Travel to Santa Cruz

San Francisco International Airport (SFO / KSFO) has international and domestic flights from San Francisco, California and is 61 miles from Santa Cruz, CA.

Road

Highway 17 south from San Jose is the most direct route when driving from the more populated parts of the Bay Area.

To merge from Highway 17 to Highway 1 in Santa Cruz to continue south, you must merge three times on the dreaded "fish hook". This causes the beginning of the dreaded commute from "over the hill" to the coast for many.

A much more beautiful, but slower, approach to Santa Cruz is on Highway 1, either from the north, San Francisco and Pacifica (about 65 miles), or from the south, Monterey and Big Sur (about 35 miles).

Another beautiful (but slower) route from the San Jose area is Highway 9 which branches from 17 at from Los Gatos then, beginning in Saratoga crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains, passing Big Basin State Park and the mountain towns of Boulder Creek and Felton before reaching Santa Cruz.

To take public transportation there is a commuter shuttle, the Highway 17 Express (Santa Cruz route 17; VTA route 970), that runs from the Caltrain station in San Jose 7 days a week, which is scheduled to transfer with certain Amtrak trains