This post includes my travel guide to the Monterey Peninsula on the central California coast. The Monterey Peninsula includes the cities of Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel, as well as Pebble Beach. Monterey is a 2-hour drive south of San Francisco, located on the Pacific Ocean.

A few weeks ago, I took a family trip to Monterey, California to travel the central California coast for the first time. We stayed in Seaside, which borders Monterey, and visited many areas of the Monterey Peninsula. We also spent time visiting my brother who lives in the Silicon Valley area. This travel guide post includes our favorite activities.

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Monterey Bay Aquarium

One of the main reasons we wanted to visit Monterey was to spend time at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It’s one of the most recognized aquariums in the United States, if not the world, located right on the coast of Monterey Bay. I was especially excited to take our 2-year-old son there and to visit the jellyfish exhibit.

We visited on a rainy weekday morning, which was perfect because it wasn’t that busy and gave us the chance to do a really neat indoor activity. The aquarium is a public non-profit that opened in 1984. It’s spacious with a variety of beautiful exhibits, including a kelp forest, jellyfish, and a giant open sea tank with a variety of marine animals.

Visiting with a 2-year-old meant we were not spending any time gazing at fish. Our experience was closer to “sprint through every exhibit while pausing only to walk up and down stairs” but we still had a wonderful time. I love that you can step outside on a variety of balconies to take in the ocean air. My favorite exhibit was the jellyfish, and K’s favorite was the tank of sardines. Overall I highly recommend spending a few hours at the aquarium if you have a chance. We ended our visit with the most amazing ocean view for lunch.

Big Sur

Thankfully the rain stopped on our second day in Monterey and we were able to make a road trip south to Big Sur. I didn’t know exactly what to expect from a visit to the Big Sur area, but I knew it would be beautiful. Big Sur is a rugged stretch of coast between the towns of Carmel and San Simeon. It’s more of an “area” than a specific destination. We drove slowly on Highway 1 and were completely taken aback by the gorgeous views.

My toddler fell asleep during the drive, so we only stopped a few times to get out of the car and check out the ocean views. We ended up at Big Sur State Park and woke up my son for a short walk and exploration. Big Sur State Park was beautiful, and we were able to see a few redwood trees and stretch our legs.

On our drive back north to Monterey we stopped at a gorgeous road side diner that was pure California, Big Sur Roadhouse. Avocado toast, espresso, and a server with a handlebar mustache. I loved it.

We stopped on our way back so I could take a few photos of Bixby Creek Bridge, which is about 10 miles south of Monterey. If you watched the first season of Big Little Lies on HBO, you will recognize this bridge from the opening scene of each episode. The Bixby Creek Bridge is gorgeous and one of the most photographed bridges in California. It’s also one of the longest single-span concrete bridges in the world.

Acme Coffee

Finding amazing coffee is something I really like to do when traveling. Due to the time change that resulted in a toddler awake before 5am each day, I was desperate enough to start my morning with a cup of hotel room coffee and powdered creamer (ick). I made up for this once I discovered Acme Coffee and had one of the best iced lattes. I always order lattes with almond milk, and this one was delicious.

Acme Coffee is a small batch, fair trade coffee roaster with a tiny, walk-up cafe in Seaside, a town next to Monterey. They also offer pastries {grab a morning bun}, beans and large mason jars of cold brew to go. I bought a pound of beans that I’m excited to brew up soon.

Dinner at Paluca Trattoria

In planning for our trip to Monterey, articles kept popping up about the best spots in town from the HBO show Big Little Lies. I read the book Big Little Lies and watched season one of the show twice. Once by myself while on maternity leave, and again because I wanted my husband to watch it. We both really enjoyed the show and were interested in how HBO depicted Monterey compared to real life. Monterey is certainly a beautiful town with unbelievable landscape views of the ocean, but it’s more approachable and grittier than I expected.

A repeated scene from Big Little Lies includes the ladies having coffee at a cafe near a pier. We found out this is actually filmed at an Italian restaurant, Paluca Trattoria, that only started selling coffee after people repeatedly asked for it due to watching the show. The restaurant has great reviews so we made a last minute reservation for a 5pm {toddler hour} dinner. We loved it! Paluca Trattoria is very charming with delicious food. For dinner I had excellent artichoke ravioli. I highly recommend it.

Eat Parker-Lusseau Pastries

I discovered Parker-Lusseau Pastries when looking for breakfast ideas. Parker-Lusseau offers French pastries in three locations in Monterey. Our visit was to the downtown location, on Hartnell Street, which is on the first floor of a small 19th century house.

Eater San Francisco named Parker-Lusseau one of 15 amazing places to eat in Monterey and Carmel. They are absolutely right! The pastries are delicious. Pastries are made by a California-French couple. Our favorite was the morning bun – which is also sold at Acme Coffee, mentioned above. We also tried individual quiches and they are equally delicious. Don’t miss this place if you are visiting the Monterey Peninsula.

Harbor Seals in Pacific Grove

The small town of Pacific Grove begins only a few blocks from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. On our last morning in Monterey before heading to San Francisco, we had breakfast at First Awakenings in Pacific Grove and went for a walk along the water afterwards. First Awakenings is a typical diner, offering a huge breakfast and lunch menu. My standard diner order is French toast and fresh-squeezed orange juice. What makes this diner super special is the fact that it’s located only one block from the Pacific Ocean.

We went on a walk after breakfast and were delighted to find a group of harbor seals playing in the surf. We also saw a huge bull seal. This was the only time we found seals on our trip to California, and they did not disappoint. We walked on a path by the ocean, along Ocean View Blvd. I found out later this area is called Lovers Point State Marine Reserve. There are gorgeous homes on Ocean View Blvd. and fabulous views of the water.

Additional Monterey Peninsula Travel Tips

Visit Carmel: We had dinner in Carmel one night, also known as Carmel by the Sea, and found it to be a lovely village. We walked the streets for about an hour before dinner. I wish we could have spent more time there to check out the beach and ocean views. We visited on a cool and drizzly weekday so there weren’t many people around. Our “European country” dinner at La Bicyclette included yummy wood-fired pizzas and wine. La Bicyclette is very kid-friendly and incredibly charming.

Take the 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach: My in-laws raved about the 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach so we had to check it out before leaving town. It costs $10.25 per vehicle to drive through and it’s well worth it. 17 Mile Drive is located in Pebble Beach among three golf courses that are some of the most famous in the U.S. Personally I could care less about golfing, but the views of the ocean were stunning. I also could not believe the size of the homes in Pebble Beach – tens of millions of dollars per residence.

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