Monterey travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Monterey, planned over three days
Best time to visit Monterey
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Gray whale peak, monarch butterflies, storm watching and lowest hotel rates outside event spikes.
Orca season, wildflowers, Calla Lily Valley and Pebble Beach Food and Wine, best value after autumn.
Cold foggy summer, June Gloom and Fogust, whale feeding and Aquarium crowds peak, Car Week in mid August.
Best months overall, clearest warmest coastal weather, thinner crowds, harvest and Jazz Festival in September.
What's on
- Whalefest Monterey January
Winter festival during gray whale migration peak.
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am late Jan/Feb
Golf tournament that spikes golf area prices for its week.
- Pebble Beach Food & Wine April
Four days of chef dinners and grand tastings at the Pebble Beach resorts in April, 21 and over.
- Monterey Car Week mid August, ending with the Concours on the third Sunday
Auctions, historic racing and Concours closing the week, highest rates and hardest bookings of the year.
- Monterey County Fair late Aug/early Sep
County fair closing the summer season.
- Monterey Jazz Festival the last full weekend of September
Three days at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, the world's longest running jazz festival.
- Big Sur Food & Wine Festival November
A long weekend of winery dinners and a hike-and-taste through the redwoods, small and local compared with Pebble Beach Food and Wine.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Monterey
Monterey Bay Aquarium
World class aquarium over a deep canyon, with kelp forest, Open Sea tank, otters and jellies.
17-Mile Drive
Gated coastal loop past Lone Cypress, Bird Rock and Cypress Point, worth the per car toll.
Old Fisherman's Wharf
Walk for sea lions, fishing boats, whale boats and bay views, plus the Coast Guard Pier breakwater.
Cannery Row
Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts history under the modern Row, best read via plaques and surviving cannery buildings.
Monterey State Historic Park
Cluster of Spanish and Mexican era adobes, Custom House and Colton Hall linked by the Path of History.
Lovers Point Park
Landscaped cove, tidepools and sunset views, start of the Ocean View Blvd walk toward Asilomar.
Carmel-by-the-Sea
One square mile of cottages, galleries and tasting rooms above a wide dog friendly white sand beach.
Carmel Valley Village
Walkable tasting rooms and inland sun when the coast is fogged in, focused on pinot noir and chardonnay.
Where to stay in Monterey
Cannery Row / New Monterey
first-timers
Aquarium, beach, trail, restaurants and bay in front, touristy and priced like it but most walkable.
Downtown / Old Monterey
all-round value and local feel
Locals restaurants, theatre and Tuesday market, a flat walk to the Wharf and cheaper than the Row.
Pacific Grove
quiet, couples, return visitors
Victorian inns on residential streets by Lovers Point and the shoreline trail, sleeps early.
Pebble Beach / Carmel-by-the-Sea
splurge, and required for Pebble tee times
Resort forest and village charm with the county's best dining, priced well above Monterey proper.
Think twice about
- North Fremont St motel strip
Car oriented, noisy and inconsistent, with dated rooms in the bottom tier and parking paid for everything.
- Seaside / Marina / Sand City as a Monterey base
Functional and cheaper with good eating, but a 10 to 20 minute drive from every headline sight with no walkable core.
- Del Monte Center / Highway 68 corridor
Convenient for Laguna Seca and the airport, characterless for a holiday. Use for race weekends and early flights only.
Best restaurants in Monterey
Aubergine
Two star tasting menu of Monterey Bay seafood and estate produce from Justin Cogley, the Peninsula splurge dinner.
Chez Noir
One-star seafood led fine dining with French spine and a la carte flexibility.
The Sardine Factory
Old guard white tablecloth seafood and steaks since 1968, with a famed wine cellar and Captain's Room.
Coastal Kitchen
Acclaimed hotel dining room built on Monterey Bay catch and Salinas Valley produce.
Montrio
Converted 1910s firehouse serving Italian French California cooking, the default downtown dinner answer.
Passionfish
Sustainable seafood pioneer with a famously fairly priced wine list, dinner only and small room.
Maligne
Great-value wood fired French inflected dining in a former auto shop in Seaside.
Stokes Adobe
California cooking in an 1833 adobe with garden patio, wood fired dishes and strong cocktails.
Outdoor things to do in Monterey
Pebble Beach Golf Links
Top ranked public course with cliff holes 4 to 10, the tiny 7th and the 18th wrapped around the bay.
