Things to do in Carmel-by-the-Sea

Carmel-by-the-Sea is about 2 hours south of San Francisco on Highway 1, a fraction of the size of neighbouring Monterey and built to a walkable, village scale rather than a commercial waterfront one.

The town has no street addresses or streetlights in its historic core, and Carmel Beach at the foot of Ocean Avenue is a genuine white-sand beach rather than a boardwalk attraction. Ocean Avenue itself is lined with galleries, small shops and cafes running downhill toward the water, and a coffee here runs roughly $4-6.

Most visitors cover the centre on foot in half a day, then continue south toward Big Sur, whose photographed points start another 30-45 minutes down the coast.