The closest well-connected airport to Santa Cruz is San Jose (SJC, 45 min from SC). Other options include San Francisco (SFO, 1h 30 min from SC), Oakland (OAK, 1h 45 min from SC), and Monterrey (MRY, 40 min from SC). More information is available from the UCSC airport connections web page. For general travel to and and from UCSC, visit the page UCSC travel connections.
There will be a shuttle bus run from Best Western All Suites to UC Santa Cruz and back. On Monday, there will be two shuttle trips from the hotel to the university around noon (11:30 and 12:15). Due to the time limit, there will be only one shuttle trip every morning (8:20) from Tuesday to Friday. The bus has only 41 seats, the priority will be given to people who paid for the transportation. Shuttle also will be provided back to the hotel every day after conference. On Wednesday afternoon, the shuttle will stop first by some wineries for those of you who want to join the social activity and then take the others to the hotel. On Thursday, the shuttle will take you back to the hotel. The restaurent for Gala dinner on Thursday evening is just across the street.
If you cannot get on the shuttle, taking about 10 minutes' walk, you will arrive at bus stations for Route 10, 16 or 19 (hotel to metro). All these buses will take you to McLaughlin & Science Hill stop, which is inside UCSC and just in front of the conference room. The whole trip will take about 30 minutes and the cost will be $2.00 for one way.
If you will drive to the conference, you will need to pay $6.00 for a parking permit at the entrance. The staffs in the booth will give you direction, or you may find your way by the annotated and printable maps. The red booth in the picture below is for parking permits.
Best Western All Suites accepts group reservation for UCSC-CBMS Regional Conference guests. Call them at 1-855-347-0189 and request "UCSC-CBMS Regional Conference" group rate. Group rates available until 06/11/12. For more details, please refer to Best Western Group Reservation.