Laguna Seca

With an incomparable setting along the rocky, curving shores of Monterey Bay and narrow streets lined with 19th-century cottages, Pacific Grove is an unapologetically traditional small town.

Founded in 1875, this Monterey County community always feels authentic, never touristy. It borders the city of Monterey, and you can easily reach the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row (both just across the city line) by walking or bicycling from Pacific Grove along the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail.  The trail runs 18 miles along the shore north to Castroville, and Pacific Grove’s stretch may just be the prettiest part of the entire route. You’ll see wildlife like harbor seals and sea otters just offshore, and can also head out on the water yourself with a kayak rental from Adventures by the Sea at Lovers Point Park and Beach—one of the most popular spots for a photo op.

The Monterey Peninsula is celebrated as one of the true kingdoms of golf, and at the Pacific Grove Golf Links you can tee off by the bay at a fraction of the cost of the fabled courses at Pebble Beach. With a back nine created by Jack Neville, who also co-designed the world-famous Pebble Beach Golf Links, this classic course offers its own beauty and challenges. And the golf links are also home to the 1855 Point Pinos Lighthouse, the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast.

Like much of Pacific Grove, Asilomar State Beach & Conference Grounds blends unspoiled natural beauty and historic architecture. A boardwalk explores a restored section of dunes, while the Asilomar Coast Trail follows the shoreline for a mile. For many visitors, the real highlight is Asilomar’s incomparable collection of Arts and Crafts–style buildings designed by Julia Morgan, the architect of Hearst Castle. Asilomar has the largest collection of Morgan buildings at one location, and a self-guided tour stops at eight sites on the grounds. In addition to architecture, you can also find tour options for sailing, fishing, wine tasting, or horseback riding. 

As gorgeous as the coast is, you’ll also want to take time to experience Pacific Grove’s vintage downtown. It mostly caters to the local community, but you’ll also find outstanding destination dining at such Pacific Grove restaurants as Passionfish, a favorite for its inventive seafood and an extensive wine list (with minimal markup!).

While Pacific Grove is very much a year-round destination with an average temperature in the 60s, October is a special time here in “Butterfly Town U.S.A.” That’s when thousands of monarch butterflies begin to arrive at the town’s Monarch Grove Sanctuary and the community holds its annual Butterfly Parade & Bazaar.

If there was only the beach, that would be enough. It’s a lovely beach, a crescent of pale sand that gives way to turquoise Pacific, backed by Monterey cypress, their foliage flattened into wide fans by the coastal wind. But Carmel Beach isn’t the only star of the petite Monterey County city. Rather, it’s an ensemble cast of charms that make Carmel-by-the-Sea such an enchanting destination.

Officially incorporated in 1916, Carmel has long exerted a magnetic pull on artists and authors. Today Carmel Village is home to nearly 100 art galleries, and some of its earliest residents included writers Mary Austin, Sinclair Lewis, and Jack London, who fled post-earthquake San Francisco for the enclave’s bohemian appeal. Poet Robinson Jeffers, arriving with his wife in 1914, called the town “our inevitable place,” and built his stone Tor House overlooking the ocean, now open on weekends for tours.

The tradition of naming homes endures in Carmel, where garden cottages that look plucked from the Brothers Grimm sit next to Mediterranean estates and modern ranches. Builder Hugh Comstock created the fairy tale aesthetic in the 1920s, and 21 of his originals remain, including the Tuck Box, a quaint café that specializes in afternoon tea.

For those in search of heartier fare, there’s Cultura Comida y Bebida, where Oaxacan dishes like smoked pork mole and chapulines (toasted grasshoppers seasoned with lime and salt) are best paired with one of 39 mezcals. At La Bicyclette, the vibe is pure French bistro, while special occasions merit Aubergine, a tasting-menu splurge inside L’Auberge Carmel resort.

Along with restaurants, Carmel Village is stocked with wine-tasting rooms and boutiques. Sip a Pinot Noir from Central Coast Wine Country or browse fancy pens at Bittner, a shop dedicated to the art of writing.

But it’s the raw environment that best defines this stretch of California, and that means venturing out. Navigate 17-Mile Drive by car or bike, stopping to contemplate the Lone Cypress that’s clung to a patch of rock for centuries. Play a round at Pebble Beach, the No. 1 public golf course in the country, book a surf lesson, or make for Point Lobos State Reserve, where scuba divers and kayakers share the water with harbor seals and sea otters. When the day is almost done, hit the sand to admire the sunset over the Pacific with your canine companion, and ponder why it is you don’t live here. 

Whether you drive it, bike it, or walk it, this romantic stretch of coastline make you think one thing above all else: how can I live here? The privately managed roadway (fee to drive; biking and walking are free), winding between Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach, takes you through a wind-sculpted forest of cypress trees to a rocky coastline dotted with some of the most envy-inducing homes on the planet. You’ll also get great views of the celebrated golf courses of Pebble Beach. In spring, pull over at Fanshell Overlook to see harbor seals and their pups (usually April to June). Bring a picnic and spread out a blanket on the small beach at Spanish Bay, or splurge with a meal at the posh Lodge at Pebble Beach. 

If you’re a golfer—and why else would you be reading this—then what do we need to say? You probably already know all about the Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill, both sites of the star- and top-pro-studded AT&T National Pro-Am. And you probably know that playing these courses will set you back a pretty penny or two, even if you’re a guest at the Lodge at Pebble Beach. Still, splurges should be unforgettable, and playing here, at holes that have tried the patience and skills of Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, and gotten a snarky comment out of golf lover Bill Murray—well, that’s one for the memory books.

But duffers, take note: outstanding fairways dot the region, with price points and styles of greens for all. Historic Del Monte Golf Course is the oldest golf course in continuous operation west of the Mississippi. The former military-only Bayonet and Black Horse courses, with sweeping views of Monterey Bay, are now open to all. Find more courses—and tempting wine tasting--in sunny Carmel Valley.