DH and I always vowed that if we ever sold our lake house, we would rent a house in Carmel for a month during the peak of Texas heat in the summer. Well, we sold the lake house, so we are heading to Carmel for the whole month of August. My brother is going to house sit for us and take care of the pets (I’m still worried about my 14 year old cat-she gets upset when I’m gone), which he is very much looking forward to. Our rental is a two block walk to the beach and a 10 minute walk into Carmel proper.
I’m searching the internet of course, and have come up with some must dos (other than the obvious Carmel Beach, in-town shopping/restaurants, etc.):
Monterrey Aquarium
17 Mile Drive
Point Lobos State Reserve
Day trip to Hearst Castle
Carmel Mission
Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
Anything else we just can’t miss? Do any of you have favorite restaurants?
I have always wanted to go to Big Sur, but apparently it’s now inaccessible due to yet another mudslide.
I was looking for wineries and saw that a favorite one was Chateau Julien, but it’s now called Folktale Winery. Anyone know if it is a worthwhile excursion? Or another winery instead?
I think you can get to the northern portion of Big Sur coming from Carmel. The Big Sur State Park has more details: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=570
Hearst Castle is wonderful, but getting there will be slightly complicated due to the Highway 1 closure at Big Sur.
If you go north of Carmel, Big Basin State Park is very pretty. It’s just northeast of Santa Cruz. If you want to go a bit farther afield Ridge Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains is gorgeous and makes great wine.
If you’re into seeing another mission, San Juan Batista is not too far away either.
Ridge Winery sounds wonderful. Um, then I read this:
Is this one of those scary/dangerous mountain roads? I get really terrified on mountain roads with steep dropoffs. I seriously almost had a full blown panic attack on a really hairy drive in Colorado.
I just came across a link to Forest Theater in Carmel. It’s an outdoor theater that sounds really fun. This year they are doing Wizard of Oz. I laughed to myself because that’s just not one of my favorites. But it could still be cool seeing live theater in a beautiful outdoor setting.
We really like the Pacific Grove area on the Monterey Peninsula. Asilomar State Beach is beautiful and Point Pinos lighthouse is worth a visit. It’s the oldest operating lighthouse on the west coast. There’s a monarch butterfly sanctuary there too, but the monarchs are only there between October and February.
I ride my bike up past Ridge Winery all the time. I know the road very well. Montebello Road is steep and twisty, but nothing scary. Right now about halfway up, where the road flattens out, there is a section which is one lane because the road slipped, but it’s well marked. Montebello Road is very lightly trafficked.
As far as I know, Ridge is only open for tasting on Saturdays.
Ridge Wines are delicious, but if I were staying in Carmel, I wouldn’t go to Ridge. You’d have to drive over the mountains to even get to Silicon Valley before beginning the ascent. There are wineries a lot closer to Carmel.
You can’t get to Pfeiffer Burns State Park from Carmel right now; a bridge is gone. They’re saying the new bridge will be done sometime in the fall. Andrew Molera State Park is closed.
If you are tempted to take the long way 'round and get below the bridge to see the rest of the coast, and you are afraid of mountain roads, do not even think for a millisecond about going on Nacimiento Fergusson Road. Remember I said Montebello Road isn’t scary? Nacimiento Fergusson is scary.
On our way to Monterrey from LA, we stopped at Nepenthe Restaurant. We were fairly close, so I don’t think it should be too far from Carmel. The views were incredible, get the Hamburger! I think it’s the specialty.
We had an anniversary dinner about 8 years ago at Casanova when we were staying in Carmel and it was really good. You can go to Santa Cruz for lunch or do day trips to San Francisco. We used to go for drinks in the early evening at the Spanish Bay golf course in Pebble Beach. A bagpiper would pipe the people off the golf course right by where we would have our bloody mary’s. Weather will be cool and damp in the summer so always have a sweater or jacket. We used to love spending 2 weeks in July at Pebble Beach when D would show here horse there. The horses loved the cool summer weather. The Lodge at Pebble Beach is also lovely for a drink.
