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Home > San Francisco > Day Trips > Monterey, Carmel and 17-Mile Drive Day Trip from San Francisco
Monterey, Carmel and 17-Mile Drive Day Trip from San Francisco
USD $89.00

Monterey, Carmel and 17-Mile Drive Day Trip from San Francisco

San Francisco, United States of America

Cruise along California's spectacular coastline on a relaxing day trip from San Francisco. You'll follow Highway 1 to the beautiful Monterey Peninsula home of the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium and Steinbeck's Cannery Row. Explore Monterey's charming shops or choose to add aquarium admission. See the stunning estates of 17-Mile Drive. Finish your day with a stop at the coastal town of Carmel by the Sea, before returning to San Francisco via famous Silicon Valley.

Escape the big city on this scenic day-trip to Monterey and Carmel. Drive along the Highway 1 with breathtaking views of the Pacific Coast seascapes and narration as you may your way down to the Bay. You'll have time to shop and have lunch in Monterey, with the option of visiting the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium, and enjoy plenty of photo stops on this scenic day trip from San Francisco. No trip to California is complete with a drive along the famous 17-Mile Drive, home to the world-renowned Pebble Beach Golf Course, the Lone Cypress, magnificent mansions, playful wildlife along the coastline and breathtaking natural beauty.

Then, you'll head to the enchanting Carmel-by-the-Sea, with a charming downtown shopping district, beautiful beaches and historic mission. On this last stop of the tour, you will have time to visit the many boutiques and art galleries.

Highlights of this day trip include:

  • Pacific Ocean drive
  • Cannery Row
  • Lone Cypress
  • Pebble Beach Lodge and golf course
  • Carmel Mission
  • Monterey Bay
  • 17-Mile Drive
  • Seal Rock
  • Carmel by the Sea
  • Pacific Grove
  • Monterey Bay Aquarium (optional visit)

Monterey Bay Aquarium option (select tour option at time of booking): Use your time in Monterey to visit the acclaimed Monterey Bay Aquarium. Spend your two hours in town to explore its fascinating exhibits with jellyfish, otters, a kelp forest and even a sunfish.This iconic attraction is a must-see!

Special Offer - Book and save 8% compared to the local supplier's prices! - Book Now!

USD $89.00
Traveler Reviews
Review by:   avantika g,    June 2018 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
The tour was very good! The bus ride was comfortable and aside from the official stops, our bus captain Do stopped at quite a few more picturesque locations! All in all a good trip! But there were a few things that could be changed. First, the hotel pickup was over 20 mins late and when I called their office I was told to come on over on my own so that I don't miss the tour. I thought it might be because of traffic or other logistic problems but it was actually not, because the pickup for the Viator Napa tour that I took was on the dot punctual. It's not a big thing but just to let travellers know that you might want to have contingency plans! The other thing was it would have been much better to stop at the beach at Carmel-by the sea instead the stop was in the town of Carmel, which is just shops and cafes etc. While the town is beautiful I think the stop should have been at the beach because most people aren't really looking to shop no one on my tour did!. It could also be nice to include both the beach and the town. But overall I would recommend the tour, Monterey Bay and the aquarium, Carmel and he 17 mile drive are gorgeous places to visit!
 

Review by:   Emily W,    June 2018 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
Just okay. The drive was pretty but would've rather stopped at beaches more than the towns
 

Review by:   Russela B,    April 2018 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Loved this trip. Danilo was a great tour guide and very knowledgeable. The bus was right on time to pick us up from our hotel and the whole experience was amazing. The drive through the California coast was breathtaking. Thank you Viator. I've already recommended to a couple of friends.
 

Review by:   joypaz2,    March 2018 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
Very interesting, but too many photo stops! Would have preferred less photo stops and more time at Pebble Beach. We only had 15 minutes there! Didn't have time to see the famous 18th hole. Barely had enough time for restroom!
 

