Santa Cruz Bucket List

10/02/2026

SANTA CRUZ FALL BUCKET LIST 2: Go apple picking! 🍎

Apple-picking season is here, but not for long! Luz del Valle’s U-Pick orchard is open now through roughly mid-October, so this is one fall bucket list item you’ll want to check off soon. 🍂

Luz Del Valle Ranch grows more than 20 varieties of apples, including familiar favorites and harder-to-find heirloom varieties. Right now is an especially good time to visit, with Fujis beginning to ripen in early October. 🍎

SAVE THIS GUIDE ↓

📍 Luz del Valle | Corralitos
🍎 U-Pick through roughly mid-October
🎟️ $10 per adult + $10 per child
🍏 Price Includes 1 lb of apples per person
🚗 Parking: $2.50
👜 Bring your own reusable bag
🧺 Bring your own food + make it a picnic
🐴 Meet the ranch’s Arabian horses + feed them apples
🐶 Dogs are welcome
⏰ Timed entry with a maximum of 15 people in the orchard at once

📌 SAVE this for your October bucket list before apple-picking season ends!

Who are you taking apple picking? Send this to your fall adventure buddy! 🍂

SantaCruzBucketlist

09/24/2026

Santa Cruz Fall Bucket List #1: Pick Your Own Dahlias 🌸

We’re kicking off our new Fall Bucket List series with one of the most colorful ways to celebrate the season: wandering rows of dahlias and picking your own bouquet at Beeline Blooms in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

🌸 Beeline Blooms |
📍Ben Lomond

Started in 2022 after the CZU Lightning Complex Fire, Beeline Blooms was created to bring color and joy back to the mountain community. Today, you can wander their rainbow rows on a Dahlia Safari, find your favorite blooms, and cut a gorgeous bouquet to take home.

💐 You-Pick Bouquet: $30
Includes your farm visit, cutting instructions, flowers + a jar

🌼 Just want to wander the dahlias? Field visits are $10 for adults and free for kids.

🗓 Open Tuesdays, Thursdays + Sundays
⏰ 10am–noon
🎟 Sunday you-pick + weekend events require tickets
🌸 2026 season is currently estimated to run through October 15

Because blooms depend on the weather, always check before heading up the mountain for the latest hours and availability.

📌 Save this for your Santa Cruz fall bucket list 🍂

Would you pick your own bouquet? 💐

09/16/2026

Fall is in the air today in Santa Cruz County.

What do you think, is summer still here or has autumn officially arrived?

09/15/2026

09/06/2026

Best Beach Bites 🌊
🐝 Part 5: Busy Bees + Privates Beach

📍 Busy Bees | Busy Bees Cafe & Catering
Just a few blocks from the coast, Busy Bees is one of the best stops for grabbing breakfast or lunch before a beach day. Go for the breakfast burritos, viral biscuit sandwich, and can’t-miss cinnamon rolls, or pick up one of their fresh sandwiches or salads for an easy picnic by the water.

➡️ What to order:
🍯 Cinnamon roll, soft, gooey, and worth the stop on its own
🌯 Stinger Bee Burrito, a hearty breakfast burrito packed with carnitas
🍳 Biscuit sandwich, the viral order that lives up to the hype
🥪 Bountiful Turkey, a stacked sandwich that travels perfectly to the beach
🥗 Farmers Market Salad, fresh, colorful, and ideal for a lighter lunch

Grab it to-go, head down 41st Avenue toward the water, and you’re only minutes from one of our favorite hidden-gem beaches.

📍 Privates Beach / Opal Cliffs Park
Picnic in the shade at the blufftop park, or take the stairs down to the sand for sweeping cliff views with Capitola in the distance. Go at low tide for the most room to spread out. Parking is limited in the surrounding residential neighborhood, so park only where permitted and be respectful of neighbors.

📌 Save this for your next Santa Cruz beach day and send it to the person you’re splitting that cinnamon roll with.

08/30/2026

Sometimes the photos just speak for themselves. 🌲

And the redwoods have so much to share, if you’re willing to slow down long enough to listen.

What do you hear?

08/22/2026

Help us build Bridge 20 in Big Basin.

Santa Cruz Bucket List is partnering with Sempervirens Fund (Sempervirens Fund | Protecting Santa Cruz Mountains redwoods) to raise $5,000 to help rebuild a trail bridge in Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

After the 2020 CZU Fire, 22 trail crossings still need to be rebuilt. We’re helping fund one of them: Bridge 20 on the Timms Creek Loop.

We only have $1,000 left to raise.

With more than 60,000 people in this community, less than 2% of us donating just $1 would get us there.

That means small donations can add up to something real.

One day, we’ll be able to walk this trail, cross Bridge 20, and know our community helped make it possible. It will be a lasting investment in the future of Big Basin and in our ability to keep experiencing the redwoods we love.

The bridge will include a Santa Cruz Bucket List plaque and will be dedicated in loving memory of my brother.

Give what you can by September 18.

Donate through the link in our bio:
sempervirens.org/scbucketlist

05/29/2026

Historic Homes of Downtown Santa Cruz.

Take a walking tour around the neighborhoods around to see all of these beauties just within a few blocks of each other!

✨ Bucket List Tip ✨
For the highest density of historic homes, head to Walnut Avenue.

If you could choose any of these beautiful homes as your dream house in Santa Cruz, which one are you choosing?

05/19/2026

💟💜Coastal colors of Santa Cruz County💜💟

Where do you go in Santa Cruz County to experience the best blooms along the coast?