basically a recruiting trip.
If you’re into US Military History or are a Naval buff this would definitely be an interesting place to visit.
I lived here while I attended college and most of my immediate family (myself excepted) now live in Santa Cruz and Capitola. I visit as often as I can and plan to move back there when the kids are all out on their own (1 more to go!)
The Boardwalk is fun, but you’re much better off going there when it’s not high-tourist-season (unless you likecrowds). Ride the Giant Dipper when you’re there. This is an old wooden roller-coaster built in 1924 and is a bone-shaking, teeth-rattling, whiplash-inducing thrill, not the smooth tubular rails of today’s coasters. Keep your hands above your head for the whole ride.
Stroll around the Pacific Garden Mall downtown, go to the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company while down there — don’t go to *bucks across the street.
Visit the UC Santa Cruz campus up the hill, it’s a beautiful heavily forested place. There are some major concrete buildings that you don’t even notice from the road.
I loved the Babbling Brook Bed & Breakfast on Laurel just below California. I think we stayed in the “Van Gogh” room. It’s an easy walk to downtown from there, though the walk back is almost all uphill.
Stop by the Surfing Museum in the old lighthouse on the cliffs.
