This is a 5 day trip itinerary with our “home base” in Monterey, California. We were able see notable landmarks, drive the coast, hit up a state park, and a national park with time to rest in between.
Day 1, Friday 10/16:
We started early in Louisville and landed in San Francisco at 10:30 am. Luckily, Breeze has a direct flight to San Francisco! This time of year flights are more limited, so we could get there using Breeze, but had to return with American.
Breeze Airline: $154 per person with a carry-on. A carry-on is extra, but this time we didn’t want to cram everything into a backpack. We utilized our credit card points and this flight was covered!
Sixt Car Rental: $416. We did spend a little more to get an SUV since we knew we were heading to some parks, but a car would have done the trick and saved a few bucks.
We were in San Francisco so, of course, we had to see the Golden Gate Bridge! It took us about 40-50 minutes to get there from the airport due to traffic, but we got to see some of the city which was nice. We took some photos, and enjoyed lunch at the Round House Cafe. Here you had a great view of the bridge and Alcatraz! If I had more time, I would have loved to rent a bike and ride around in the area.
From here, we headed to HWY 1 towards Monterey. This drive took us about 3.5 hours. Lots of traffic during the drive, but it was worth it to see the beautiful views of the ocean and cliffsides. We pulled off a few times to watch the surfers and to take in the beauty! You can choose to drive straight to Monterrey using the interstate which was about an hour faster at the time.
Airbnb: Hotel 1110- $730 for 3 nights total. This hotel/Airbnb was cute and quaint. Every morning you get a made-to-order breakfast for free and it was so good! Plus we had a cute little patio attached to our room that we used to relax in the mornings and night.
Lindarose Bar and Grill: On the roof of our hotel was this cute restaurant that overlooked the ocean. The food was really good, but my favorite was an appetizer, Bake Brie and Honey! 10/10 recommend! For an app, one drink, and 2 meals it cost about $100, which was normal for the area (still hurts for a mid-west girlie, though).
Day 2, Saturday 10/17:
Breakfast at our hotel was complimentary, but since it was made to order we had to reserve a time anywhere from 8am-10:30 am. Although it was included in our reservation, we did use some cash to tip the awesome waiter/hotel manager since the service was so good.
Next we hit the road toward Big Sur! There are so many stopping points and hikes that you can explore. We decided to start at our furthest spot of interest, making stops on the way back since you have a better view of the coastline when heading south. Here are the places were stopped at, (excluding the pull off areas that are unnamed):
Mcway Falls: CHECK TO SEE IF IT’S OPEN! I was so excited to go here that I didn’t check to see if the recent fires affected the trial. Sadly, it did. But we still got to see Saddle Rock from a pull off close to the area.
Henry Miller Library: The most whimsical little book store you will ever find, surround by art and beautiful redwoods! This is across from Nepenthe which is a popular restaurant. We didn’t go as it was already crowded and were told it was very expensive, but given more time I would have loved to check it out!
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park: It’s $10 a vehicle to enter. Same as Mcway Falls, a lot of the trails were closed due to the most recent fires. However, we were able to hike Buzzard’s Roost Trail which was about 3 miles and had amazing views of the coast from the top. It also had a section with beautiful redwoods and was shaded for the most part.
Point Lobos State Park: On our way towards Big Sur in the morning, this park was very crowded. We were told that if you want to enjoy it, you need to get there super early. So, if you hang around for a nice hotel breakfast in the morning, you might wait until the afternoon to check Point Lobos out. Parking was CRAZY as we drove past in the morning. We decided to take our chances on the way back toward Monterey. We arrived around 3:00 pm and it was beginning to clear out. We picked a shorter hike where we saw sea otters, condors, and seals. The trail was Bird Island, South Plateau Trail, and Mound Meadow Trail Loop, which was about 2 miles. We ended up clocking 3 miles with the added walk to our car. If we stopped here first, I would have loved to hike Point Lobos Loop to see all the key points, but it was a little over 6 miles.
After showering off from our hikes, we went to Fisherman’s Wharf for dinner.
Abalonetti Bar and Grill- We had the lobster ravioli with prawns and it was DELICIOUS! But if you’re hunting vibes, this might not be the spot as it didn’t have the best waterfront views.
Dust Bowl Brewery- This brewery was walking distance from the Wharf and had a really cute outdoor seating area with a fire pit and heaters when it was chilly. They also had a food truck if you wanted dinner or a snack.
Day 3, Sunday 10/18:
Began our day with the hotel breakfast and a quick stop at a coffee shop near by called Plumes, before our 1.5 hour drive to Pinnacles National Park.
Pinnacles National Park: There’s a $35 fee for entry. This is a small park and I found that one trail can hit all the highlights, Condor Gulch Trail to High Peaks. The trail itself is 5.5 miles but with extra exploring and venturing off into the caves, we clocked 6.3 miles and it took us about 3.5 hours. The trail has very little shade so bring more water than you usually would. Plus the parking lot is very small. It took us about 30 minutes to park. We had to keep circling, waiting someone to leave because parking on the side of the road was prohibited. I suggest get there early or just be ready to wait. There were multiple cars circling with us.
From here, we drove back to clean up before heading out to dinner. Note to who ever is reading: it was about 10 degrees hotter in Pinnacles National Park than in Monterey. So definitely check the weather!
Heirloom Pizza - Pizza is a MUST for us on every trip we go on. They had a good selection of deep dish and thin crust. We opted for thin crust which was great, but my favorite part of the meal was their artichoke jalapeño dip! I wish I could have it now…
Pearl Hour - After dinner, we found a local bar that has a jazz night every Sunday from 8-11pm. It’s a $10 cover and the cocktails were great! I also saw a lot of people getting tea in fancy teapots and cups which was super cute! The jazz was great and they had ample seating. Plus they had a lovely seating area outside with a fire pit.
Day 4, Monday 10/19:
We had our last hotel breakfast and checked out.
Monterey Bay Aquarium: It was $65 a person, but is world-renowned! We had a lot of fun here and spent about 2 hours looking at everything.
El Torito - This mexican restaurant was a short walk from the aquarium and was right on the bay!
Cannery Row: This is a very historic area that was booming during both World Wars due to canning of fish. They have a whole section in the aquarium about the history and the factories that used to be there. Now it’s a cute shopping area which was fun to walk around.
17 Mile Drive: Entry fee is $12.50. This took us about 2 hours to complete but we stopped at multiple places to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. My favorite stop was Seal Rock, but I also enjoyed looking at the expensive houses on the drive. Great place to admire some pricey golf courses as well.
On the way home we had a choice of interstate or coast line. This time it was only a 20-30 min difference so we decided to keep the views a little bit longer. We got to enjoy one last sunset overlooking a lighthouse.
Checked in Hotel Aluxor which was less than 10 minutes away from our rental car return. This hotel was nothing great but worked for being there less than 12 hours. One night cost us $131.
Last but not least, got our west coast In-N-Out fix!
Day 5, Tuesday 10/20:
Took an early flight home with American Airlines to get home around 6:30pm. Our flight was $143 a person with bags included.
This trip was a perfect getaway! I think the amount of time spent here was perfect. I wouldn’t try to do it in less. Big thing to note is that this area is pretty pricey. We stopped at Trader Joes on day one for snacks and quick lunches to save some cash. There are definitely more reasonable places, you just have to search a little more. We didn’t get to see much of San Francisco, but there is always next time!
Photos by: Bryce Brocar and Dani Brocar
