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Getting to Santa Cruz and My Neighborhood

Directions

From San Francisco/San Francisco International Airport

From Berkeley/Oakland/San Jose/San Jose Airport

From Hwy. 17 southbound

From points south

From Hwy. 1 northbound

From Hwy. 1 southbound

From Morrissey Blvd.

From downtown

Maps

Public transportation

Airlines

Directions

From San Francisco/San Francisco International Airport

Take I-280 south. From the airport, you first need to take I-101 north briefly to I-380 west briefly to I-280 south.
Exit on and take Hwy. 85 south. (If you miss this exit, you will eventually come upon Hwy. 17 via a slightly longer route, so you can continue with the next direction.)
Exit on and take Hwy. 17 south over the Santa Cruz mountains.
(Continue with directions From Hwy. 17 southbound.)

Scenic alternative (generally a longer way to go, unless there is heavy traffic the other way--which happens often):

From I-280 south, exit on and take Hwy. 92 west all the way to Half Moon Bay.
At the end of Hwy. 92, make a left on to Hwy. 1 south.
(Continue with directions From Hwy. 1 southbound.)

From Berkeley/Oakland/San Jose/San Jose Airport

Take I-880 south. From the airport, leave by Airport Blvd. to Coleman Ave. Make a left onto Coleman Ave., and a quick right exit for I-880 south.
I-880 south becomes Hwy. 17 south, which you take over the Santa Cruz mountains.
(Continue with directions From Hwy. 17 southbound.)

From Hwy. 17 southbound

To downtown:

Exit on and take Ocean St. (you can only take it south from here).
Make a right at the Water St., Soquel Ave., or Broadway intersections. Each of these roads heads pretty much right downtown.

To my neighborhood:

Exit on and take Hwy. 1 south.
Exit on Morrissey Blvd. (first exit).
Make left at Stop and right on Morrissey Blvd.
(Continue with directions From Morrissey Blvd.)

From points south

Get yourself over to Hwy. 1 northbound.

(Continue with directions From Hwy. 1 northbound.)

From Hwy. 1 northbound

To downtown:

Stay on Hwy. 1 until it dumps you on to Hwy. 17 south (do not exit on Hwy. 17 north!).
(Continue with directions From Hwy. 17 southbound.)

To my neighborhood:

Exit on and take Morrissey Blvd. (Bear left on exit ramp and go over highway.)
(Continue with directions From Morrissey Blvd.)

From Hwy. 1 southbound

Hwy. 1 north of Santa Cruz becomes a local roadway (also known as Mission St.) when it comes to the first traffic light.
Continue on two more lights and make a right on Laurel St.***

To downtown:

Take Laurel St. to downtown.

To my neighborhood:

Take Laurel St. passed Ocean St., where it becomes Broadway.
When Broadway ends, make a right on Frederick St.

From Morrissey Blvd.

To my neighborhood:

Take Morrissey Blvd. south to the light.
Make a left on Soquel Ave.
At the first light, make a right on Frederick St.

From Downtown

To my neighborhood:

Take Laurel St. or Broadway east (toward Capitola). (Laurel St. becomes Broadway when it crosses Ocean St.)
When Broadway ends, make a right on Frederick St.

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Maps

These might help, although they are a wee tad hard to read. They came from MapQuest, where you can get maps centered around just about any street address.

With most browsers, you can print these maps without printing the entire page. For Netscape Navigator, right click the image, select "View image," and print it. For Internet Explorer, right click the image, select "Copy," paste the image into a capable editor, and print it.

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Public transportation

Real options, but they generally take a long time.

From San Francisco Bay area and South Bay:

Greyhound. Leaves from most sizeable cities and many towns. Makes billions of stops. Drops at the Santa Cruz Metro Center.
Green Tortoise. Leaves from San Francisco. Fun, but very infrequent because Santa Cruz is a stop on the Los Angeles run. Drops on the Westside of Santa Cruz (but that's probably flexible).
Train and bus combos. Various local public transportation options can link you to Santa Cruz from many places in the Bay and South Bay areas. Really comprehensive information for doing the needed research is available at Bay Area Transit Information, including schedules and phone numbers.

From San Francisco and San Jose International airports:

Santa Cruz Airporter. Door to door and pretty frequent. About $35 (SF) and $25 (SJ) one way. (800) 497-4997.
Early Bird Airport Shuttle. About $50, but additional members of your party ride free or for only a little more. (408) 462-3933.
ABC Transportation. About $60, but additional members of your party ride free or for only a little more. (408) 464-8893 or (800) 734-4313.

Within Santa Cruz:

Santa Cruz public bus system. Good, county-wide bus system.

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Airlines

See the Public transportation section for bus and van service from the big airports.

San Francisco International Airport
San Jose International Airport
Monterey Peninsula Airport
Watsonville Municipal Airport

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