There is no fee for walkers, hikers, and bicyclists. Pacific Grove is winter home to thousands of Monarch butterflies. To learn more about them, view a video at the Museum of Natural History. You'll find the complete list at city hall. Carmel Valley is rapidly gaining a national reputation as a wine-producing region.
Many tasting rooms offer free samples.
There is a Zen Buddhist Center further down Carmel Valley Road, open to day guests from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from early May to September. Big Sur is wild, beautiful, lonely, and magnificent. Stretching from Carmel in the north to Cambria in the south, it offers 90 miles of ocean vistas, parks, beaches, and wildlife sanctuaries. You can stop off at Henry Miller's library or take an all day tour of Hearst's Castle in San Simeon. Whales migrating from feeding grounds in the Arctic Ocean to breeding grounds in the Gulf of California pass within sight of the coast from December to March.