Pajaro Dunes Company and Resort

Had my wedding here on 9÷12÷15, what an awesome place! The 4 places we rented for all of the wedding party and families were fabulous. My wife and I couldn’t be more happier. The staff was friendly and facility was perfect. We are thinking about a future vacation here. We had our wedding at the Sandpiper Center which had everything we were looking for in a wedding venue. Sarah was outstanding she seems passionate and energetic about her job, I think she loves weddings! Anyways would recommend this place to anyone, our guests were blown away and some said they will be returning for vacation time here. Will post pictures when the photographer sends them.

This was our first visit to Pajaro Dunes and we had the most fabulous time! Our 2^nd story condo had an unobstructed view of the ocean from both the living room and bedroom. The condo was well-​appointed with beautiful furniture and fixtures, and great amenities including a washer and dryer!
Since October is part of the off-​season, the atmosphere was quiet, serene and perfect for relaxing. We practically had the whole beach to ourselves which was a real treat. The beach is very clean and just a short walk from the condos.
We chose to cook all of our meals instead of going out to eat, and found the kitchen to be well-​stocked with cookware and utensils. I thought it was awesome that they even had little carts available so we could load our groceries and take them up to the condo all at one time.
Pajaro Dunes is only two hours from home, but it felt like we were a world away. We’ll be sure to come back next year!

In the past, I would have rated Pajaro Dunes rentals as a five but this past weekend was very disappointing. We rented one of the four bedroom condos at Pelican Point. Unit 87 specifically. The unit itself was old but acceptably nice but the house smelled musty like mildew and at one point, it actually smelled like an Outhouse.
I believe this house has been vacant since everything was off the walls and only the picture hooks were up. The furniture was old and dirty. the pillows on the chairs were filthy and you didn’t want to really sit on anything in the unit. There was a wicker chest in the foyer that was filled with dirty sheets, blankets, etc. The closets had extra blankets and sheets stacked on the floors and looked dirty.
One of the dining chairs at the dining table had a back that would fall back if you sat back. We were fortunate that no one fell backwards. It almost appeared as though the rental company was using the house as storage for excess furniture. There was also what appeared to be a random square table with two chairs that matched nothing placed in the bar area. The bar chairs matched nothing.
The dishes, utensils and cookware were put away in the cabinets and dirty. The cheese grater was in the drawer with cheese dried on it. The coffee cups were in the cabinet with coffee rings… it wasn’t coffee stains, it was a ring that could have easily been washed off if they had been washed. The glasses had dirty fingerprints on them. The dish towels were old, dirty with stains and holes in them. Needless to say, we had to wash EVERYTHING before we used it.
The bathroom towels were all white, mismatched and it was obvious that something dirty had been wiped up with them as the face clothes were stained dark.
If it wasn’t for the beach itself, I would abandon my long rental history with Pajaro Dunes. I will just make sure that I don’t rent unit 87 again. Although I did hear that there are new owners for that unit…
So in the end, my father-​in-​law very generously left the housekeeping staff a tip in the envelope left that was soliciting a tip… but the housekeeping staff really need to have their hands slapped. We left that unit cleaner then when we arrived!
I have stayed in several other units around the complex that were very nice but this one unit really needs help…

Excellent accommodations! Memorial day weekend and a family reunion led us here. When we arrived there was a little snag with our rental being ready. People are only human and things happen. Management stepped in and made some calls and sure enough, all was made good and nobody was really put out.
There is a nice beach that extends several miles in either direction. Excellent for kite flying and shell collecting.

Fantastic location on the beach!
We had a great long weekend vacations here.
The condo was very cozy and well equipped, beach is fabulous, and the best part — the resort is right on the beach. You cannot beat that location.
There was an initial glitch with renting agreement through the web site, but the customer service was great, they stepped in and accommodated all our needs.

