Aptos is a city in Santa Cruz County in California, in the Monterey Bay Area.

Get in

Seven miles south of Santa Cruz and seven miles north of Watsonville on Highway 1 (US-1). Exit State Park Drive, Rio del Mar Blvd. or Freedom Blvd.

Santa Cruz Metro buses offer service from Santa Cruz.

Get around

See

Do

  • 🌍 The Forest of Nisene Marks, Aptos Creek Road and Soquel Dr (4 mi. N of Aptos on Aptos Creek Road.), ☏ +1 831 763-7062. This state park is a beautiful, mossy area that used to be a logging site. It's great for hiking and mountain biking. Although most people don't know this, it is the site of the 1989 Loma Prieta quake epicenter. $6 parking fee. 
  • 🌍 Seacliff State Beach, State Park Dr (Exit at State Park Drive from Hwy 1 in Aptos.), ☏ +1 831 685-6442. This beach can get crowded in the summer, but has some nice walks, a little visitors' center, and a striking centerpiece: the Palo Alto, a concrete ship with a strange history. It rots away in the water but is fascinating in a melancholy way. Read about it in the center if it's open when you're there (call ahead due to state budget cuts). Parking fee, unless you are creative and careful regarding street parking. 

Buy

Watercolor postcards of the Palo Alto at the Seacliff visitors' center.

Eat

Sleep

Go next

Routes through Aptos
Santa Cruz ← Capitola ←  N  S  → Watsonville → Monterey


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