Carmel Mission - Monterey & Carmel, California

The Carmel Mission, or San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo Mission, to give its full name, was originally not in Carmel at all. Father Junipero Serra founded the mission at the Monterey Presidio in 1770, making it the second of California’s missions. It was moved to its current Carmel location on Rio Road, where there was better soil and water, the following year.


Although the mission was destroyed in the middle of the nineteenth century, it has undergone extensive renovations. Today the mission is a U.S. Historic Landmark, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the only California mission to retain its original bell tower.

The mission is still home to a Catholic parish and, as well as holding mass several times each day, hosts regular concerts, art exhibitions and community events. Spanish Colonial liturgical art and artifacts are displayed throughout the church, which also features arched ceilings and thirty-foot altarpieces.

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Cannery Row - Monterey, California

In 1958, Monterey’s most famous waterfront street changed its official name from Ocean View Avenue to its long-time nickname Cannery Row in honor of the 1945 John Steinbeck novel of the same name.


Today’s Cannery Row is a far cry from that of the “tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron …” described in Steinbeck’s novel. There has not been a cannery here since 1973 and the street is now filled with shops, from boutiques to chain stores, hotels and restaurants -- and usually populated by more tourists than locals.

It is a wonderful place for strolling, admiring ocean views, snacking on salt-water taffy, gaining easy beach access and watching the many characters that gravitate here. The world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium is located at the northern end of Cannery Row, housed in what was once a sardine cannery.

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Monterey Bay Aquarium - Monterey & Carmel, California

There is a reason that Monterey Bay is considered the top aquarium in the country and draws around two million visitors a year. The nearly 200 exhibits and galleries feature 623 different species of plants and creatures: from adorable sea otters to otherworldly jellyfish, swirling sardines and crafty sharks that glide through the water.


Visitors can get up-close with bat rays at the petting pool, and watch divers hand-feed sharks and fish at the kelp forest and blackfooted penguins in the Splash Zone.

What makes Monterey Bay Aquarium so special is its commitment to environmental conservation and education. The aquarium continuously pumps Monterey Bay ocean water through the tanks. During the day the water is filtered for clarity and at night the unfiltered water brings in food in the form of plankton. Waste ocean water from the aquarium is returned to the bay – making the aquarium essentially a part of the ocean.

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