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Monterey

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.

Explore Monterey

  • Monterey Bay Aquarium

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

  • Pacific House

    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,…

  • Monterey State Historic Park

    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…

  • M

    Monterey Museum of Art

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

  • D

    Dali17

    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…

  • S

    Stevenson House

    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…

  • Cannery Row

    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…

  • C

    Custom House

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

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Monterey.

  • See

    Monterey Bay Aquarium

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

  • See

    Pacific House

    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,…

  • See

    Monterey State Historic Park

    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…

  • See

    Monterey Museum of Art

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

  • See

    Dali17

    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…

  • See

    Stevenson House

    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…

  • See

    Cannery Row

    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…

  • See

    Custom House

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

Guidebooks

Learn more about Monterey

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