You can find this mural outside Old School Shoes on Pacific Avenue.

Santa Cruz is the Perfect Weekend Getaway Destination

Santa Cruz is one of those perfect California beach towns that is often filled with sunshine and warm weather. Our trip was in mid December so we did have to put on an extra layer of warmth, but you could still feel all those California Dreamin’ vibes.

One of the most notable charms of Santa Cruz is the bounty of color and public art. You seriously can’t turn a corner without seeing a rainbow or surfer cool mural. Which made it even more fitting for us to road trip in our custom Art Gig by GIG Car Share painted by artist Ricky Watts.

All the Details You Need to Know About Driving an Electric Vehicle to Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is all about green initiatives and they’ve got an awesome infrastructure built-in to the city for EV drivers.

Highway 1 is a scenic drive and you can easily make it to Santa Cruz on one charge from San Francisco. We drove from Sacramento to Santa Cruz, with a pit stop at the New Leaf Shopping Center in Half Moon Bay to charge. It’s one of our favorite places to stop and charge up because they have Thrifty’s Ice Cream, my husband’s favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican tacos and a healthy buffet inside New Leaf. It makes the hour of charging fly by!

If you’re home based out of the San Francisco Bay Area or Sacramento, GIG Car Share is an excellent option for road trips around California. The perks of driving a budget-friendly Gig car rental includes no out of pocket expenses for your fuel or insurance, and parking is free (within the HomeZone).

You can also check out our Gig EV road trip to Carmel-by-the-Sea!

Charging Your EV in Santa Cruz

Although your charging fees are covered when you're driving with Gig, the city of Santa Cruz offers multiple charging stations that are free of charge.

3 of these charging stations are located at the Soquel/Front garage.
3 charging stations at River/Front garage inside Lot 10.
2 stations located in Pearl Alley at Lot 8.
2 at South Pacific Avenue inside Lot 12.
One at Beach Hill, Lot 18.

Along with all those charging stations listed above, there’s also charging stations conveniently located in some of the central shopping centers around Santa Cruz.

During our trip we used the EV Go charging station inside the Whole Foods parking lot on Soquel Ave. Also inside the same center is a quirky Goodwill bookstore filled with vintage books. I collect old-school California travel books and I found some gems for my collection - and they were only a dollar each!

A second preferred option for EV drivers is the ChargePoint Charging Station in the Santa Cruz New Leaf shopping center on Fair Ave. It’s walking distance to some of my favorite shops and restaurants - and a beer garden!

Remember - You can always check Google’s map app to see in real-time if there's a station available for charging.

Santa Cruz Hotels that Have Built-In EV Charging Stations

Lastly, one of the easiest ways to keep your electric vehicle charged while traveling is by booking a hotel that provides on-site charging. I love Booking.com because you can easily filter to hotels with EV charging stations, just look under the “facilities” filter. This way you can charge your car while you enjoy relaxing in your downtime.

These below three Santa Cruz hotels have on-site EV charging:

Plan Your Itinerary for Santa Cruz

Restaurants

Snap Taco - A whimsical and colorful modern taqueria.

West End Tap and Kitchen - A great choice for beer lovers!

Hula's Island Grill - Hawaiian food with a twist + fruity tiki cocktails.

Bistro One Twelve at the Tannery - Located inside the Santa Cruz Tannery Arts Center, they serve an upscale seasonal menu from locally sourced ingredients.