Santa Cruz, CA

Chef Santos Majano's downtown seafood room in the old Soif space — sustainable local fish, a raw bar, lemongrass mussels, squid fried rice, and a wine program with proper natural-wine depth. The most ambitious dinner in town and the reservation the locals are jockeying for.

Damani Thomas's intimate twenty-eight-seat downtown bistro — California-French cooking, an open kitchen you can watch from the bar, and a cocktail program that's been running tight since 1995. The grown-up dinner in town; book a stool at the bar if the dining room is gone.

Downtown Mediterranean-Afghan fusion that's been the family dinner reservation in Santa Cruz for over a decade — pomegranate chicken, lamb kebabs, soft pillowy bolani, and a covered courtyard that's better than the dining room. The most reliable special-occasion table in town.

Patrice Boyle's Seabright-neighborhood Italian — house-made pastas, wood-fired pies, a short list of mains, and an old-Sicilian-ish dining room with twenty-four-foot ceilings. Open since 2002 and the locals' choice over the trendier downtown rooms.

Westside wood-fired pizzeria in an industrial-park back room — daily-changing toppings driven by what came in from the farmers' market, half-dozen small plates, fried chicken on Thursdays, an excellent low-key wine list. The dinner that locals actually default to.

Chef Katherine Stern's Midtown room serving farmers'-market-driven cooking ninety-five percent of which comes directly from local farms — sour-cream pancakes for brunch, a tightly written dinner menu that changes weekly, and a tiny but smart wine list. The most ingredient-driven kitchen in town.

Used-and-rare bookstore by day, dinner-and-wine bar by night — the kitchen is led by chef Nick Hahn, a Michelin-kitchen veteran, with a Parisian bistro menu inflected with California produce and Korean technique: dressed oysters, Korean fried chicken, handmade pasta. The natural-wine list is still the best in town. Sit at the curved counter facing the kitchen; the dining room behind the bookshelves is the secret.

The forty-year-old downtown breakfast room where the sourdough starter actually does date to the Gold Rush — sourdough pancakes, Mike's Mess (eggs and potatoes with everything), home-baked muffins, all on a 1985 menu that hasn't needed updating. The line forms before 8am.

Eastside breakfast room a block from La Posta, dollhouse-tight inside, plate-sized waffles, omelets the size of a baby's head, and a cinnamon roll that earns its mention. The locals' alternative to Zachary's and the right call if you're staying in Seabright.

Family-run Westside Brazilian cafe since 1991 — egg-heavy breakfasts, an açaí bowl that holds up even now, the only Brazilian breakfast in Santa Cruz, and a juice bar with fresh-blended fruit drinks. The Westside's standing weekend breakfast.

Brett and Elan Emerson's daytime counter-service Mediterranean spot on Pacific Avenue, the successor to their Spanish Barceloneta — falafel wraps on house-made pita, grilled chicken shawarma plates, a kale-and-sweet-potato 'Hippie Salad' that has somehow become the menu's number-one seller. Fast, cheap, well-sourced.

An outdoor kiosk above Steamer Lane on West Cliff Drive — pressed quesadilla 'dillas, breakfast tacos, surf-watching at the rail, and the closest food source to the most-photographed wave in California. The post-surf-check breakfast for everyone living west of the Wharf.

The downtown scoop shop everyone in town actually goes to — from-scratch ice cream with seasonal local flavors (strawberry-balsamic, brown-butter pecan, olive oil), no pre-mixed bases, and a line that stretches around the corner on summer evenings. Worth it.

The Westside artisan bakery everyone serious about bread in Santa Cruz goes to — sourdough loaves, laminated pastries, the famous goat-horn pastry filled with goat-milk cheddar. The Mission Street original is the one with the bench and the morning rush.

David Kinch's bakery spin-off from the acclaimed Manresa — fresh-milled hearth breads, pastry technique that wouldn't be out of place in Paris, and a kouign-amann that's the cult item. Smaller and quieter than Companion; arguably more technical.

Since 1969, the harbor-front restaurant on Eastside Beach with a deck looking straight across the bay to the Wharf — sustainable seafood, the kind of dinner that's about the view as much as the plate. Take the upstairs bar deck for sunset and skip the dining room.

