Address: San Jose Ave and Esplanade Capitola, Ca. 95010
Capitola Beach is about 1 hour and 30 minutes from San Francisco, California via I-280 South, Ca-17 South (Santa Cruz), and Ca-1 South (Watsonville). You can also take Hwy-1 to Santa Cruz which is a scenic route. Ca-17 towards Santa Cruz has a lot of uphill and downhill and is a very winding road. Capitola Beach is known as the oldest beach resort on the West Coast and it is part of Santa Cruz County. It is also famous for the colorfully painted adobe houses by the beach. Capitola Beach is good for sunbathing, surfing, fishing, volleyball, birdwatching or just relaxing on the beach.
We arrived in Capitola Beach at around 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday and had a hard time looking for parking in front of the beach. So, we end up parking at an expensive parking lot that we paid a $40 fee for all day. The parking lot was very close to the beach and behind the Britannia Arms Pub and Restaurant. Most of the parking spaces in the area were metered street parking for $1.50 per hour with a 3 hours time limit but very hard to find parking, especially on a sunny day. We were hungry and decided to eat breakfast at Britannia Arms Pub and Restaurant. We were seated outside with the view of the ocean and ordered a Traditional British breakfast, Veggie scrambled eggs, and All American breakfast. There were a lot of nice restaurants along the beach (esplanade street) with a view of the ocean such as the Margaritaville, The Sand Bar, Tacos Moreno, and many more.
There was a bridge that we walked at and end up being at the Capitola Venetian Hotel. The hotel rooms were situated close to the famous colorful adobe painted house. A few minutes away from the Capitola Venetian Hotel is the Capitola Wharf. We walked, enjoyed the ocean view, and took pictures at the Wharf. There is a nice restaurant at the end of the Wharf called “Wharf House” with tables set up outside and an amazing view of the ocean. We also noticed that there were fishing boat rentals close to the restaurant.
On our way back to the parking lot, we made a stop at the Capitola Seashells store and bought some cute souvenirs. My daughter craved for some ice cream on a warm sunny day and we end up buying a cookies n’ cream ice cream and a shaved iced drink at Souza’s which we recommend.
Overall, we enjoyed our family day walking around Capitola Beach and took a few pictures of the famous Capitola colorful painted adobe house and played on the beach. We also saw a few surfers on the east side of the beach near the rocks riding the waves and a small lagoon near the bridge that is good for little kids to play in the water.
Tips: There are clean public restrooms with a shower area close to the beach and most of the visitors were wearing a facemask due to Covid restrictions. Try to take Hwy-1 towards Halfmoon Bay on your way back to San Francisco. It is a very beautiful, relaxing scenic route with grassy fields full of beautiful colorful wildflowers and the famous Pigeon Point Lighthouse.
Let me know if you have any questions or what you think about Capitola Beach after your visit in the comments below. And kindly share our family travel blog site with your friends and family. Or even include our travel blog website address when you post your pictures on social media. Have fun and stay safe. Thank you.