My first glimpse of Monterey Bay on California's Central Coast was a free and thrilling ride on a 40-something sea otter raft. The next time I went up to them at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, it cost me nearly $60. This division between free access to outdoor wonders and investment-grade attractions is emblematic of my experience in this area.
Like many parts of California's coast, the Monterey Peninsula, home to the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course and upscale towns like Carmel-by-the-Sea (known simply as Carmel), connotes wealth. Surrounded by approximately 3,300 square miles of Monterey County, which also includes Big Sur, rates at luxury resorts like the Post Ranch Inn start at about $1,500 a night.
With less than half of my three-day budget, I put Monterey, the town and county, to the test of frugality. In January, a quiet and frugal time of year, I knew I needed a rental to experience Monterey's diversity, from historic cities to redwood forests to tidal pools and vineyards. Even so, they lived economically, relying on parks and nature reserves, unknown hotels and small businesses. Car ($175).
John Steinbeck's classic 1945 novel Cannery Row describes Monterey's sardine-cannery waterfront as “poetry, stench, shrill noise, quality of light, tone, habit, nostalgia, dream.” I am. It's hard to find that gritty romance along the current Cannery Row, which boomed in the 1930s and 1940s until overfishing depleted the supply.
Today, chain stores like Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and Sunglass Hut have replaced “weed-filled lots and piles of junk,” but the central plaza with bronze statues of Steinbeck and some of his characters remains. pays homage to the past.
Still, the spirit of the book's protagonist, Doc, a marine biologist modeled on the real-life scientist Ed Ricketts, lives on at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, housed in the former Hovden Cannery. With an admission fee of $59.95, this aquarium is worth the splurge, offering the chance to encounter creatures large and small, mysterious and unusual.
“We're bringing the ocean to people and inspiring them with things they might not otherwise see,” said Maddie Frazier, the aquarium's naturalist at the bayfront building. he said as he led me into a kelp forest modeled after the one just beyond the glass wall.
A wing dedicated to deep-sea ecology featured bright red blood-bellied comb jellyfish, filamentous bioluminescent siphonophores, and a 4-foot-tall spider crab lumbering through the darkness. The dune-style aviary provided an opportunity to observe the usually fickle red knob up close. A bat ray glided beneath hesitant fingers in a shallow touch tank.
A few blocks away, Katie Blandin opened her five-year-old cocktail bar as a “pearl of pearls” described in “Cannery Row” as “the gap between day and night where time stands still and you stare at yourself.” We named it “Pearl Hour” after “time”.
We met during happy hour, Wednesday through Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m., where classic cocktails like the Corpse Reviver No. 2 are available for $10 (regularly $13). Brandin has planted succulents, flowers and herbs in the bar's backyard, many of which are used in her cocktails.
“I think cocktails need to have a sense of terroir, too,” she said.
old monterey
A Spanish and then Mexican outpost dating back to the 17th century, Monterey's oldest parts lie about a mile south of Cannery Row in a pedestrian-friendly downtown lined with historic adobe building signs. .
Among several affordable hotels, I booked Hotel Abrego. His $130-a-night room here included a Keurig coffee machine and a spacious glass-enclosed shower. The resort fee of $20 per night includes room rate, covered parking, hot breakfast buffet, and a glass of wine.
The lively Alvarado Street, lined with restaurants and shops, is within walking distance. The Cooper Morella Adobe complex, built in the 19th century, has an orchard, barn, and house museum (free of charge) behind its walls, as well as Alta Bakery and Café, where we had coffee ($3) on a secluded patio .
A block away, Ad Astra Bread Company offers aromatic sourdough bread ($10 each) made by Ron Mendoza, a former pastry chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant Aubergine near Carmel. It's on sale.
Deborah Lerman, editor and publisher of food magazine Edible Monterey Bay, which nominated both bakeries, said, “Over the past five years, some of our nation's top chefs have abandoned fine dining in favor of artisan food.'' I started a business,” he said.
Brewpub Alvarado Street Brewery was buzzing when I stopped in for a quinoa bowl ($16) and Mai Tai Tropical IPA ($8). At El Charrito Express, my favorite cheap restaurant nearby, he was offering a hearty barbaco wrap stuffed with marinated beef, beans, and rice for $6.99.
From the beginning, bringing your penny-pinching budget to chic Carmel-by-the-Sea, the one-square-mile seaside town where actor Clint Eastwood once served as mayor, seemed like a losing bet. felt.
There is also a fee to go there. The 17 Mile Drive, a scenic route along the coast, costs $12 by car. Luckily, it's free for cyclists, so we were able to save money on renting a bike to explore Monterey's famous biking routes.
I rented an electric bike ($40 for 4 hours) from the Monterey bike shop Mad Dogs & Englishmen to ease the long drive, about 45 miles round trip, and its hills. The deal included complimentary valet parking for my car at the adjacent Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa.
On a cool January morning, foamy aquamarine waves crashed over the granite boulders that barricaded the shore, and I was tempted to stop every half mile to watch them swirl. A thick fog rolled in as we arrived at the area's famous coastal links, making the sandy bunkers and wind-shorn cypress trees look dramatic. We entered Carmel, passing landscape painters and the amazing Pebble Beach mansions.
