Capitola is bestowed with a craggy coastline that breaks into a wide beach with a sumptuous view of the Monterey Bay. Indeed, the site was so popular that a massive hotel once stood sentinel on the bluffs. Today, visitors are drawn instead to smaller inns, private beach homes leased out for the summer season, or to the famed Capitola Venetian, a pastel-hued landmark that reportedly was the first condominium in California.

The town naturally resembles an amphitheater with dramatic cliffs dotted with Victorian-style beach homes, a center village valley bordered by the ocean, decorated with the Soquel river and accented with a tall train trestle as artistic as a Vermont covered bridge.

Capitola Village offers numerous craft galleries, boutiques, and casual little restaurants ideal for family dining. For this small village, dining choices are pretty varied from great hamburgers, to Mexican food, Indian cuisine, and seafood. There is night time entertainment at some of the establishments in the village. Just up the river, the Shadowbrook restaurant has a tram you can take down the hillside to their front door.

The annual Begonia Festival takes place in Capitola, filling Soquel Creek with flower-draped floats created by local competitors. The sand castle contest is a must-see. And the annual Dog Costume Parade is fun for the whole family. In fact if you want to be a part of these town festivities, book your accommodations early, because the town is packed with merry witnesses to natures blooms.

Cliff Crest B&B, Santa Cruz
Inn is a beautiful Queen Anne Victorian in the historic Beach Hill area of Santa Cruz, two and a half blocks from the ocean.