Natural Bridges State Beach — Attraction in Santa Cruz

Natural Bridges State Marine Reserve

What an amazing place! One of my childhood favorites. I remember coming here for field trips and thinking how amazing it is to have this so close at our finger tips. Being a local Realtor in the area, I wanted to start posting some helpful insights and photos of the local places to explore. The best of all is that they are free, unless you want to pay to use the park for the day. However, as a local I park outside and walk in to enjoy all the goodies this place has to offer.

If you love the beach and the outdoors, you’ll most likely end up in Santa Cruz. Natural bridges is located on the west side of Santa Cruz, at the end of the beautiful west cliff drive and Swanton Blvd.

They are a park and a beach with public access to tide pools. It is best to go during low tide to really see what this place has to offer: star fish, shore crabs, sea anemones, and other colorful ocean life. Moore Creek flows through the park.

This lovely place is also the home to the Monarch Butterflies. They have a store and a museum in the park with some history on the animals and these butterflies. It is a great place to take your kids and family to get some fresh air and beautiful views.

Have a...

Picturesque and the sunsets are nice. The sand is full of trash and sharp sticks, good luck walking. Really needs to be cleaned up, especially for a pay to park place.

The 30 minute viewing point gets crowded quick, but is a great spot for viewing the sunset. Until the very rude and condescending park police shows up. Looking at you, Female officer with the short blonde hair. You came in and told everyone to move, perfect no issue with that. You watched us climb off the top of our vehicle and get in. Before I can even start the vehicle you tap on our passenger window and again reiterate that we have to move. I told you yes, we know and started the jeep and put seatbelts on. Cars backed up and two vehicles pulling out in front of us, meanwhile YOU parked your cruiser in the middle of the pathway blocking traffic. You then come back and have us put our window down, again, and with your condenscending voice tell me "you can pull forward"

No. No I can't there is literally a truck in front of me and your cruiser off the front right corner of my vehicle.

Perhaps you should have an ounce of courtesy and situational awareness before you wear a badge. Way...

A nice, quiet beach on the Westside of Santa Cruz!

There is a small parking lot just past the gate, which is great for taking in the view or having a quick meal. If you plan on staying for the day or a few hours, there is a paid parking lot that you can use, or street parking heading towards the beach on Swanton Blvd. During the summer, parking on the street will be fairly hard to find, so prepare to pay a $10 parking fee (which supports the beach and employees who work there and maintain the land).

North on the beach, you can find some tide pools, which are great for taking photographs (I've seen wedding, graduation, and family photography there), but be careful in case a wave splashes up and slippery rocks!

There are also a couple of trails at this beach known as the Natural Bridges Monarch Trails, where sometimes you'll find Monarch butterflies on their migration path, and if you're lucky, you'll spot a few around Santa Cruz as well! Birds frequently hang out on the rocks as well if you're into birdwatching, and depending on the tides, you'll spot some...