Planning your trip to Carmel-by-the-Sea? Here’s what I did and my perfect itinerary with options for if you have 2 or 3 days to explore.
P.S. If you’re just here for the itinerary, scroll all the way to the bottom!
The trip started with a hike I’d never thought I’d do. Around January, videos of Point Lobos kept popping up on my social media and the views were unreal. I casually mentioned it to a friend, and it turns out that she’d been wanting to go too. Next thing I knew we booked our hotel and started planning our trip.
Day 1: Carmel-by-the-Sea
We only had a weekend, so we planned a jam-packed trip. I stayed at her place Friday night and we started the drive at 4am. By 9am, we were in Carmel and started our trip with the 17 Mile Drive. There’s a $12 entrance fee, but it was waived since we spent over $35 at the Gallery Café inside the drive. We accidentally started the loop backwards (a happy accident), since the cafe is located at the end of the loop. I got the chicken and waffles while my friend got the cinnamon toast crunch french toast. Both were good but nothing special.
The drive itself was a mix of scenic ocean views and, yes, neighborhoods. I saw a couple online reviews saying it’s not worth it, and I kind of get it. But if it’s you’re first time, I would say it’s worth going. We skipped a few underwhelming stops.
Our next stop was Point Lobos. We parked on the side of the road of avoid the parking fee but ended up walking a mile to reach the entrance. If you do this, try to park as close as possible.
As someone who’s never hiked, I was nervous but excited and the views did not disappoint. I was a little slow on the uneven trail but it wasn’t too difficult. A little tip if you have to use the bathroom before the hike, skip the one at the entrance and go to the one 10-15 minutes into the hike. The bathrooms aren’t the cleanest so I would recommend going to the bathroom somewhere else if possible. We hiked for about 1.5 hours before heading back to our car to get dinner in downtown Carmel.
We chose to eat at Portabella, an Italian restaurant in Downtown Carmel. I had the oven-braised short ribs, and my friend went with the linguine ai frutti di mare. Again, the food was good but nothing special. After dinner, we walked to Carmel beach to watch the sunset. Just a heads up, the walk down is a bit steep and halfway down, one side of the road doesn’t have a sidewalk. And walking back up after a long day? Whew.
We checked into our hotel around 7:30pm since our reservation said we had to check in before 9pm as the staff leave at a certain time. My full review of the Centrella Hotel is linked here!
We were craving ice cream so we headed out after resting for a bit. After striking out at two closed spots, we found a article mentioning Revival, aparently one of the best ice cream spots in monterey. The was a line when we arrived but it went by quickly. Their ‘Bee’s Knees’ flavor, vanilla with honeycomb candy pieces, was definitely worth the line.
We ended the night strolling around Fisherman’s Wharf. By the time we got there, most places had already closed, but we made a mental note to eat here the next time we visit.
Day 2: Big Sur
We left around 10am and headed back to downtown Carmel. It’s less crowded in the morning, so I highly recommend going early.
We hit the road for Big Sur with our first stop being the Calla Lily Valley, which only blooms February to March. It’s a short, rocky walk, so wear good shoes (p.s. they might get wet!). It wasn’t too crowded when we arrived, but more people were showing up as we left, so go early.
The next stop was Bixby Bridge but there was no parking, so we kept going. We stopped at Big Sur River Inn to eat. Eating by the river was so calming but the burritos were definitely overpriced. I recommend bringing your own food if you can or just skip this spot.
From there, we visited the Henry Miller Library, and then my unexpected favorite, Partington Cove Trail. It was short, easy, and the views were just as stunning as Point Lobos.
We also stopped by McWay Falls. There’s a parking fee, but we parked for free down the road instead. The waterfall itself was a bit underwhelming, but the walk there is short so it didn’t take up too much time.
On our way back, we found a spot to park at Bixby Bridge. The views were absolutely stunning so we were glad we didn’t miss it. Sadly, that marked our last stop, so we began the drive back home.
I tweaked the itinerary based on my experience to get the most out of you’re time there! If you only have 2 days like we did, the itinerary is intense but 100% doable. If you can spare three days, I highly recommend taking advantage of the extra time.