Review by:   George W,    March 2018 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
For the most part this trip was very good and would have been even better in nicer weather rained off and on. It is a lot of bus time but the scenery is beautiful and there were numerous stops along the way, although at times the driver seemed a bit unsure of where to pull off the highway. We made the 17 mile drive through Pebble Beach in the pouring rain so it was not possible to stop for any pictures but you still got an appreciation for some of the mansions along the route. The stop in Monterey was very good with plenty of time to view the sites and/or visit the Aquarium. The Aquarium is well worth a visit but it is pricey - 50.00 US for adults, 40 US for seniors. The most disappointing part of the tour was Carmel where we had an hour's free time and we were dropped off at a shopping centre. Would much rather have spent the time seeing some of the sights in Carmel e.g. Walking tour or at least a map and some direction as to what to see in the allotted time.
 

Review by:   Enrica D,    March 2018 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Excellent experience! Very good service and gread tour guide, Mr. Danillo. He was nice, friendly and very informative. I highly recommend this tour.
 

Review by:   Ali Sarkhouh,    February 2018 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
This tour was amazing!
 

Review by:   Alina M,    February 2018 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
The tour was everything I hoped it would be. Many more photo stops than I thought. We were never rushed. Large bus accommodated the fgroup well. The guide was delightful witty and a resource to the city. Easy ting. _br/_ Only suggestion is call night before touf.
 

Review by:   Meredith H,    February 2018 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
I had taken this tour years ago and wanted to take my daughter. The scenery was beautiful, but the trip longer than I remembered. The stop in Monterey was nice, but the stop in Carmel was an unfinished upscale mall. Luckily there were shops behind it. The driver Kenneth interacted with everyone on the bus, remembered where we were from and asked questions about it. He was very genial and seemed genuinely interested in learning about everything. He had even visited places where the passengers were from. A real asset to the company.
 

Review by:   James S,    January 2018 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
A must do trip. The scenic drive along the coast was breathtaking. Monterey and Carmel are great tourist communities. Our driver/guide was a wealth of information and a real personality who made the long trip fun.
 

Review by:   James S,    January 2018 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
A must do trip. The scenic drive along the coast was breathtaking. Monterey and Carmel are great tourist communities. Our driver/guide was a wealth of information and a real personality who made the long trip fun.
 

Review by:   aherman,    January 2018 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
We traveled in a comfortable coach driven by Thomas, our guide for the trip. His commentary of places we were passing on our journey was both informative and interesting. He kept us engaged and answered all of our questions. Thomas was respectful of each individual's needs while keeping everyone on schedule. The coastal scenery was spectacular and we had several opportunities to capture it on camera. Overall a wonderful trip. Thank you Thomas for making it so interesting and pleasurable.
 

Review by:   Karen D,    January 2018 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Excellent in every way a very knowledgeable and nice driver, who timed everything so well.
 

Review by:   Joanna T,    January 2018 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
Fantastic trip which I would highly recommend. I only had a few days in San Fran and wanted to see some of the coastline. _br/_ Bus was comfy and driver was lovely. _br/_ Views were spectacular and we got to see amazing parts of the coastline.
 

Review by:   Lillianne G,    January 2018 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Excellent tour! Our guide had lots of stories and was very personable. He knew exactly where to stop tp get the most ahh's
 

Review by:   guan-huat.teo,    January 2018 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
I always like Grey Line Tour in USA or Canada!
 

Review by:   Chai Ling T,    December 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
Read about beautiful Monterey, Carmel and the Big Sur many times, and always wanted to visit for myself. Finally did and it was great! Beautiful seascapes and landscapes!
 

Review by:   Elizabeth S,    November 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
WE should never have had a stop in Davenport. Only a short time into the ride - that place was the most disgusting, filthy place I have seen in a long time. One bathroom for all and not even toilet paper. Garbage all over outside. No help in the food area and long lines as a result. A terrible waste of time and for no reason. Driver - Kevin - was good and provided tons of information on everything. So I would rate him 5 stars.
 

Review by:   andrew b,    November 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
excellent !
 

Review by:   shaz0052,    November 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Amazing trip, fantastic reviews, Monterey and Carmel are beautiful, made staying in dirty, drug addict, homeless infested San Francisco totally worth it. The driver was also amazing
 

Review by:   Sam S,    November 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Have done this tour a few times and never get tired of it. Will certainly do it again! Plenty of time by the beautiful Pacific Coast!!! Great information from the tour guide.
 

Review by:   mick,    November 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
great tour highly recomended
 

Review by:   Marsha H,    November 2017 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
Great trip but would have liked spending less time in Monterry and more in Carmel and more at Pebble Beach
 

Review by:   momschmid29,    November 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
We enjoyed our day trip to Monterey, Carmel. Our driver Kenneth was amazing! Friendly, informative, funny and made the drive very enjoyable. _br/_ The only recommendation is one of the stops we made at Arro's Store/tourist bus stop. The conditions of store and bathrooms were filthy. Waited in long lines to use one bathroom outside. I would not stop there! _br/_ Would totally recomend this day trip. The views and stops are breathtaking.
 

Review by:   Caroline U,    November 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
The best so far in my San Francisco Tour. So lovely. A tour I will never fall out of love. Even if I repeat it many, many times. How I wish you can make tour that will allow your guests to stay for an overnight in Monterey and Carmel.
 

Review by:   Margaret Mary W,    October 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Our tour guide was great! Although the fog rolled in, he kept stopping so we could take pictures. He would tell us the history, so we could appreciate the view even if it wasn't as clear as we wanted. It was a wonderful experience even with the foggy times.
 

Review by:   Sylvain M,    October 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
excellent tour! Lot of explanations and details... Ray : excellent driver and guide!!
 

Review by:   emily_saturnino,    October 2017 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
I've been to San Francisco many times but had not gone to Monterey, Carmel and the 17 mile drive. It was nice. The driver was okay.
 

Review by:   Neha J,    October 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
This tour was amazing!
 

Review by:   Jorge H,    October 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Awesome views, great tour!
 

Review by:   MATTEO V,    October 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
Great to see.....But to much time spend on the coach
 

Review by:   W S K,    October 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
7 of us took this all day tour. Viator was poor at discussing pick up locations and our hotel was not on their pick up list. The reason for this is that the tour company was directly across the street from the hotel. The tour is actually operated by Greyhound. The weather was superb and the scenery stunning. Of all the tours we have taken this one is definitely one of the best. Plenty of time for an excellent lunch at Fish Hopper on Monterey. The walk down to the beach in Carmel was delightful although the water mid October was 52 degrees so just a quick chance to dip your toes in the Pacific Ocean. Plenty of time to enjoy the Pebble Beach Golf Links and walk down the the famous 18th. Hole. Highly recommended.
 

Review by:   Bethan G,    October 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Great tour, would recommend this tour to see some beautiful places!
 

Review by:   deede.ingram,    October 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
The views were spectacular on the bus ride down to Carmel by the Sea. This trip was more than expected and Randy the Bus driver just made it more enjoyable. Randy stopped at a fruit stand where we were able to buy strawberries that were delicious.
 

Review by:   David J,    October 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
For a quick day trip, it was no fuss and very convenient! Easy pick up and drop off. The driver was very informative and the drive was smooth. Enjoyed having some time to sight see - though, some of these places could be day trips on to themselves.
 

Review by:   hang51bis,    October 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Our family enjoyed the beautiful coastal line of this tour going from San Francisco to Monterey and Carmel, CA. It was nice weather, sunny with a nice cool weather in the morning. Our bus driver was friendly.
 

Review by:   Jerry B,    October 2017 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
The trip was too long and the driver/guide not so good.
 

Review by:   Margery B,    October 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
It was a long day tour but very interesting. We enjoyed it a lot.
 

Review by:   ddkyoung,    September 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
This was great. Tour guide/driver made it all interesting. We did not spend much time in Carmel and by the time we got there a lot,of the places were closing. Its too bad the bus cant park near the beach area. The rest of the trip was fabulous, its a beautiful area.
 

Review by:   Lino C,    September 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
Overall a good trip. Gary our driver was informative and sprinkled in the right amount of light-hearted humour. Definitely sit on the right side of the bus for best views of the coast. I think there were too many stops on this tour. Our first stop at the scenic lighthouse, while a great view, was followed by another quick stop for bathroom and refreshments. Don't think we needed both, i opt for the lighthouse only. We also stopped too frequently in and around pebble beach, on the course to see the seals, then again at the lone cypress and again at the golf course - again would cut one of those stops out. Moterrey and Carmel were both good stops and with just enough time. Great way to see alot in one day plan for 8am-8pm full day..
 

