Bay Area Day Trip
Capitola, California Travel Itinerary & Guide
1 Day in Capitola, California USA
Capitola is a perfect day trip from San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area!
Day 1:
Start your experience right from San Francisco. Just cruise down the Cabrillo Highway (Highway 1) with beautiful views of the California coast. (You can ignore Google Maps for most of the journey as it will try and take you on an inland route that’s faster but not scenic.)
When you arrive in Capitola Village, parking is a little scarce along the street but there is a large lot with 3 hour parking behind City Hall at 420 Capitola Avenue.
Left Coast Sausage Worx
Reward yourself for finding parking with an incredible hotdog from the Left Coast Sausage Worx. We enjoyed the: Left Coast Connection: “ The house specialty includes avocado, bacon bits, crumbled Doritos® Cool Ranch chips, Secret Sauce!!” Chicago Dog: “TRUE Chicago style dog, proudly serving Vienna Beef Franks with neon green relish, yellow mustard, chopped onions, dill pickle spear, two tomato wedges and two sport peppers on a poppy seed bun!! Don’t forget a dash of celery salt.”
The Left Coast Connection was our favorite but the Chicago Dog was extremely refreshing with the tomatoes, dill, peppers, and pickles. We ended up doing sausage instead of a hotdog but I think we should have stuck with a hotdog.
Take your hotdog from the stand and stroll down to the beach to enjoy it on a bench or along the boardwalk.
Mr. Toots Coffeehouse
We we’re dragging a little from the night before so needed a bit of a pick me up. We walked north on Esplanade passing Zeldas, Pizza My Heart, until we found Mr. Toots Coffeehouse located above Margaritaville. Mr. Toots staff is extremely kind and welcoming (a lot of coffee houses feel very pretentious-but if you’re not a coffee aficionado feel free to ask questions and learn about all of the different types of drinks. Also, they’re very kind to people from out of town and will give you great tips about Capitola). If you’re lucky, you can snag a seat on their balcony looking out at the water! We ended up taking our coffee on the walk with us.
Capitola Houses
We walked north on Esplande until we turned left on Stockton Ave.. Once you cross over the water (Soquel Creek) there will be a staircase to your left, head down those to walk through the vibrant and beautifully colored vacation homes. Take a walk on the sand, watch some great volleyball, and get beautiful shots of the iconic Capitola houses.
Capitola Wharf
Take a walk under the pier (some really great shots here!) and then go up the staircase to get some more great shots and enjoy the beautiful day. Pro tip there are some public restrooms at the end of the pier.
Capitola Beach
We had a little prep at this point and brought a picnic basket with a nice bottle and snacks to enjoy on the sand with the sunset. The sun set a little north so it was hard to actually see because of the cliffs but the sky was decorated with beautiful colors. I really recommend doing this! (Be sure to bring a jacket!)
Lillian's Italian Kitchen
Lillian’s Italian Kitchen was an excellent surprise with a warm atmosphere and fantastic Italian food. We arrived around 5 pm on a Saturday and with the size of the restaurant thought that we would be seated right away but it was a hour wait. Luckily we were able to snag a seat at the bar, but I would call and inquire about reservations if you can.
Again, the food was terrific. We shared a bottle of the house red and ordered:
Arancini: Appetizer that is 3 cheese stuffed risotto balls served in marinara sauce.
Black Truffle Stuffed Gnocchi with Tomato Cream sauce.
Sunday Gravy with penne pasta and an added meatball
I would recommend all three of these dishes, especially the arancini. I think everyone at the bar ordered this.
