Most beach houses give you one thing to do. This stretch of coast gives you a different day every day of the week, and you can be back on the deck by sunset.
Start where you’re standing. Manresa State Beach is directly below the house, and you can walk it for miles in either direction without meeting a crowd. Surf it, boogie board it, or build a fire on it in the evening. Fifteen minutes north puts you in Capitola, California’s oldest seaside town, with its painted houses, its wharf and enough restaurants to fill a week. Twenty minutes gets you to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and the roller coasters. Forty minutes south is Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Carmel-by-the-Sea sits just past it.
