Santa Cruz, California

With a warm beach and the boardwalk on center stage, Santa Cruz is a fun-filled place to spend a family vacation on a sunny holiday weekend. Adults and children of all ages love the attractions of the seaside park at Santa Cruz Beach. The only other oceanfront amusement park is on the Southern California Beach, at the Santa Monica Pier.

The oldest surviving theme park in California today, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk has an old-fashioned wooden roller coaster, and fun carnival themed ride. Taking a ride on the Big Dipper, and you will enjoy a ride on of the most famous wooden coaster in the country. The fact that it is a wooden coaster doesn't mean you won't be impressed. The wooden boards tremble under the coaster cars, making riders hearts pound. One perk of riding the Giant Dipper on Santa Cruz beach is the thrilling 20-second view of the hills above Santa Cruz and the Pacific Ocean.

Santa Cruz beach has a stage that hosts live performances in the summer. If you've spent a wild afternoon on the rides, lying in the sand and enjoying live music is a great way to wind down. California Beaches used to be home to the best amusements parks. You can come to Santa Cruz and experience wholesome fun that never goes out of style. If you're on a California Vacation, a visit to Santa Cruz CA gives you a taste of every day life in on the Central Coast.

Mavericks is a local surfing competition that brings a lot of visitors to Santa Cruz and the nearby beaches. While the Central Coast and the Santa Cruz beach front areas normally have a fairly relaxed pace, you can feel the excitement in the air when this surf competition begins. Surfers from around the globe scramble to get to the beach with only a couple days notice. The town of Half Moon Bay gets swamped with visitors who are coming to Montara Bay to see the giant waves.

Mavericks is a powerful wave which towers three to five stories when its rises to its full height and crashes with deadly force. An interesting combination of factors combine to create a surfing area challenging enough to rival Waimea Bay in Hawaii and draw world class surfers to risk their life on enormous waves which are the product of winter storms in the Pacific. About a half mile from shore is where the giant wave breaks without a shallow reef that most other beaches have that dissipate the water's force. Get a spot up on the hillside of Montara Beach and bring binoculars to watch these daring surfing tempt fate.

If you fall in love with the Oceanside life on your California Vacation and tire of the busy campgournd, you might want to spend a weekend in a nearby area Santa Cruz Hotel. A tranquil place to retreat after an exciting day is the Best Western Seacliff Inn in nearby Aptos. These rooms at this Santa Cruz Hotel are clean, comfortable and reasonably priced. Families will appreciate the value and quality of the roomy guest suites, which are spacious enough to accommodate the whole family. Another popular place to stay right on the beach is the Coast Santa Cruz Hotel.

The Coast Santa Cruz Hotel is a vacation rental and hotel within easy walking distance to the beach and the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. You get ocean views from your room a the Coast Santa Cruz Hotel since there is nothing in the way of your window and the Santa Cruz beach. The surf culture that is centered on the beaches of the Central Coast means that there is no lack of camping in the nearby California State Parks and excellent beaches along the way. The combination of surf, sun, and small town life means that you will have a warm welcome in Santa Cruz hotels and just about anywhere else you travel in this city.