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Monterey

Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2025

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Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey.

© Federica Grassi/Getty Images

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Overview

Life in still delightfully rough-around-the-edges Monterey revolves around the sea. The city's biggest draw is a world-class aquarium overlooking Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which protects dense kelp forests and a sublime variety of marine life, including seals and sea lions, dolphins and whales. The aquarium sits on the edge of Cannery Row, which made Monterey the sardine capital of the world in the 1930s. Today it's an unabashedly touristic strip lined with souvenir shops and standard eateries in faux retro buildings. For more authenticity, take a stroll past downtown's cluster of restored buildings from the Spanish and Mexican periods.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • MONTEREY, CA - APRIL10: The exterior of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, located at Cannery Row two hours south of San Francisco, is viewed on April 10, 2018, in Monterey, California. An estimated 15 million domestic and international travelers visit California each year generating more than $100 billion in revenue and creating more than one million jobs in the arts, entertainment, recreation, food service and accomodations sectors. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

    Monterey Bay Aquarium

    Monterey

    Monterey is practically synonymous with its world-class aquarium overlooking Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which protects dense kelp forests and…

  • Monterey, CA - Aug. 2, 2012: Cannery Row. The site of a number of now-defunct sardine canning factories, Cannery Row is the waterfront street in the New Monterey section of Monterey, CA; Shutterstock ID 1265631838; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Cannery Row

    Monterey

    John Steinbeck’s novel Cannery Row immortalized the sardine-canning business that was Monterey’s lifeblood for the first half of the 20th century. A…

  • Monterey, CA -18 February 2018. The Monterey State Historic Park is composed of a number of significant historic houses and buildings interspersed throughout Old Monterey.

    Pacific House

    Monterey

    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,…

  • Garden at Monterey State Historic Park.

    Monterey State Historic Park

    Monterey

    Old Monterey is home to an extraordinary assemblage of 19th-century brick and adobe buildings administered as a state park and linked by a 2-mile self…

  • Monterey Museum of Art

    Monterey Museum of Art

    Monterey

    Downtown, MMA Pacific Street is particularly strong in California contemporary art and modern landscape painters and photographers, including Ansel Adams…

  • Custom House

    Custom House

    Monterey

    In 1822, a newly independent Mexico ended the Spanish trade monopoly and stipulated that any traders bringing goods to Alta (Upper) California must first…

  • Royal Presidio Chapel & Heritage Center Museum

    Royal Presidio Chapel & Heritage Center Museum

    Monterey

    Built of sandstone in 1794, this graceful chapel is California’s oldest continuously functioning parish and first stone building. The original 1770…

  • Dali17

    Dali17

    Monterey

    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…

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