Santa Cruz Harbor

They literally shoehorn you into spaces, from line to line, zero space between sites. It's a blacktop parking lot with hookups. All sites are back in, with the front of the RV facing the marina. All spaces have a water view. The bike paths around Santa Cruz are the best part of staying at the RV park. If you have bikes, you'll accept the small campsites and make due. The parking spaces face north, but behind the space to the south are huge trees, blocking satellite reception. You see lots of homeless people walking the streets, but we never felt unsafe in the RV park, even though it's not gated. If you tow a toad, it will take up ALL the space in your site along side of the RV to put out your chairs to relax outside. It was so tight we could barely get the RV door open because the car (Honda CRV) was so close. They provide a table that sits next to the RV too, at the back of the space, using precious space along side the RV. It's just too tight for us to return, but the location and access to bike trails to get around is great. It's too bad they didn't make the spaces about 3' wider. That would have made things more tolerable. I will forever refer to this campground as Sardine RV Park, because ;you're cramped in each space like sardines in a can. Pretty tight for our 32' motorhome with 2 slides.

As others have said, this is not camping. You are in the city, right next to the harbor on pavement but it's so very convenient to explore Santa Cruz. It does not look very special when you first pull in, just a parking lot off to the side, but once you're set up and enjoying the relaxation of SC, it's awesome. I called 2 days prior while in the redwoods and left VM. I tried several times on the way down to get in touch with hosts but was unsuccessful. Had a fright when we pulled in and the sign said full but Mark(?) the camp host had reserved our spot! So very happy and appreciative since we had been on the road all day. We had the best site, at the end with no neighbors to our left, only a small wooded area with picnic table. Sites were clean, host was awesome, he gave us a map and explained the water taxi schedule. Very close to beach, watched the boats come and go, grabbed an Uber to boardwalk and restaurants. Overall very nice RV park. My only issues was (1) - due to the direction you parked, you are blasted with sun from about 2pm until 7ish as it sets. Our canopy did nothing since it was not shining from overhead. Next time will bring tarp to hang on the front portion of our canopy to help keep the glare out of our eyes. (2) - it's a working marina, we were woken up at 730am by a crane and trucks driving by. It we are every in SC again with the RV, we'll definitely stay here.

10 spots all with full hookups within walking distance tosome nice spots in Santa Cruz. Sites accommodate small to biggest rigs with room to park another vehicle next to your RV. Well lit and super safe area of the harbor. Great spot to go on walks:10 minutes to the beach and restaurants, 45 minutes to downtown and 50 minutes to the boardwalk.
There are no restrooms or showers for the RV guests.

This is a great getaway. I wouldn’t classify this as camping, but more like hooking up the RV away from home with great food in easy walking distance. And what could be better than walking around the Santa Cruz harbor looking at the boats, strolling to the lighthouse or beaches or up in Aranas Gulch.
And to top it off, Mark the manager is a great asset if you aren’t familiar with the area.

This is our second time staying at this "campground", and I would potentially stay here again ... maybe. This place is really convenient if exploring Santa Cruz is the goal, be it by foot, bike, or car. Urban trails are abundant and it's easy to get a good fix of city convenience.

On the other hand, sites are extremely tight/narrow - I couldn't fully open my truck doors. If my rig had slide outs, I'm not sure I could have fit my truck in the site itself.

Expect to pay a premium to stay here; at least $52/night does get you full hook-ups.

Both voice and data are good (AT&T & Verizon); we had no issues working remotely from the harbor.