Best routes from SF to Santa Cruz and..? (Los Angeles, San Jose: park, drive)

[skyway31]

Santa Cruz to the 5 heading South? I plan to head down to Santa Cruz from SF tommorow morning. What is the best route thinking in terms of both ease and scenerey? I don't mind taking a little bit longer for a more scenic route, but not a lot longer (hence I'm thinking the 1 will not be ideal).

From Santa Cruz, I'm looking to head back down to L.A. Is there a feasible way to head east and connect with the 5 without having to head back up to San Jose? Thanks.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

152. From Santa Cruz, you'd head to Watsonville. From there, you could take the Pajaro River Road (129 I believe) to 101 N, then jog over to 152 (East) from there. Alternate route would be taking 1 all the way down to 156 then over to 101 N.

To skip 5 entirely and go via 101 instead, simply take 1 to 183, then cut down to 101 S.

[Cassino]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

To skip 5 entirely and go via 101 instead, simply take 1 to 183, then cut down to 101 S.

That is the route I would take. Very scenic and quite an enjoyable drive in my opinion.

[sonarrat]

To get to Santa Cruz, take 280 to 85 and 17. I don't like stretch of 152 west of 101, it's like a two-lane goat path with no divider. 17 is no walk in the park either (watch out for the Valley Surprise), but at least no one has been killed on it in recent memory.

To get back to I-5 though, 152 is the least bad option. They just fixed a legendary bottleneck at the 152/156 interchange so it's much easier to get back to Los Angeles now.