Visitors’ Guide: Saratoga and the Santa Cruz Mountains

Overview

Historic view of Village from 5th Street
(courtesy of Saratoga History Museum)

Saratoga was incorporated in 1956, but its colorful history took root centuries earlier when the Ohlone Indians journeyed from San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean via a pass in the Santa Cruz Mountains that began near the town’s Big Basin Way. Spanish missionaries followed suit in the 1770s, and Saratoga saw its first glimpse of industry in the mid-1800s with a logging boom. Timber gave way to the fruit orchards that were eventually replaced with vineyards at the dawn of the 20th Century.

Montalvo Arts Center
(courtesy of Montalvo Arts Center)

Today, Saratoga is a pristine community of 30,000 inhabitants, and brimming with historical and cultural enrichment. Whether it is quiet country lanes, quaint shops, plush city parks, art galleries, scenic hiking trails, or award-winning wineries, restaurants and inns, “the gateway to the Santa Cruz Mountains” has something for everyone.