A drive from Los Angeles to Carmel-by-the-Sea enshrines the notion West Coast is best coast. A demonstration of California’s rich landscape diversity and impressive vastness, a journey on the US 101 and/or I-5 takes you through coastal towns, wine country, agriculture hubs, chaparral shrubland and coniferous forests.
But in the name of beauty, and if you have the extra time, consider an elongated road trip up Pacific Coast Highway. There will be plenty of time for rest once you arrive in Carmel. For the first time in three years, Highway 1 fully reopened through Big Sur in January. Its closure — due to post-storm landslides and cliff collapses — led to $438 million in economic loss as of September 2025, according to a report by Beacon Economics and Visit California. San Simeon and Big Sur experienced the most severe losses. Highly dependent on tourism and Highway 1, tourism spending dropped 42% and 20%, respectively, in 2023 and 2024.
It’s all the more reason to take the long road. Consider jumping onto PCH from the 101 near San Luis Obispo, where you can stop for a sandwich High Street Deli (yes, it’s worth the wait) and stretch your legs. Onto Highway, consider pitstops in Morro Bay for oysters, in San Simeon for a Hearst Castle tour and along Big Sur for a view of McWay Falls and exploration of its parks. It’s only right to soak up one of the country’s most famed highways with a true California spirit and take it easy.
Stay
L’Auberge CarmelCredit: Courtesy L’Auberge Carmel
In Carmel-by-the-Sea, which felt a 6% drop in tourism spending, L’Auberge Carmel hotel operator Janet Elarmo already noticed a difference following the reopening of Highway 1. “We didn’t have really a slow period,” she tells Los Angeles just ahead of Easter weekend. It also helps that Carmel had an unseasonably warm winter, making the seaside gem sparkle a little extra for visitors.
An Airbnb can set visitors up for a local-type experience, but the 42 hotels and inns within the village prime tourists for a more efficient experience. Step out the door and you’re steps from Carmel’s galleries, wine tasting rooms, shops and restaurants. Lodgings span from dog friendly institutions to charming boutique hotels and reliable chain brand outposts.
Credit: Courtesy L’Auberge Carmel
For a property most emblematic of the town — welcoming, quietly affluent, enchanting — book one of the 20 rooms at L’Aurberge Carmel. The Relais & Châteaux property was first built in 1929 and upholds its mission to blend heritage and hospitality, even with upgrades like floor heating, Penhaligon’s Quercus toiletries and steady Wi-Fi. In the room I stay in (Number 19), a sage green wooden door opens to a king size bed and hardwood floors. My exploration of the tasteful flourishes (lamp bases made to look like coral, a sleek free-standing bathtub, a mustard yellow landline made to look like a router phone) is cut short by a knock at the door. A staff member arrives with fresh cookies, which I enjoy next to the courtyard view window that offers a picturesque view of the bubbling fountain and the hotel’s storybook architecture.
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“I see hospitality as always being helpful but not intrusive,” Elarmo says. Her point is especially apparent when, on the final morning of my stay, I receive a phone call checking if I wanted room service because I had not yet made it to the restaurant for the hotel’s signature breakfast (the day before, I enjoyed an flavorsome mushroom bowl with arugula, a poached egg and sourdough toast), which was ending soon. The morning dining is inclusive in all hotel stays — and includes coffee, juice, fresh fruit, a pastry, a wellness juice shot and choice of main dish, like my mushroom bowl or eggs bacon and toast — and proves the hotel is living up to the same standards as its two Michelin star restaurant, Aubergine.
Eat
Serving just five tables per night, Aubergine presents a seasonal multi-course tasting menu of dishes that celebrated the region and is helmed by executive chef-director Justin Cogley (who is a co-operator of the hotel). The menu has featured delicate creations like splendid alfonsino with corn custard, zucchini, saffron and broth of Iberico ham and aged beef tartare with caviar and melon.
“I like proving people wrong,” Cogley says. “When I first started here, I was told that, number one, that we’d never bring any attention to Carmel.” The Pennsylvania native, by way of Chicago, arrived in Carmel in 2010. “It was sort of a graveyard. Everyone was 80-plus years old and there was a lot of terrible food,” he recalls. The tides started to turn when Cogley won Food & Wine’s best new chef title in 2013. Michelin later awarded Aubergine its first star in 2019, which drove business up 20%, followed by a second star in 2024. “Here there’s a lot of opportunity, plus the product is great, of course and the weather is much better, and overall, it’s just a better quality of lifestyle,” says Cogley, who is an avid runner.
Bar at The SalonCredit: L’Auberge Carmel
AubergineCredit: L’Auberge Carmel
The intimate size of the dining room warrants mostly special occasion diners — birthdays, anniversaries, various other celebrations — though they’ve been known to have a handful of regulars. And unlike many other fine dining institutions, Aubergine can accommodate for allergies and dietary restrictions. “Everyone loves how quaint this place is, and nothing we do here is mass produced,” Elarmo says. “There’s a lot of curation.”
