Seventeen Mile Drive

Carmel lies just a few miles beyond Pacific Grove and there is no more perfect way to arrive than along the famous Seventeen-Mile Drive, which meanders around the Monterey Peninsula coastline between the two towns. The route is easy to find as the road that leads to the “drive” intersects Lighthouse Avenue and is appropriately called The Seventeen-Mile Drive. The Seventeen-Mile Drive loops through an exclusive residential area of multimillion-dollar estates and gorgeous golf courses. Because the land is private a toll per car is levied at the entrance gate, where you’ll receive a map indicating points of interest along the way. The scenic drive traces the low-lying shore, passes rocky coves where kelp beds are home to sea lions, sea otters, cormorants, and gulls (remember to bring your binoculars), and meanders through woodlands where Monterey pines gnarled by the wind stand sentinel on lonely headlands. Along the drive is the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course, site of the National Pro-Am Golf Championship each January