Getting to UC Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz is located at the top of the Monterey Bay on the Central California coast, just south of San Francisco. Getting here is easy since several major highways run to Santa Cruz and the San Francisco, San Jose, and Monterey International Airports are all nearby.
Maps of UC Santa Cruz
Use our campus map website to find locations on campus.
Directions to Santa Cruz
From Southern and Central California:
Take Route 101 north to Route 156 west to Route 1 north. Then follow Route 1 north to Santa Cruz.
From Northern California:
Take Route 5 south to Route 80 west to Route 680 south to Route 280 north. Then take Highway 17 south to Route 1 north to Santa Cruz.
From San Francisco Airport:
Take Route 101 south to Route 85 south to Highway 17 south to Route 1 north to Santa Cruz.
From San Jose Airport:
Take Route 880 south to Highway 17 south to Route 1 north to Santa Cruz.
From Monterey Airport:
Take Route 1 north to Santa Cruz.
Directions to Campus
Once you're in Santa Cruz on Route 1 north, follow the highway as it becomes Mission Street through town. Then turn right on Bay Street and follow it to the campus entrance.
How To Get To Airports and Other Places
Santa Cruz is within 90 minutes of three airports, Amtrak, and BART. The links to your left contain information about how to get to those travel hubs.
Rental Cars and Ridesharing
UCSC has a membership-based car rental program (Zipcar), and also subscribes to a private ridesharing service (Zimride).
Enterprise Rent-A-Car rents to students 18 years old and older and offers daily and partial day rates. 18-20 years old, reference account #UCSC18; over 21 reference account #UCSC21. PIN #UCS. Students must show their current UCSC ID to be eligible. A hold is placed on their credit card for the cost of the rental plus $200. Students who are 18-20 years old are required to show proof that they have fully transferrable car insurance that includes collision and liability coverage. You must call the local Santa Cruz Enterprise office at (831) 426-7799 to be eligible for this program. It is not available through the Enterprise online reservation system.
Travel Options to East Bay Cities
For East Bay cities including Fremont, Hayward, Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Richmond and Martinez transfer from the Highway 17 Express ($7) to a Capitol Corridor train ($12) when you arrive at the San Jose Diridon station, or transfer to VTA Route 181 buses ($5) to get to Fremont BART station. Link to Capitol Corridor train information. At the Fremont BART station trains are available to all other BART stations (changing trains may be necessary to get to some destinations). Cost: $1.95 to $7.50, depending on destination. The BART fare calculator is available at http://www.bart.gov/tickets/calculator/index.aspx. BART system information is available at http://www.bart.gov.
Travel Options to Peninsula Cities
At the San Jose Diridon station take a Northbound Line/San Francisco Caltrain to get to any of these peninsula cities: Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont, Hillsdale, San Mateo, Burlingame, Millbrae, San Bruno, South San Francisco and San Francisco. Cost: $3.75 to $13.75, depending on destination. The Caltrain fare chart is available at http://www.caltrain.com/Fares/farechart.html. The Caltrain system map is available at http://www.caltrain.com/stations/systemmap.html.
Amtrak
The Amtrak location nearest to UCSC is the San Jose Diridon Station, which is served by Santa Cruz Metro's Highway 17 Express bus. Amtrak offers a 15% discount to students age 17-25 with a valid student ID card.
For information about the program and reservations, please visit www.amtrak.com/student.