Trip Planner: USA / California / Santa Cruz / Mystery Spot

Mystery Spot, Santa Cruz

4.1

#6 of 70 in Things to do in Santa Cruz

Mysterious Site · Hidden Gem · Tourist Spot

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Enjoy an afternoon of illusions at Mystery Spot, where it appears the laws of gravity and physics do not apply. Watch water flow backward and people stand sideways. Surveyors discovered the spot in 1939, and visitors were first invited to experience the wonder in 1940. After your topsy-turvy experience inside the house, get your footing on the hiking trail and admire the redwoods. It's wise to book tickets far in advance online or by phone. Parking is available for an additional fee. Using our world travel planner, Santa Cruz attractions like Mystery Spot can form part of a personalized travel itinerary.

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Mystery Spot reviews

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TripAdvisor traveler rating

1,146 reviews

Google

4.5

By Joette G

A fun one time experience.,I would only go again if I had done school aged children to bring with us. I did get a bit nauseous as they said could happen but I wasn’t surprised since I get car sick...

A fun one time experience.,I would only go again if I had done school aged children to bring with us. I did get a bit nauseous as they said could happen but I wasn’t surprised since I get car sick... more »
By Cranean

Beautiful setting in the red wood forest to see a freak of nature. Didn’t expect it to be real, but definitely felt the gravity pull

Beautiful setting in the red wood forest to see a freak of nature. Didn’t expect it to be real, but definitely felt the gravity pull more »

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Google

By Tye Bratton

Went here 10/22 with my family. We all really enjoyed ourselves! There is a bit of a steep climb up the hill, most of which is handicapped accessible. Make reservations ahead of time as they get quite busy. They are open every day of the year. The site hasn’t changed much and really emphasize the strange physics of the place. They have a cute little gift shop, some vending machine snacks, clean restrooms, and a snack bar when they are really busy. Their parking lot can handle a tour bus or RVs and they had plenty of parking.

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By Nes Borne

Tour guide makes a TON of difference, since there are no self tour, the people that run this had to think of a creative way to make this from a meh experience to a wonderful and interesting one. Their script is spot on and their ability to get the audience involved is great, from getting you warmed up to comfortable in participating. Only thing is if they can reduce the party size so everyone can truly experience the “spot” and get to take photos too. I still give it a 5 star just for the humor and creativity of the whole program,

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