If it were possible for me to rate with fewer stars, I most definitely would. I’m writing this because no one should wake up during their Fourth of July vacation with a feeling of discouragement and hatred.
After arriving at the Dunes with no clear instructions and horribly marked houses, I received a fine for accidentally parking in the driveway of a vacant home. While trying to settle the dispute, I was told that my group was warned many times to move our cars and that the utmost effort was made to inform us of our wronged parking jobs. First, we were put on hold for 6 minutes so we hung up because of the ridiculous wait. They called again so two of our group members moved; however, I was at the beach. Immediately, when I returned, I moved my car to find a $ 50 ticket.
When trying to sort this out, I was led in circles. The front desk of the rental agency was informal and useless, calling me «dude» and telling me they couldn’t do anything. Next, I tried explaining my case to the «agency» that runs security and the gates. After being hung up on and lied to, I went to speak in person to those at the gate. I was met with sass, disrespect, and ignorance by the woman at the front desk and the security guard. I was informed that the ticket was truly supposed to be $ 25, yet I was charged $ 50. To further the absurdity, if I continued to argue and be disrespectful (plead my case in a calm manner), my ticket would increase.
In all, the horrible individuals working at this beautiful beach resort have no sense of wanting to help their customers. They are rude, disrespectful, daft, atrocious, repulsive people. Thanks for ruining the happy Fourth of July mood.

It is a hidden gem on the Monterey Peninsula!

Honestly, had a pretty cool little family vacay here. Awesome that beach access is only a couple steps away, which made for a romantic sunset-​watching blanket party. The place itself was super-​spacious, and well-​taken-​care-​of at least for the place we were staying. Very quiet at night, and sort of in it’s own little community, the property is quite quaint. Luckily the fam stayed one night free, as I can’t imagine staying here for the expensive rates normally charged… if so, my review may be a bit different…

For starters, the beach itself is absolutely breathtaking. Smooth sand, clear water, gorgeous weather; there is nothing bad I could say about the beach itself, but the rental company on the other hand.
A large party of my too-cool-to-stay-at-home-and-let’s-have-a-beach-mini-vacation-during-winter-break friends decided they wanted to go to Santa Cruz and rent out a beach house for a week in December right before Christmas. First off, the weather in December is too cold for my liking to be by the beach, hmm… because it’s wintertime? That’s just an offside complaint on my part (let’s just I wasn’t the biggest fan of this idea to go rent a beach house in the middle of December).
So somehow renting a beach house in Santa Cruz turned into renting a beach house in Watsonville. Where is Watsonville? I don’t even know. We ended up making reservations for one of the condos on Pelican Point and upon first arriving, it was nothing like we expected. The 4-​BR condo hardly resembled the photos provided on the internet and the descriptions of amenities were off. They offered us high-​speed internet with Wi-​Fi and a barbecue grill, yeah no Wi-​Fi and also no grill. The place was also much smaller than anticipated and filled with outdated furniture and decorations. Small rooms, small kitchen, small everything. In one of the rooms, there was a vanity table with a mirror and decorated with angel designs, yeah that scared the hell out of me and my friends couldn’t bear sleeping in the same room with it unless the table and mirror was turned to not face the bed. But everything here just seemed so old-​fashioned and stuck in a much earlier time period, maybe I’m just spoiled and can’t appreciate it (…but no, that’s not it).
I had a problem with the no Wi-​Fi because in this modern world of technology, I was expecting to be able to use my laptop, browse the internet, stream some shows, you know, sit back and relax (since there’s nothing else to do here). Nope, couldn’t even do that. And my phone practically died every day because the reception was the absolute worst. If it takes me 53 057 320 843 attempts to send a simple text message (because iMessage clearly gets me no where with the lack of Wi-​Fi), that is a problem. Couldn’t even make a single call here. But going back to the Wi-​Fi, what really gets me is that if you leave the condo and stay outside in the condo area, you can get Wi-​Fi. YOU CAN EVEN GO TO THE BEACH AND GET WI-​FI! So how come it is so hard for me to get Wi-​Fi in the actual building? Problem.
I would say that the only thing worth it at this place are the outside amenities. That gorgeous beach! And not too far are courts for basketball and tennis, a park-​like structure, nice outdoor things. Not sure if you have to pay to access those things, our party unfortunately didn’t do much exploring and found out about the area on our last day.
For the price we had to pay and what we got in the condo itself, I expected far more. There’s really nothing to this expensive, gated community. Just rentors who are trying to make a lot of money off of you and offer you less.
Come back to visit the beach, but no need to stay in one of these places. Just can’t seem to say my stay was worth my time and money.

We had the most amazing beach wedding at Pajaro Dunes! It was everything I had ever hoped for… getting married right on the beach, reception at the Lagoon House (which is right there on site), very affordable, and the staff are very nice and helpful to work with. Many of our family and friends considered it their own vacation weekend because they were able to stay there or close by for the entire weekend. This is also the most affordable venue I found in Santa Cruz county!

