Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz is a classic California beach town, with sand beaches, perfect for playing in the sand, boogie boarding and surfing. It's a great place to grab the kids and go for the weekend, or you can easily spend a long vacation in summer.
Ride bikes
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Santa Cruz is a fun place to bike around, there are plenty of wide bike lanes running through the central Santa Cruz area and along the beach, out to Capitola.
Bicycle trip
(shop on Soquel Ave. in Santa Cruz and Clares St. in Capitola) has bike rentals, including kids' bikes, helmets, bike lock.
Fun food
Farmers Markets
- There are two farmers markets, right in Santa Cruz. The markets have fresh fruits, vegetables, breads, pastries, crepes, cheese, locally made chocolates, everything you need for a picnic.
Downtown Market
, at the corner of Lincoln and Cedar St., is every Wednesday afternoon starting at 1:30pm, year round.
Also visit the
Live Oak Market
, corner of 15th Ave. and Eastcliff Dr, May to October, on Sunday 9am - 1pm.
Here's Travel for Kids hand-picked list of family hotels, all styles and price ranges, convenient to fun things to do with kids in Santa Cruz:
A vacation rental has lots of advantages for families - full kitchen and dining area so you don't need to eat all your meals in restaurants, washer and dryer, all close to the beach:
