17-Mile Drive

My yellow labrador and I walk everywhere thru Carmel. On at least one of our daily walks we get asked for directions by lost tourists how to get to the Carmel Ocean, Pebble Beach Gate or 17 mile Drive. It’s confusing with the winding streets, lack of no addresses (Carmel does not have any addresses in Carmel-by-the-Sea), and the cross-streets don’t have traditional street signs only poles on the corners. So giving directions is tough…it’s more like “turn at the large oak tree, left at brown planter boxes, right at the green house” etc). Today, it was a family on rental bikes from Virgina Beach, lost in Pescadero Canyon, which is across from 17-Mile Drive . Last year, I decided to put up this map here to give lost visitors directions. Click here or on the map image to take you to google maps to give yourself directions if you are lost.

This world famous scenic drives takes your thru dramatic cliffs, dramatic forests and immaculate golf courses. Explore Lone Cypress, Crocker Grove, Fanshell Beach, Point Joe, Bird Rock. iconic golf courses.

Make sure you visit the Pebble Beach Welcome Center across from Pebble Beach Lodge. There is an app for 17 mile drive which also gives you an audio tour of 17 mile drive. Download it from the Iphone App Store here.

The Pebble Beach Visitor Center has a interactive map which details important stops along 17-mile drive, so make sure to stop there to get more information or get a map from the gate.

SEARCH HERE WHERE TO STAY AROUND PEBBLE BEACH

Pebble Beach Gate Admission: Open only to the public sunrise to sunset, there is a fee to enter Pebble Beach gates: $10.25 per vehicle, cash only. The gate fee is reimbursed with a purchase of $35 or more at all Pebble Beach Resorts restaurants, staying at Pebble Beach hotels, or playing Pebble Beach golfCourses. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour, no gas stations, motorcycles are prohibited and watch for deer at all times.

Carmel Cartoonist Bill Bates started as a Cartoonist/Illustrator for the San Francisco Examiner with his cartoon strip “PING”.Bill moved to Carmel in 1972 and that same year he started weekly cartoons for the Carmel Pine Cone. In 2006 he became the resident cartoonist for the Monterey County Herald and a beloved Carmelite to all of us. His cartoons are still posted in the Carmel Pine Cone. Bill passed away at 79 years old in June 2009 See some of his cartoons here.

Carmel-by-the-sea: The romantic name, Carmel-by-the-Sea, was the gift of a group of women real estate developers, later used in advertising lots for “brain workers at in-door employment.” Many Stanford and UC Berkeley professors, artists, writers, and musicians left a lasting legacy here in their art and in their rejection of largescale commercial development. Click here for more info.