A working fish market and counter-service Harbor Fish House at Santa Cruz Harbor — same-day local catch, oyster bar, tuna poke, sustainable Monterey Bay-sourced fish. Less restaurant than fish counter with stools; that's the point.

Mentone in Aptos — Italian and French Riviera cooking, wood-fired pizzas, salt-cured anchovy crudo, an outdoor patio that catches the afternoon sun. The dinner reservation in southern Santa Cruz County and the casual sister to the now-closed Manresa.

A 1947 fine-dining institution on Soquel Creek in Capitola — reached by a red funicular cable car down the hillside through tiered gardens, with rooms tucked into a multi-level converted log house. The tram ride is the experience; book a window two-top for the creek view.

The Capitola bakery-deli everyone in southern Santa Cruz County considers home base — a hot-table rotisserie line for lunch and dinner, a pastry case that's the largest single in the county, and a Princess Cake that's reason enough to drive down. Order by ticket; the line moves faster than it looks.

The historic 1906 Davenport hotel restaurant on the coast highway fifteen minutes north of Santa Cruz — the natural lunch or dinner stop after a Wilder Ranch hike or a drive up to see Año Nuevo. Locally caught seafood, ranch beef, a sun-warmed back deck that overlooks the coast.

A 2.5-mile flat coastal-bluff loop just north of Santa Cruz — sea-stack views, harbor seals on a hidden cove, wildflower meadows in spring. The most accessible coastal hike in the area and the one to do if you only have one trail in you.

The closest accessible old-growth coastal redwood grove to Santa Cruz — a flat 0.8-mile Redwood Grove Loop walks past trees 1,500 years old and 277 feet tall, and the trails beyond climb out for ridge views over the San Lorenzo Valley. Twenty minutes from town.

Ten thousand acres of second-growth redwoods inland from Aptos — fire roads up to ridgelines, a creek-side flat for the easy version, and the locals' running-and-mountain-biking park. Less famous than Henry Cowell, equally beautiful, half the crowd.

A 640-acre city-owned open space on the hillside above downtown Santa Cruz — eight miles of trails connecting to UCSC and Henry Cowell, meadows full of butterflies in spring, a defunct polo grounds that became one of the best dog-walking loops in town. The locals' default morning hike.

The three-mile paved path along the cliff from the Wharf to Natural Bridges — runners, walkers, dogs, the postcard view of Steamer Lane and the lighthouse, and the surf-check ritual locals have followed for generations. Not a trail in the wilderness sense; the trail.

A 6-mile loop in the inland portion of Wilder Ranch — eucalyptus groves, coastal-prairie ridgelines, a long climb that pays off with views all the way to the Wharf. The harder version of Wilder Ranch and the one the regulars do.

The two-mile paved cliff path on East Cliff Drive between 38th and 41st Avenues — surf-watching pullouts every hundred yards, a memorial bench scene that locals call 'the bench tour,' and the most reliable place to see surfers from above without driving to West Cliff.

The quieter back-country half of Henry Cowell — a separate trailhead off Felton-Empire Road, 8.5 miles of creek-side trails with old lime-kiln ruins, no day-use fee, and almost no day-trippers because the main entrance gets all the attention.

A network of dirt fire roads and trails through the UCSC campus's lower meadows and upper redwoods — open to the public year-round, deer everywhere at dusk, and the loop combining East Meadow and Chinquapin is the locals' weekday running route. Two miles of paths, more if you string them together.

A two-mile beach-and-bluff walk from Capitola Village to New Brighton State Beach in Aptos — passes the SS Palo Alto concrete-ship wreck offshore at Seacliff, beach access at low tide, bluff trails at high tide. The southern county equivalent of West Cliff.

A 12-mile loop that pulls together the coastal bluffs and the inland canyons of Wilder Ranch — coastal prairie out the north end, climb through eucalyptus, drop into the second-growth redwood canyon at Wilder Creek, and back. The full Wilder day.