If a fine dining experience isn’t in the cards for you, The Salon offers a taste of the Aubergine experience in a lounge-style environment with a la carte dishes and expert cocktails. The bartender can whip you up any classic drink, but consider the Biko-Biko, a fat-washed milk punch with rum, apple brandy and coconut, a must). And sometime next year, L’Auberge Carmel will expand its culinary offerings with The Corner Market. “We’re just doing our interpretation of our own seafood restaurant,” Elarmo says.
Credit: Courtesy Stationæry
Elsewhere in town, Carmel’s restaurants prove it as ample destination for culinary travel. From day-to-night, European bistro La Bicyclette is hardly ever seen without a crowd pouting out onto the sidewalk, and Bud’s in La Playa Hotel makes the case for enjoying oysters, patatas bravas and a stiff cocktail in a windowless space. On the other side of the village, Stationæry seasonal California cooking delights at brunch and dinner. My evening visit was made special by kind, attentive staff and a lobster roll paired with a glass of gamay. The next day, my final meal in Carmel was the on-theme Monterey Sandwich (with marinated sardines, cucumber, red onions, capers and dill) at Nora’s. I can’t wait to be back to try the Italian-forward restaurant’s pasta dishes that many lunchers even braved during the afternoon.
Nora’sCredit: Courtesy Visit Carmel
Do
Credit: Visit Carmel
In Carmel, it is easy to spend the day by letting it take you as you go. Between meals, walk through town and fall down the tucked away courtyards and passageways, filled with galleries, shops and wine tasting rooms. The play-it-by-ear approach is how I spend my time between appointments and reservations. I pick up a few birthday cards at Somewhere in Carmel and tchotchkes at Pilgrims Way Bookstore before strolling through the Carmel Art Association gallery.
Later, I take a turn into Dawn’s Dream Winery for a tasting and become better acquainted with chardonnay and pinot noir. The owner, Dawn Galante, is the daughter of Jack Galante, who is the great grandson of James Frank Devendorf, a founder of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Dawn, who carries on her father’s winemaking tradition, names her vintages after her grandkids. I sip a glass of the 2023 Frances Jane white wine, which features a sketch of a French bulldog on the label. “That’s my dog,” Elarmo, a Monterey Peninsula native, later tells me. “For whatever reason, Remy is on the label.”
Credit: Visit Carmel
In addition to soaking up the village, longtime locals like Elarmo, Jimmy at Dawn’s Dream Winery and Jeff Burghardt of Visit Carmel-by-the-Sea will encourage you to visit the quintessential spots that best showcase their town’s magic. So, to get it all in, consider making an itinerary for one or two of your visiting days. It’s not a proper Carmel trip if you don’t make it to the fairytale cottages, the Scenic Road Walkway or Point Lobos.
An Artist’s Colony
Credit: Courtesy Visit Carmel
More than 60 percent of Carmel-by-the-Sea homes in 1910 were owned by residents in the arts, and that creative-minded foundation has stayed part of the town ever since. Now, a walk around town can become an art adventure through nearly 100 galleries. Here are three not to miss.
Founded in 1927, Carmel’s oldest gallery has been artist-owned and -operated for nearly 100 years and showcases various types of art and media styles by artists living on the Monterey Peninsula.
Ansel Adams, Cole Weston and Wynn Bullock started Friends of Photography in 1967 to promote photography as a fine art, holding shows at galleries in San Francisco and Carmel. The latter is now home to the Center for Photographic Art and its presentation of contemporary photography and lecture series.
Carmel’s oldest commercial gallery is both an art gallery and a frame shop. Founded in 1959 by a Dutch couple who moved to California from the East Coast, Zantman Art Galleries showcases fine art from artists ranging from contemporary Spanish creator Ana Moran to Frank Ashley and his equestrian portraits.
Event Schedule
Credit: Courtesy Visit Carmel
Carmel’s peak season — June through October — is made extra special by annual community and culture events. Summer gets well underway with Culinary Week from June 5 to 13. More than 30 eateries are expected to participate — an impressive number given that the town is home to about 60 restaurants. The week is set to feature events surrounding wine, Italian family-style feasting, seafood and more. There’s also the Carmel Bach Festival — two weeks of classical music performances, art installations, talks and educational events — from July 11 to 25. Later, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance brings the finest cars in the world to the Monterey Peninsula on Aug. 16. And come October, the Carmel International Film Festival takes over the Founders Theatre at the Golden Bough Playhouse and the Meet the Makers event presents an artist-owned gallery tour and wine tasting.
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