Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz - The City That Works For You

Why visit

Santa Cruz was a why-not stop for me, somewhere I'd read about and figured I'd stop by. It came up a little flat, not all that different from plenty of other California beach towns.

When to avoid

Skip Santa Cruz during peak events or the summer tourist rush, June and July especially, unless you don't mind crowds. California weather holds up well year round, so there's no reason to fight the crowds for better conditions.

Plan Santa Cruz

Current conditions and the practical reference material that helps turn the saved places into a trip.

The next week in Santa Cruz

7-day forecast from Open-Meteo. UV badges flag days when sun protection matters (3 and above is moderate; 8 and above is risk territory for unprotected fair skin within 30 minutes).

Today

Fog

20° / 13°

UV High

Wed

Drizzle

20° / 12°

UV High

Thu

Clear

23° / 15°

UV Very high

Fri

Clear

24° / 17°

UV Very high

Sat

Overcast

22° / 17°

UV High

Sun

Clear

23° / 15°

UV High

Mon

Partly cloudy

20° / 14°

UV High

Climate

Wet season (Nov-Mar)

About 83% of the year's rain falls in these months. Typical highs around 15°C, lows around 6°C.

Dry season (Apr-Oct)

About 13mm of rain a month, against 86mm in the wet season.

In August 4

Drag to scrub across the year.

JFMAMJJASOND

Weather

25° / 11°

Typical high / low

0 mm rainfall this month

Daylight

13.6h

06:24 – 20:01local

Holidays coming up

Public holidays from Nager.Date.

Airports

closest SJC · 44 km

Getting around Santa Cruz

Public-transit operators within 8 km of the city center. Click through to each operator’s site for routes, fares, and tickets.

Local transit operators

METROTAPSCity of Santa Cruz

Operators and modes are aggregated from individual transit-agency GTFS feeds. Route classifications come from each feed’s route type codes.

About Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is the largest city in and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a popular tourist destination, owing to its beaches, surf culture, and historic landmarks.

Area: 41 km²

United States of America basics →Country context, advisories, and entry links for the practicalities shown above.

References5

The links below support the changing or licensed reference material on this page. Personal notes and ordinary geographic facts are not footnoted individually.

City background. Wikipedia summary may be clipped or paraphrased. Structured fields are cross-checked against the related references. Related: Wikidata, Open-Elevation, IANA Time Zone Database, .