A small redwood-shaded loop trail around the Mystery Spot property — outside the gift shop and free if you don't take the tour, with a few hundred yards of mossy redwoods and ferns. A surprise of a quiet ten-minute walk between a roadside attraction and the road.

The downtown MAH, a four-story regional museum with rotating contemporary art exhibits, a permanent local-history collection, and the kind of evening event programming (First Friday gallery walks, Third Friday live music) that makes it the locals' actual community center. Half-day visit; pleasant for kids and grown-ups in equal measure.

The public-facing wing of UCSC's Long Marine Lab — touch tanks with sea stars and bat rays, an 87-foot blue whale skeleton (the largest displayed on the West Coast), and the back deck has telescopes pointed at the Pacific where you can spot whales offshore in season. Best two hours in town for kids under twelve.

The legendary downtown music venue running since 1969 — main room holds 800, the upstairs Atrium is the smaller-acts room, and the bookings hit a particular Santa Cruz sweet spot of indie rock, reggae, punk, and reformed-touring-bands. Where the Doors and Pearl Jam played; where Sleater-Kinney plays now.

A small back-of-Eastside roadhouse that's the locals' live-music room — blues, soul, Americana, and reggae most nights, with an outdoor patio (The Yard) that hosts touring acts in summer. The sound is the best room in town and the outdoor build-out has made the summer shows a proper destination.

A 1949 single-screen Art Deco movie theater on Soquel Avenue, now repurposed as a 800-seat live-music and film venue — touring acts hit it twice a year on the way between SF and LA, second-run films fill the rest, and the seats and screen are the originals. The character venue.

A 200-seat downtown jazz room running since 1975 — Monday-night house band, mid-week touring acts from the Chick Corea-Wayne Shorter universe, and one of the most respected small jazz programs on the West Coast. Sit at the cabaret tables, order a Manresa Bread snack, listen.

An 1880s narrow-gauge steam railroad running tourist trains up the redwoods from Felton, plus a beach-bound train down to the Boardwalk on summer weekends. Kitschy on purpose, genuinely fun for kids under ten, and the conductor's narration is somewhere between Disney and the Smithsonian.

The last seaside amusement park on the West Coast — 1907 carousel, 1924 wooden Giant Dipper coaster, the smell of fresh kettle corn and saltwater taffy, and free general admission. Take the rides à la carte rather than the all-day band; eight rides done well beats thirty at half speed.

The longest wooden pier in the country at 2,745 feet — drive your car onto the planks, park along the deck, and look down at sea lions hauled out on the trusses. The pier is fully operational with a new sea-lion viewing window at the end section. Restaurant row is fine but not the point; the wharf itself is the experience.

A small protected cove on the west end of West Cliff Drive — one remaining natural rock arch (originally three, the others have collapsed), tide pools at low tide, and a eucalyptus grove that hosts the largest overwintering monarch butterfly colony in the state. The arch is the photograph; the butterflies are the surprise.

A redwood-shaded gravity hill that's been confounding visitors since 1939 — water flowing uphill, people leaning at impossible angles, balls rolling backwards. Tour is 45 minutes long, mostly fun for the corny commitment to the bit, and the bumper sticker you get at the end is the souvenir.

A 1965 brick lighthouse on Lighthouse Point housing the small Santa Cruz Surfing Museum — surfboard collection from the 1930s onward, photographs of the local pioneers who introduced the sport to the U.S. mainland here in 1885. Free, run by volunteers, takes twenty minutes.

The open grass field across West Cliff Drive from the lighthouse — picnic spot, dog-off-leash zone in the morning, and the place locals come to watch surfers at Steamer Lane below. The cliff-edge view is the point; you don't actually need to go down to the beach.

California's oldest seaside resort town, three blocks of painted Venetian-style cottages on a horseshoe of beach where Soquel Creek meets the Pacific. Walking the esplanade, eating mussels on a deck, and watching the wharf — the whole experience is two unhurried hours.

135 acres of Mediterranean-climate plant collections on the lower UCSC campus — California natives, Australian banksias and proteas, the largest South African garden in the country. The hummingbird population is wild; the kids who arrive bored leave thrilled.