Top Santa Cruz Tours: Your Guide to Sightseeing & Cruises

Santa Cruz, with its gorgeous coastline, boardwalk buzz, and redwood forests, has a little something for pretty much everyone. If you want to make the most of your visit, tours and cruises can be the best way to do just that. So, here are what looks like some of the greatest Santa Cruz tours, sightseeing trips, and cruises, with what sounds like helpful tips and thoughts to hopefully guide you along. It could be the answer you’re looking for!

1. Santa Cruz Wharf Wildlife Cruise

Going on a wildlife cruise off the Santa Cruz Wharf really could be a fantastic way to spend an afternoon. It is very nice to hopefully witness some sea life in their natural habitat. It’s almost guaranteed you will be viewing seals and sea lions hanging out on the wharf, but going a little further out can maybe bring you sights of whales, dolphins, and a load of seabirds. Boats like the Chardonnay Sailing Charters offer wildlife tours that can actually give you an up-close-and-personal experience with these incredible animals.

I remember one time going on a similar tour, so the guide knew all the best spots and had so much knowledge about the area’s wildlife. We even saw a pod of dolphins playing in the waves! So, it made the experience all the more memorable. That said, for some reason, these tours often book up fast, so you’ll definitely want to plan ahead. If you would like, check what seems like their schedules and reserve your spot early on, alright? Dress warmly, very bring your camera, and get ready for some potential action!

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2. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Tour

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, just so you know, isn’t just about the rides and games. The place actually has got a rich history and what appears to be lots of stories waiting to be told. Instead of just going on your own, sometimes it could be a better option is to take a guided tour that hopefully shows you all the cool hidden spots and maybe tells a story about this well-known California landmark. The Boardwalk has tours that share tales of its past, that give insight into the original rides, and that almost describe the iconic architecture, so too it can definitely give you some new gratitude for the Boardwalk’s allure.

Actually, I did take a tour once, and what I found surprising was all the little secrets hiding right in plain sight. As a matter of fact, did you know the Giant Dipper is one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in the country? It’s still chugging on along to this very day. That said, a tour helps bring those facts to light. That said, consider it very good option to add an extra layer of appreciation to your visit, especially for people with affection for local stories or the Boardwalk’s roots.

Read our full review: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Tour Full Review and Details See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Book Boardwalk Tour)

3. Redwood Forest Tour

Close to Santa Cruz, anyway, are those awesome redwood forests, and if you decide you want to very explore them, you just might want to consider taking a tour. Instead of wandering around by yourself, that is, a guide can give you the history of these awesome trees and lead you on routes that are often off the beaten path. A bit of knowledge helps put the size of these giants into perspective. You could find tours from different spots in Santa Cruz, for example, companies that offer transportation and experienced guides.

I recall the first time that I saw a redwood, as a matter of fact it was a completely stunning experience. Getting to actually stroll through those woods, I felt almost tiny as I was compared to the tall trees that seemed to stretch out to touch the sky. So, with a tour, I got to now explore off the beaten path, and with my tour guide they gave lots of information about the local plant life as well as all kinds of histories of these natural environments. That said, make sure you are up for what might be easy or hard strolls, so too wear what looks like very comfy shoes.

Read our full review: Redwood Forest Tour Full Review and Details See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Book Redwood Tour)

4. Santa Cruz Surfing Lessons

Santa Cruz, so that you know, is commonly regarded as a great spot to learn how to surf, so too taking lessons can be just a cool experience. With this specific approach, anyway, beginners just might be able to receive help from experts regarding proper surfing techniques and about what appears to be proper ocean safety, which just might be making learning pretty simple. Santa Cruz has a range of surfing schools, namely Richard Schmidt Surf School, which seem to offer programs for all experience levels. A surfing lesson not only goes a bit far beyond getting you up onto a surfboard, actually, anyway it’s all about building confidence out in the ocean.

I gave surfing a try many times, alright? So, what I was finding, anyway, was paddling out for waves on my own, but what happened often was I ended up being absolutely wiped out nearly instantly every single time! It seemed sort of comical to everyone around, actually. When I began surfing lessons, the instructors very much understood every concept, what I needed for proper technique, all I really had to do was concentrate a little bit, and of course they gave tips about what looks like an approaching waves. That said, that very first time standing was great, anyway it got me really wanting to have more.

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5. Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Cruise

You should know, nearby is the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, that also brings lots of tour options to you. Going out on a cruise within the sanctuary allows viewing the plentiful aquatic species, and the guided tours are a cool, potentially really cool way to grasp how everything relates to the location’s ecology. In that instance, just be aware there will likely be vessels that go out from the Santa Cruz harbor, too it might even prove to be worth going as far down as the Monterey wharfs themselves.

As I remember sailing at Monterey Bay, really anyway you almost immediately get an inkling about all the different marine organisms all coexisting close together; the waters look to often heave and brim alongside seals sunning on some pretty adjacent rocks while a variety of birds circle the horizon. It is so cool because of all the people to also explain all there is about where things specifically line up into nature with, and they just so help inform you about what actually gets looked at when one very comes for tours of those parts, and some tours I found also go right alongside researchers when they are in this work. That said, plan right or book well ahead to ensure everything for getting right into one is worked out! Bring all those optical instruments also!

Read our full review: Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Cruise Full Review and Details See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Book Sanctuary Cruise)

Choosing between the many things one can almost choose will prove rather difficult, while taking one could just really begin or actually prove to give all an extremely wonderful viewpoint along Santa Cruz itself.