Travel information
Santa Cruz is close to the San Francisco Bay Area, about 45 minutes drive west of San Jose and 1.5 hour drive south of San Francisco.
Travel by car
Information on travel to the UCSC campus from any location in the Bay area by car can be found on this UCSC website.
Travel by train
Unfortunately, there is no train station in Santa Cruz.
Travel by bus
Travel to Santa Cruz by bus is not particularly recommended. However, if this is your only option, note that there are a few possibilities.
- Greyhound: Santa Cruz has a greyhound terminal, with connections to San Jose and Salinas (as well as other cities in the Bay Area)
- Santa Cruz Metro Buses: the local city buses connect to the San Jose Caltrain station. See the 17 express bus route for detail.
Travel by air
To get to Santa Cruz from any US or international destination, the easiest way is to fly to one of the Bay Area airport, and complete the journey by car rental, airporter or (if necessary) public transport. There are 4 nearby airports. San Francisco is the largest international airport, and is located 1h20 minutes away from Santa Cruz. There are also smaller but well-connected airports, in Oakland (1h30 minutes away from SC), San Jose (45 minutes away from SC) and Monterey (45 minutes away from SC).
Information on travel to and from Santa Cruz from these airports can be found on the UCSC transportation page. This link contains information on public transport when available as well as airport shuttles. All airport shuttle rides should be booked in advance - there is no scheduled ride from any of the airports to Santa Cruz. Note that aside from the airporters listed on that linked page, there is also a new, cheaper airporter to and from Santa Cruz called "The Santa Cruz Aiport Flyer". We recommend it as it is about 1/2 the price of other companies.