Location: Santa Cruz
Top Things to do in Santa Cruz
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Things to do in Santa Cruz, California (CA): The Best Food & Drink
The quintessential California beach town of Santa Cruz! It was here that surfing was first brought to the mainland by Hawaiian royalty. Home to the legendary Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, a pedestrian-friendly, tree-lined downtown area, and the historic Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, which stretches out a half-mile into the waters of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Other highlights include UC Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, and nearby redwood forests.
Restaurants in Santa Cruz
1. Santa Cruz Food Tour
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 38 reviews
Santa Cruz Food Tour offers 3.5 hour food tasting and cultural walking tours off-the-beaten-path in downtown Santa Cruz and the historic district. Our guided tours are a non-touristy, local experience so you feel like a native Santa Cruzan. Come take a stroll with us and taste great food at five locations along the way. When you have an appetite for adventure.
2. Brew Cruz
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 44 reviews
Brew Cruz is Santa Cruz's Original Microbrewery Tour! Hop aboard for a 4 hour drive around scenic Santa Cruz on our beautifully restored, one-of-a-kind 1989 school bus, 'Betty Jane', and enjoy a pint for each passenger at each of the 3 breweries we choose to stop at, tours with the brewmasters, beer history, trivia, music on-board and many unforgettable memories. Truly a Santa Cruz favorite!
3. Venus Spirits
4. Rexford Winery
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 1 reviews
5. Mountains to the Bay Wine Tours
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 5 reviews
Mountains to the Bay Wine Tours provides custom, guided wine tours of the best wineries in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Clara Valley, and Monterey Bay's wine regions. Mountains to the Bay Wine Tours is dedicated to showcasing the best local geography, agriculture, and artisanship that California's Central Coast has to offer. Always, in the most relaxing, enjoyable, and delicious way possible. Our goal is to combine outstanding service, wine knowledge, and local expertise to provide a fantastic experience for everyone on our wine tours. Please give us a call so we can introduce you to some of our closest friends in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay Area.
6. Stockwell Cellars
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 2 reviews
Reviewed By 1hurleygirl - Fremont, United States
We loved the atmosphere and the wines in this place. The staff was friendly and knowledgable without being pretentious or snooty. Just the right amount of information given, and easy to ask questions to. It was quiet with a nice seating arrangement. The space is really lovely. We were at the end of our day, and had dinner reservations so we couldn't just linger, but we would definitely come back again if in the area. Interesting varieties of wines and almost all of them I would have happily purchased if we hadn't had to transport it home via airplane. We didn't want to hassle with checked bags, but we did buy a couple of bottles and left them with our kids to enjoy on our next visit.
7. MJA Vineyards
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 57 reviews
We are OPEN for Tastings. Come for the wine...stay for the Aloha! Is it possible to make the intangible, tangible? To define love, or to capture the feeling of a sunset? That's the challenge when it comes to MJA. It's not just a destination, it's an experience that goes beyond the wine, mixed with the aroma of chocolate & Kona Coffee, the setting and the people... It's the Aloha! Actually, we handcraft around 8000 cases of our Aloha each year, right in our Westside Cellar in Santa Cruz. We sell our wines directly from our Tasting Rooms because our philosophy is that we want you to be able to buy the highest quality wine that we can produce at the best value possible. That's why we offer weekly specials such as "take 3 bottles for the price of 2", and 20% off everyday for our Kahuna Wine Club Members, and 30% off on club pickup days. And our 100% Kona Coffee that Marin (he's the MJA) grows on the Big Island of Hawaii, was voted as America's Best Coffee by Forbes Magazine.
8. Storrs Winery
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 22 reviews
9. Beauregard Vineyard
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 37 reviews
Reviewed By X9425KXtimf - Grosse Pointe, United States
We had sampled some Beauregard wines at the Ritz Carlton and were pleased so we made a visit after a hike. Great wines and chance to enjoy the “grove” seating outside. Really enjoyed the fruit flavors of the Pinot Noirs that were aged”Oeuf en Beton”. Well worth the visit....most interesting is they have exclusive vineyards from Ben Lomond AVA. Coastal Burgundian varietals.
10. Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 9 reviews
Making fine, hand-crafted wines in the Santa Cruz Mountains since 1975. And home of Quinta Cruz, which specializes in Californian grown Portuguese and Spanish wines.
Reviewed By SeekingVines - San Diego, United States
We chose this tasting room due to featuring two labels. Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, and Quinta Cruz (these were Spanish and Portuguese varieties which are apparently positioned as "Cal-Iberian".). Andrew, a very knowledgeable gentleman, was working the tasting room. The tasting room shares the facility with space where the wines appear to be produced. So there was a forklift operating in the background, etc. After 6+ tastings, I requested further tastings be restricted to a select few. Many different tastings were on offer. I rarely buy dessert wines but was impressed by a Port style wine that may be one of the few made from the standard grapes used in Portugal. That was one of our purchases. As an added bonus, they also sell Osocalis Brandy. The brandy is not offered for tasting, but the aromas did intrigue us. So we added a bottle of Osocalis to our purchases. The tasting room is in an industrial-type area but our online directions made it easy to find. I would definitely return.
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