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Hotel Class: 
3 Stars - 57 Opinions
24815 Carpenter Street at Valley Way, Carmel, California, 93921, United States
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of people enjoy staying here
57 Opinions
Dawson Cole Art Gallery
Follow the arrow to the Arawan restaurant
Gloomy entrance to Doud Gallery
Em Le's at dusk
We will be leaving from LA to carmel, monterey,san francisco and napa. I want to know if we could stay in carmel and just travel to monterey and big sur. I believe we will be going up the 101 (scenice highway). How long does it take to get from LA to carmel?
I was thinking about staying at the candle light in. We will only be there one night. Are there any suggestions on things we must do if we have half a day on sunday-sunday night-and half a day on monday.
How far is it from carmel to San Francisco?
Thank for your help
hwy 1 is the most scenic route take that instead of 101. staying in carmel is a good location to stay in and visit monterey and big sur
Definitely agree on Pacific Coast Highway 1 being far more beautiful & scenic.
Carmel is fine, as is Monterey or Seaside, which may have more reasonable rates, to see both and Big Sur. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is spectacular, as is the 17-mile drive. About 120 miles and a perfect half-day drive. Enjoy.
First of all realize that while you are on Rte 1 (which is the scenic highway as was already pointed out) that in many places south of Carmel you will only average 30 MPH because of it winding along the coast. So if u are planning on going to Carmel, Monterrey and north to SF, it would really take up a lot of your time to go to Big Sur, as it is further south and not close to 101 (which is the faster highway).You would have to drive on Rte 1 for a long time.
Carmel is about 2-2 1/4 hours from SF if you go Rte 1 to Rte 17 (at Santa Cruz) to 101 or 280 North to SF.
What to do? You're in one of the most beautiful nature areas in the world! Walk around town of Carmel near the sea, go to Pt. Lobos State Reserve, Monterey Aquarium, Monterey Boardwalk and see the seals, if you're into golf take 17 Mile Drive through Pebble Beach Golf Course (you have to pay though), go up to Santa Cruz to the boardwalk with the wooden roller-coaster or the Monterey boardwalk, see if any whale sight-seeing ships are leaving from Monterey, etc etc.
After an exciting day of whale watching out at sea, we drove down from Monterey to Carmel via the 17 Mile Drive. It is everything you could imagine it to be and more!!! It was the most beautiful day for this drive! Clear blue skies and an offshore wind that swept along the coast, giving way to whitecaps in the ocean. There are several amazing points along the way and we fully took advantage of each one!! :)
The second trail the ranger recommended was from a parking area near Cypress Cove. At this parking lot an information station and restrooms are conveniently located. We proceeded along a trail near the information station and followed it to Cypress Cove. Here we realized that this was not the loop trail the ranger had recommended. It was the wrong trail. But at a place like Point Lobos, can there be a wrong trail? We had taken the Old Veteran Trail, and were compensated with nice views of the cove that included an impressive cypress tree that was growing right out of the bluff above the water. We considered ourselves fortunate to have stumbled into this brief diversion from our planned course.
check out some of the lovely houses here. Oops... sorry. MANSIONS, I mean. :-) The homes situated along the rugged coastline cost a bomb (so I heard) and since I can only afford to dream of staying here one day... I'll like to share with you a pic of my dream house! :-)) I've always been brought up to THINK BIG. So, here it is! Part of the quirkiness of Carmel-by-the-Sea is that there are no street addresses here! And properties are identified by their cross streets and locations such as three houses down on Dolores. Also, cottages are given names such as Doll House. Very amusing!
Be polite...be couteous...dont freak out at the prices..if its too expensive, go somewhere else. Dont sit and whine to your waiter. Also remember EVERYONE wants a 7:30 saturday night reservation....be smart...be flexible...do you really want to dine with EVERYONE?? Go at a better time or a better night.restaurants are packed at this time and its impossible for establishments to provide excellent service all the time during a mad rush. and on Holidays!!?? What were you thinking??..be patient...look at the Big Picture...see how crowded a place is...and if they quote you a long wait..dont freak out!! its not their fault..its really yours for not planning better. if you have hypoglycemic issues or health concerns..travel smart..have some power bars or snacks in your car and hotel...dont be at the mercy of a packed house for a morsel of bread or a sip of water.
many restaurants will have more than one person wait on you...usually a busser as well
usually Mexican...dont bark orders to them..be respectful...also another person might deliver your food...this doesn't mean your server is slacking by any means...hot food needs to go out Now and good places will get other servers to help with this. Waiters are busy and its stressful..they may have 4,5,or 6 other tables or more!! all wanting things...see the big picture and oh yeah when your server is telling the specials???....dont make faces in disgust of something you may not like. If you are rude to these professionals they will shut down and turn into a robot waiter and you dont want that do you? By the way a$10 tip on a $90 check is not good. Be generous..money is like water it needs to flow..
UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE :-) !!
1. Part of the quirkiness of this community is that there are no street addresses.
Properties are identified by their cross streets and locations such as 'three houses
down on Dolores.' In addition, cottages are given names such as 'Doll House.'
2. There is no mail delivery. Mail is picked up at the Post Office on 5th Avenue between Dolores and San Carlos Streets. The post office is a place to meet neighbors.
3. Among its more unusual ordinances is one requiring a permit to wear certain high heel shoes. Since part of Carmel's charm is its urban forest, walking may be more difficult than elsewhere and an ordinance was created for liability reasons though rarely enforced.
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