Cowell Beach — Attraction in Santa Cruz

The quintessential Santa Cruz beach. Activities here range from sunbathing, walking along the waves on the long flat beach, collecting seashells, watching surfers, or braving the cold water to swim. The length of the beach varies significantly with tide, but the side near the wharf is always there (unless it's the rainy season when there's a large river that runs through it). There can sometimes be a lot of stinky seaweed on the beach too, but that's part of the experience. Parking is also hard because there are so many tourist attractions around, but there's a shuttle that brings people from the downtown parking garage to the beach during the summer, so...

Nice beach for family, especially in hot summer. Windy and a little bit chilly when walking and watching sea lion on the bridge. You have to walk to the end of the bridge to watch the sea lions. It is hard to find a place for parking in the afternoon. You may try street parking or on the bridge with $3 for 3 hours, $4 within 4 hours. A little bit crowded at weekend, but you can find a place to play with less people along the long beach. Recommend the beach on the right side of the bridge, there is a quick shower facility next to the...

This is one of the twin downtown santa cruz beaches separated from each other by the wharf. Cowell beach is the one by the hotel, not the one by the boardwalk. It is a better beach for surfing, especially for people just beginning to learn how to surf-most surf classes start/end here. It's a fairly shallow and mellow although it does suffer from a fair amount of pollution-like an urban beach. It tends to be not quite as busy as the main beach farther down (the boardwalk one) and overall is an excellent place to just...