State Scenic Highway 9 9
State Scenic Highway 9 is a State Scenic Byway in California. Within California it covers roughly 40 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along State Scenic Highway 9 with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
State Scenic Highway 9 winds 35 miles through the Santa Cruz Mountains, from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos via the redwood-lined Saratoga Gap. Rather than the most direct route between the two towns, it's deliberately the scenic one, following the San Lorenzo Valley through dense stands of coast redwood before climbing to the gap and descending into the Santa Clara Valley. The Montalvo Arts Center, a historic estate with gardens, redwoods, and rotating art installations, sits just off the highway in the Saratoga foothills, and the Long Ridge Sempervirens Vista Point offers a pull-off view over the San Lorenzo River basin near the Highway 35 junction. Narrow, tree-tunneled, and constantly curving, the road is a favorite of recreational motorcyclists and cyclists as well as drivers, dotted with small parks, coffee shops, and roadside stands the entire way. It's one of the most consistently winding state highways in the Bay Area, entirely different in character from the valley freeways it connects.
- Santa Cruz to Los Gatos
- 35 miles
- Saratoga Gap
- San Lorenzo Valley redwoods
- Montalvo Arts Center
- popular motorcycling road
Plan a drive on State Scenic Highway 9 →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along State Scenic Highway 9
3 campgrounds and RV parks sit within about 5 miles of State Scenic Highway 9.
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