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Venue

!!Con 2024 will be held outdoors (!!), on August 24th and 25th, in the courtyard of the Baskin School of Engineering, on the campus of UC Santa Cruz, in sunny and scenic Santa Cruz, California, USA. Santa Cruz is a joy of coastal California redwoods, about an hour’s drive from the bustle of Silicon Valley.

Courtyard

It will be hot and sunny outside! We strongly recommend bringing your own refillable water bottle (we’ll have water available at the venue, too), sunscreen, sunglasses, and possibly an umbrella or a small personal fan.

The courtyard itself will be sunny. If you need to take a break from the heat, there are shady areas surrounding the courtyard, and a shady redwood forest is a two-minute walk away.

Here are some pictures of the courtyard. Imagine the stage (from which speakers will present) set up against the building on the right, against the bike racks, and lots of chairs in the middle.

Image of the courtyard. It's sunny. To the right are bike racks.

Image of the courtyard from the balcony. The balcony has chairs and half sun cover.

Getting to Santa Cruz and to Baskin Engineering

Use “Jack Baskin Engineering” as your destination on Google Maps or your mapping app of choice.

By car from the Bay Area

The best way to get to Santa Cruz from most of the Peninsula is by way of CA-17, which takes you from CA-85 through the Santa Cruz mountains into the city. Please make sure you leave sufficiently early, as CA-17 gets heavy traffic southbound on weekends. CA-17 can also present adverse conditions, including car crashes, sometimes even leading to closure of the highway and long delays. We don’t anticipate bad weather, but even so, please make sure to drive carefully and check the local news for transit conditions.

Another option, if coming from San Francisco, is to drive down by way of Half Moon Bay on CA-1, which would take about an hour and a half without traffic.

On weekends, you can park without a permit for free in many places on the UC Santa Cruz campus, including in the Core West parking structure near Baskin Engineering.

See also: Directions to the Baskin School of Engineering (but ignore the part about purchasing a parking permit, since you won’t need it on the weekend!)

By air

The best options for getting in and out of the Bay Area by air are either through San Francisco (SFO), or through San Jose (SJC). There are tradeoffs for each; there are more flights in and out of SFO, but SJC is about half an hour to an hour closer to Santa Cruz. Both airports have shuttle options to Santa Cruz, if you don’t wish to rent a car.

By public transit

Santa Cruz is somewhat remote and the public transit options are limited, but getting there without driving or flying is possible!

The Highway 17 Express bus runs between Santa Cruz and San Jose Diridon Station. San Jose Diridon Station is the nearest Amtrak/Caltrain station to Santa Cruz.

If you’re planning to take public transit to, from, or around Santa Cruz, consider using the Santa Cruz Metro app for iOS and Android phones. You can add a credit card to the app, buy tickets in advance, and then activate them just before boarding. It’s $2 for a regular adult 1-ride fare around town, and $7 for the Highway 17 Express that goes between San Jose (Diridon Station) and Santa Cruz. The latter is the most economical way to get to Santa Cruz from San Jose, short of bumming a ride off a friend.