On rocky headlands of the Monterey Peninsula , gnarled cypress trees amplify the collision between the cliffs and the sea, marking the northern edge of the Big Sur coast, a hundred miles south of San Francisco. The lively harbor town of Monterey was the capital of California under the Spanish and briefly under the Mexicans, and retains many old adobe houses and places of genuine historic appeal alongside the requisite tourist traps. Carmel , on the other hand, three miles to the south, is a self-consciously quaint village of million-dollar holiday homes, famous for once having elected Clint Eastwood as its mayor.

Monterey Peninsula

• Monterey Peninsula
• Arrival, information and getting around
• Eating
• Drinking and nightlife

Explore Monterey Peninsula

• Carmel
• Monterey
• Pacific Grove

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