Surrounded by high-end retailers like Tiffany and Bottega Veneta, we found a new Korean restaurant, Jeju Kitchen, in the open-air Carmel Plaza. The salmon bowl I had wasn't cheap at $26, but it was delicious, filling, and only a few dollars more expensive than the Carmel Farmers' Market food truck across the street.
Monarch butterfly, sequoia and waterfall
With 199 miles of coastline, it was much easier to stretch your budget for nature in Monterey.
I started at the 2.4-acre Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary. Here, mature Monterey pine trees attract overwintering butterflies, which are known to congregate in flocks of up to 1,000 from November to February (free of charge).
Using binoculars, we observed bright orange monarch butterflies catching early morning light from the tips of pine branches like mini solar panels. A pair of deer grazed in the shade below while a flock of acorn woodpeckers chatted in the treetops. The abundance of birds attracted the attention of two red-eared hawks, which glided silently by.
We continued south along the coast and spent a sunny afternoon at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve ($10 admission). This rocky headland has been the setting for classic Hollywood films such as Alfred Hitchcock's “Rebecca,'' and has fascinated photographers Edward Weston and Ansel Adams.
Kathleen Lee, executive director of the Point Lobos Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the park with fundraising efforts, said the preserve has special protection status within the state park system, which means it has a special protection status for the cypress forest. It was established through donations of land. and doctor training. In her phone interview, she guided me through the forest, noting that it was “one of only two remaining native Monterey cypress forests in California.”
Paths wind bravely through wind-carved trees above dizzying cliffs. Below, harbor seals appeared in the undertow of the cove. A short drive south, we clambered over the wet rocks of Weston Beach, named after the photographer, to find tidal pools filled with starfish, sea anemones, and hermit crabs.
The fading light followed me out of the park as I set off south, determined to take a drive down Big Sur's famously winding Highway 1 before dark. The rugged coastline, lined with towering redwoods and mountains that jut out to sea, was named El Sur Grande, or Big South, by Mexican settlers as an uncharted wilderness.
Ripplewood Resort, 32 miles south of Point Lobos, began in the 1920s when the highway was being built. So we booked a rustic but comfortable cabin for $135 a night and woke up to find it ideally located just a few miles north of Big Sur Bakery. It was a beacon of artisanal baking that seemed impossible in such a remote location (cheddar and chive scones cost $5.50).
Ripplewood is also near a series of coastal parks, including Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park offers ridge-top ocean views from the 4-mile Buzzards Roost Trail, which climbs through a redwood forest ($10 admission; all state parks offer one-day admission). Nine miles further south, McWay Falls cascades onto the pristine beaches of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. In between, I stopped at frequently populated areas to look for migrating gray whales with telltale vomit.
Safari and tasting
The survival of the southern sea otter in California is a story of resurgence. Driven to near extinction for their thick fur, sea otters managed to survive in Big Sur's most remote coves and rocky outcrops, where a few were discovered in 1938. Currently numbering around 3,000, the endangered marine mammals are some of the most charismatic marine mammals. Kelp layer inhabitants of the Central Coast.
They also occur at Elkhorn Slough, a coastal wetland preserve in Moss Landing, about 44 miles north of Monterey. So I boarded Monterey Bay Eco Tours' electric catamaran and strolled the calm waters for a 90-minute cruise ($45).
Within minutes, we spotted a harbor seal pulled up to the muddy shore, as well as marbled pipiens, black stilts, and golden pipers, all part of the park's more than 300 bird species. The mother otter fed the baby sea cucumber, gave it swimming lessons, and carried the sleeping baby sea cucumber on her back.
“Elkhorn Slough is a low-stress environment for them,” says naturalist guide Cindy Rice, who leads the tour.
Our final destination, the drive to the vineyards of Monterey, passes through the farmlands around Salinas, where 70% of America's salad greens are grown, to the Salinas Valley, where Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes are grown at the base of the Santa River. It is approximately 32 miles away. Lucia series.
A vintage tractor led me to the family-owned Rustique Wines, where its cheerful tasting room in a former dairy barn was filled with more than just connoisseurs quietly passing and evaluating wines. It was filled with sociable people enjoying glasses of Estate Pinot Noir and oak barreled Chardonnay. In the spirit of happy hour everywhere.
Winemaker Chad Silacci and two other family members worked the bar and the audience. Founded in 2006, the winery has built a following through concerts, events, and warm hospitality (tastings cost $20, free with the purchase of two bottles).
“We want it to be a comfortable space,” Silacci said, gesturing to the tasting room's couches and chairs arranged around a wood-burning stove. “It's like walking into a family's living room.”
I finished my rustic pinot, thinking that, like many investments in Monterey, this investment had yielded a windfall.
Follow New York Times Travel upon Instagram and Sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter Get expert tips to travel smarter and inspiration for your next vacation.Are you dreaming of a future vacation? Or just an armchair trip? Check out our 52 places I want to go in 2024.