The beach and dunes are very nice, and the condo itself was quite comfortable, and met our needs. However, overall I would have to say that I found the rentals to be rather poorly managed by the management company. We were offered 3 days over the weekend for the price of 2, but since we couldn’t take advantage of a 3^rd day due to work commitments, we asked for a late checkout time on the 2^nd day instead. We were told both on Friday and Saturday that we needed to call at 10:00am on Sunday to arrange a late checkout time. Then, when we called on Sunday morning we were instead told that late checkout had to be arranged in advance, and we were denied even after being initially offered 3 days for the price of 2. In the end, we had been yanked around by the management to their own advantage, despite the fact that we had paid a fairly expensive daily rate. My conclusion is that the management is not particularly visitor friendly, but rather they are manipulative to their own advantage and not respectful of customers reasonable requests.
Tip: Choose a 2^nd or 3^rd floor unit for an ocean view. The view from the 1^st floor is obstructed by the dunes. We were unaware of this, and the website does not make this clear.
The units are individually owned, and the unit you rent may or may not have been recently updated. Our unit had recently had the kitchen and bathrooms remodeled, so we were very happy with the unit itself. However, as I said, I still would have preferred and probably would have paid more for a 2^nd or 3^rd floor unit with a view.
The overall experience was actually pretty nice. .. the beach, a quite comfortable unit, etc.. .. but I don’t have very nice things to say about the management company.

I would like to know more about the history of this development. Was it a state park with camping sites and ready beach access before being transformed to a private, high-​dollar, gated community? You can find rental units on craigslist. Given the rates, probably more cost effective to spend a week on the barrier islands off of the Carolinas. I can’t imagine the water warms up much during the summer. Bring a wet suit and watch out for the rip tide. There are warning signs in the state park. :/

Brides Beware! Pajaro Dunes tried to take advantage and rip me off! We heard about Pajaro Dunes from a very sweet local lady who runs a catering company while planning our wedding. She raved about the great price and location and said she’d been catering amazing weddings there regularly for years. This convinced us to go check it out. We get there and we did really like the grounds, it is a bit run down, but a private beach setting is pretty amazing. When we mentioned the caterer who referred us to Lori the Pajaro Dunes coordinator, she got visibly uncomfortable and said that they only allow catering from 5 Star Catering… I told her that was strange because just the day before we had gotten a great referral from a different caterer, and obviously SHE didn’t know she was no longer allowed to work there. :-/​Apparently they have just signed a contract with 5 Star… Ok fine, we felt bad that the sweet caterer wouldn’t get our business but we were still interested.
Lori wouldn’t talk numbers with us while we were face to face, she gave me a thick info packet with out any info on pricing… well as a young couple footing the bill for the wedding ourselves, price is the most important factor, so this was annoying. At the end of our meeting I asked a 3^rd time about pricing, and rather than an answer, she asked me what our budget was. Stupidly, I answered. Well her eyes practically popped out of her head with shock and delight. She must have thought I meant budget for the venue only, when I meant budget for the entire wedding!!! (dress, alcohol, accommodations, entertainment, flowers, etc) We leave and she promises to get me a quote after talking it over with the contracted catering company. I get a quote later that night over email. I was SO insulted. She quoted me an OUTRAGEOUS price, thousands and thousands more than any other venue I looked at (6 locally).
Coincidentally, I had already gotten a quote from 5 Star, so I KNEW what the catering alone would cost me at another venue and Pajaro Dunes tried to charge me nearly $ 7,000 before tax and gratuity to rent their facility for a day of use. Yeah, I feel disrespected.

I’ve been there twice now. The rentals range from nice, to insane. It’s got to be the quietest place to take a vacation in the Santa Cruz area. If you can afford it, it’s well worth it.
I only gave it two stars however, as when my Wife and I had our wedding there they up sold us at the last minute. Initially no one had told us about the wedding hall, so we got a large unit and planned to have the wedding there. They knew our plans from the get go, however a day or two before the wedding they called and said that we had to have the wedding at the hall… ok… not such a big deal so far… but then they expected us to come up with something like $ 1000 to pay for the hall. We said, no thanks, we’ll have it at the house. And they said if we had it at the house, they would call the police and not let our guests in. Now they were threatening to kill our wedding dreams. Eventually we settled on paying $ 600 for the hall because we just couldn’t cancel the wedding. Speaking of the hall, they never cleaned it prior to the wedding, so our family had to scramble to get the place in proper condition. Then when the wedding was over, even though we cleaned up, they kept our security deposit and never told us why.
So in the end, Pajaro Dunes took advantage of our wedding and up sold us.