Review by:   bernard.langford1,    September 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Apart from the disappointing early morning fog that we experienced for the first hour, the tour was very good. I think the trip would not have been as enjoyable without Kenneth our North Carolina driver. What an excellent employee to have on your payroll! Heee taaalked sooo slooow and was so humourous you couldn't help but love this guy. His knowledge of the route was excellent and with his skill in cultivating relationships with the passengers we were all able to actively engage with the banter English word for humour that was being exchanged. The scenery was great all along this coastline and we were fortunate enough to be able to spot some whales whilst we were on the '17 mile drive' part of the journey. All in all my wife and I enjoyed this excursion, but let me repeat Kenneth made it successful.
 

Review by:   Gino C,    September 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
Great Little places to visit, get to see a lot of the coastline and place that made California what it is today, heaps of history, great commentary
 

Review by:   doust,    May 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
The trip down Route 1 is beautiful. Loved Monterey, cute town. Alot of Restaurants to chose from, no chains. Was a friendly town.
 

Review by:   rodger.judy.ahlberg,    April 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Great tour with much local information provided while on tour. Frequent stops for photos and some wonderful produce. Our tour guide gave us wonderful suggestions on lunch and my wife and I had the best clam chowder ever! This was a very informative tour and one could not get as much information or see the things we saw if you were on your own in a rental car. Good value for the .
 

Review by:   Ashish D,    April 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Had a great time!
 

Review by:   Kimberly S,    April 2017 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
While the drive down the coast was beautiful and the bus was comfortable, there were too many stops between San Francisco and Monterey. We would stop to look at the ocean for 15 minutes, get back on the bus for 15-20 minutes and then stop again for another 15 minutes. And each stop looked the same. We would rather have had less stops and more time to spend either at the Lodge at Pebble Beach or in Carmel. With only an hour in Carmel, and with the bus being required to park far from the beach, there was not enough time to walk to the beach and back. And there was an error regarding our hotel pickup. We were told by Viator that we would be picked up at our hotel at a certain time, but this time was incorrect. And we missed the tour the day we had originally booked. Luckily, the tour company was able to get us on another day's tour.
 

Review by:   pattidimaria,    April 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
This was a great trip, Randy, the bus driver was very entertaining. The only disappointment was there was 2 hours allotted for Monterey and not much to do, whereas Carmel, we had only 1 hour and it was definitely not enough time to explore this quaint place. More time in Carmel would have made this a 5 star tour !
 

Review by:   masironen,    April 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
tour was great. loved the views especially at pebble beach.bus driver was great.
 

Review by:   vschulz,    March 2017 Review: 1 star rating: I do not recommend this
Sorry, unable to rate this tour as we were left behind. We booked our tour on March 25th through Viator. Tour date was March 30th. On March 25th, we received an email indicating that pickup had been changed to 2800 Leavenworth at 7:30 am. Which was fine. We made note of the change. On March 28th, when we were checking in for another tour with Gray Line, we were told that we were given the wrong check-in time for our tour to Monterey, etc. New check-in time was 8:00 am. The individual in the Gray Line office even wrote down the time for us. Which was fine. We made note of the change. Because everything seemed to be disorganized, I took the extra step on March 29th to walk to the Gray Line office and personally confirm the tour and pick up date and time of our tour which was the next day. On March 30th, we arrived at the correct address at 2800 Leavenworth at 7:50, only to discover that the time had changed yet again to 7:30 and the bus had left without us. We were told we would have received an email from Viator about the newest time change. We checked our email and we did not receive any notification of change after March 29th when I was at the Gray Line office and was told pick-up was at 8:00. I don't know if this is a communication issue between Viator and Gray Line but in the end, it doesn't really matter as our plans for the day were ruined. My husband and I are not novice travelers and have booked tours in numerous cities and have booked via Viator before with no issue. I would strongly encourage anyone booking with Gray Line to check, check and check again. Although this didn't help us. This appears to be a common complaint as each time we were in the Gray Line office, there were angry and frustrated customers. We are headed home today without enjoying the beautiful tour that we had looked forward to with such enthusiasm. For those that managed to catch the bus, I'm sure the tour is great! Now I just have to make sure that we aren't charged for the tour.
 

Review by:   Susan,    March 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Enjoyed the breathtaking view of the pacific coast. Something that i do recommend if you want to get out of the city. The driver/tour guides are awesome.
 

All Traveler Reviews...

USD $89.00
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