Built of sandstone in 1794, this graceful chapel is California’s oldest continuously functioning parish and first stone building. The original 1770 mission church stood here before being moved to Carmel. As Monterey expanded under Mexican rule in the 1820s, older buildings were gradually destroyed, leaving behind this National Historic Landmark as the strongest reminder of the defeated Spanish colonial presence. On-site docents are happy to provide tours during opening hours.
Royal Presidio Chapel & Heritage Center Museum
Monterey
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
1.68 MILES
Monterey is practically synonymous with its world-class aquarium overlooking Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which protects dense kelp forests and…
24.99 MILES
Pfeiffer Beach is at the heart of what Big Sur is all about – splendid, unusual scenery that's inspired generations of artists, writers, and travelers…
26.39 MILES
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has been an Americana classic like few others for over a century. Now as in 1907 when the amusement park first opened, the…
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve
6.06 MILES
They bark, they laze and bathe and they’re fun to watch – sea lions are the stars in this state park some 4 miles south of Carmel, along with the…
14.24 MILES
This museum will interest almost anyone, even if you don't know anything about Salinas’ Nobel Prize–winning native son, John Steinbeck (1902–68), a…
19.72 MILES
A little over 6 miles south of Bixby Bridge, Point Sur rises like a velvety green fortress out of the sea. It looks like an island, but is actually…
Seymour Marine Discovery Center
26.23 MILES
This educational center is part of UCSC’s Long Marine Laboratory. Interactive natural-science exhibits include tidal touch pools and aquariums, while…
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo
3.96 MILES
Carmel's strikingly beautiful mission is an oasis of solemnity with flowering gardens and a thick-walled basilica filled with Spanish Colonial art and…
Nearby Monterey attractions
1. Monterey Museum of Art – La Mirada
0.15 MILES
Southeast of downtown Monterey, MMA La Mirada is a silent-film star’s villa, a building whose humble adobe origins are exquisitely concealed. It is now…
0.2 MILES
Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson came to Monterey in 1879 to court his wife-to-be, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne. This building, then the French Hotel…
0.27 MILES
This stately early-19th-century adobe home was built by John Rogers Cooper, a New England sea captain, and three generations of his family resided here…
4. Monterey Museum of Art – Pacific Street
0.35 MILES
Downtown, the MMA Pacific Street is particularly strong in California contemporary art and modern landscape painters and photographers, including Ansel…
0.41 MILES
Featured in John Steinbeck’s novel Tortilla Flat, this small granite prison was built in 1856. Over a century of use, not one prisoner ever escaped.
0.41 MILES
Peek inside brick Colton Hall, where California’s first constitutional convention took place in 1849. Once the capitol of Alta (Upper) California, today…
0.52 MILES
Escaping WWII in Europe, Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí lived and worked in the Monterey and Carmel area in the 1940s. Comprising over 300 Dalí…
0.52 MILES
Find out what's currently open at Monterey State Historic Park, grab a free map and buy tickets for guided walking tours inside this 1847 adobe building,…