Spyglass Hill Golf Course
Hardest of the Pebble rota through dunes then forest pines, bookable without a resort stay.
The Links at Spanish Bay
Scottish style links along the bay, closed since March 2026 for a Gil Hanse rebuild and due back in spring 2027.
Poppy Hills Golf Course
Championship NCGA home course in Del Monte Forest at a fraction of Pebble and Spyglass fees.
Pacific Grove Golf Links
Municipal links locals call the poor man's Pebble, with a back nine on dunes by Point Pinos lighthouse.
Del Monte Golf Course
Historic in town round dating to 1897, among the oldest courses west of the Mississippi on its original site.
Bayonet Golf Course
Former Fort Ord championship test, famously stern from the back tees, a local players favourite.
Black Horse Golf Course
Second former Fort Ord course in Seaside, paired with Bayonet for a stern local championship test.
Best hotels in Monterey
Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa
The Row's grand hotel built over the water, with rooftop spa deck and bay views from balconies.
InterContinental The Clement Monterey
Modern luxury beside the Aquarium, with a pier over the water made for sunrise otter spotting.
Spindrift Inn
45 room boutique inn with in room breakfast, fireplaces and afternoon wine, romantic without being twee.
The Lodge at Pebble Beach
Resort in the forest that unlocks advance Pebble Beach tee times, plus Tap Room and The Bench.
Inn at Spanish Bay
Pebble Beach resort that unlocks advance tee times, with a bagpiper on the links at sunset. Its own course is closed for rebuilding until spring 2027.
Portola Hotel & Spa
Large downtown hotel steps from the Wharf and Alvarado St, best mid range pick for groups and families.
Casa Munras Garden Hotel & Spa
Hacienda style gardens, pool and spa on the old Munras estate, walkable to downtown and pet friendly.
Monterey Bay Inn
Smaller bayfront inn at the quiet west end of the Row, with large rooms and panoramic bay windows.
Is Monterey expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $140 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $300 a person |
| Splurge | $600 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Monterey Bay Aquarium: a few days ahead
- Pebble Beach Golf Links: months ahead
- Pacific Grove Golf Links: a few days ahead
- Whale watching, Monterey Bay: a few days ahead
- Point Lobos State Natural Reserve: a few days ahead
- The Lodge at Pebble Beach: months ahead
- Inn at Spanish Bay: months ahead
- HI Monterey Hostel: a few days ahead
- Aquarium timed tickets sell out weekends and holidays, buy days ahead.
- Aubergine and Chez Noir need weeks, Passionfish and Monterey's Fish House need days for prime times.
- Pebble Beach tee times need a resort stay window months ahead, whale boats need a day or two in season.
- Hotels for Car Week book the moment dates are known, a year ahead is normal for regulars.
Is Monterey safe?
- Never leave bags visible in a car at trailheads, beaches or 17-Mile Drive stops, break ins are the most common visitor crime.
- Sneaker waves and slippery rocks at Point Lobos, Asilomar and pull outs are the genuine hazard, stay off wet rock in surf.
- Watch for rip currents, cold water shock, poison oak on inland trails and deer on roads at dusk.
- Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel are calm low crime tourist towns with no area to avoid for severe street homelessness.
Monterey travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Wharf 1 sit down seafood as a category, view pricing for adequate food. Eat at Sandbar, Fish House, Passionfish or Montrio instead.
- Cannery Row souvenir retail, walk the Row for history, the Aquarium and a tasting, shop in Pacific Grove and Carmel.
- Paying for 17-Mile Drive twice, dine at a Pebble restaurant over 35 dollars and keep the receipt for gate reimbursement.
- Monterey as a beach swimming trip, the bay is cold and the pretty coves are for looking and diving, not lounging.
- Driving Highway 1 to Big Sur in summer fog at noon, go early and have a Carmel Valley sun plan as backup.
Getting around Monterey: public transport and more
- You need a car for Point Lobos, Big Sur, Carmel Valley, Elkhorn Slough and golf.
- Car free short trips work from Cannery Row or downtown using the Coastal Trail, MST buses and the seasonal WAVE trolley.
- Parking near Cannery Row and the Wharf runs about 14 to 25 dollars plus per day, and meters are enforced.
- Monterey to Carmel is 4 miles but can take 25 minutes on a summer Saturday, so build in slack.
Who Monterey suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Monterey your trip
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