Monterey vacation rentals
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Top-rated vacation rentals in Monterey
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- Private room
- Monterey
Spacious dog-friendly room in a large bay-view property close to town, available for minimum 30 day booking. Includes use of the kitchen, dining room, living room, yard, and deck! Walking distance from shopping and restaurants, yet situated in a quiet forest: seclusion when you want it, access when you need it. Please not that although we welcome dogs, because of past damage we can no longer allow cats on the premises.
- Entire cottage
- Pebble Beach
Our private detached guest cottage is super charming with its wood burning fireplace, large deck and stunning ocean views. We are a short distance to The Lodge, famous 17 Mile Drive & Seddon Cove. We are located in the exclusive Estate section of Pebble Beach. Centrally located- 5 min to Carmel Beach, 7 min to Carmel, 10 min to Monterey/Pacific Grove, 30 min to Big Sur. Best value in Pebble Beach!
- Entire guesthouse
- Pacific Grove
Our quaint, thoughtfully-stocked 300 sq ft cottage is located steps from the ocean, yet tucked away behind our home, affording guests ample privacy, easy parking and all the amenities of home. Sip wine on the patio after a day of adventures while listening to the surf, and sleep soundly on our king Saatva Organic hybrid mattress.
Popular amenities for Monterey vacation rentals
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Beach house rentals in Monterey
Your guide to Monterey
All About Monterey
Follow the scenic coastal Highway 1 two hours south of San Francisco and you’ll land in Monterey, a beach town on California’s Central Coast teeming with sea life and rolling sand dunes that hosts a number of historic sites. Visit Cannery Row, named for its focus as a sardine-canning hub, which houses colorful repurposed warehouses filled with art galleries and boutique shops. Pop over to Fisherman’s Wharf, a wooden pier with delicious seafood and chowder restaurants, where local outfitters can take you out on whale-watching, fishing and sailing trips, and cruises along the Monterey Bay. Follow Alvarado Street, and you’ll reach the central historic downtown district of Old Monterey with wide pedestrian walkways that connect to hundreds of shops and restaurants like Japanese tea shops, maritime pubs, and historic coffee houses.
More than just a maritime town, Monterey has drawn music lovers to its shores since the ‘60s when it hosted a historic international music festival, and golf lovers flock to its world-renowned courses.
On the city’s protected beaches, you can watch sea otters, sea lions, dolphins, and seals in their natural habitat. Just down the highway, the stunning Point Lobos State Natural Reserve offers incredible views of kelp forests, unusual rock formations, and forest and marine life.
How do I get around Monterey?
The Monterey Regional Airport (MRY) is only nine minutes away from the town center by car, and there are direct bus links that will take you from the airport to the Monterey Transit Plaza downtown in about the same amount of time. From San Francisco International Airport (SFO), it’s best to rent a car and make the two-hour drive to your Monterey vacation rental via the coastal Highway 1. A car is needed for exploring Big Sur and the Garrapata State Park, picturesque locales that are easy trips from Monerey.
The town of Monterey has a compact, pedestrian-friendly downtown with shops offering bike rentals, and the Monterey-Salinas Transit system has bus routes through the city and into neighboring small towns like Carmel-by-the-Sea and Pacific Grove.
When is the best time to stay in a vacation rental in Monterey?
Monterey has a temperate coastal climate with warm, but not hot, weather and a steady amount of sun almost year-round, save for the rainy winter. Spring heralds the return of the “Magic Carpet,” a sea of purple ice flowers that coat the seaside hills for miles between April and May. In the summer, the city is lively during August as car enthusiasts spend time cruising down the coast for a well-known car show, and world-class golfers flock to the area for an annual tournament. The area’s annual jazz festival brings fans of famous jazz, blues, and folk artists to the area each September. Winter brings holiday lights to downtown buildings, and seasonal stalls sell Mexican-spiced hot chocolate.
What are the top things to do in Monterey?
Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail
Where the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad once ran now lies an 18-mile paved pedestrian trail with unobstructed views of the ocean. There are a number of rental shops along the trail that offer bikes, in-line skates, and kayaks. Along the path, you’ll find restaurants and cafes where you can stop to catch your breath and grab some food. If you’d rather bring your own snacks, you can picnic in the designated green areas and watch the sea otters — the city’s unofficial mascot — play in the waters below.
Old Monterey
In the center of town, you’ll find Old Monterey. Restored brick and adobe buildings from the city’s Spanish and Mexican periods line a two-mile stretch known as the Path of HIstory. The small Monterey State Historic Park serves as the anchor for this district with adobe buildings and cactus gardens, and its Pacific House Museum exhibits artifacts from Indigenous, Mexican, and Spanish communities who have impacted the city. You’ll find houses of important literary and artistic figures in Old Monterey, as well as breweries, cafes tucked inside historical buildings with inviting back gardens, upscale boutiques, and candle lit fine-dining restaurants serving sustainably-caught seafood.
Monterey State Beach
This protected beach lies inside the boundaries of a state park shared with the neighboring town of Seaside, and its sand dunes topped with native scrub grasses, succulents, and wildflowers make it a stand-out in the peninsula. Beachcombers arrive early to lay their claim to a wealth of shells, and swimming, surfing, kayaking, and kite-flying are popular throughout the day. Rocky outcrops on the beach’s far side shelter a small series of tide pools teeming with wildlife like sea stars and sea cucumbers. Dogs are welcome, but only on the south side of the beach.