Carmel-by-the-Sea Things to Do Tips by shivan

Warning

The warning here is: plan to reserve an appropriate amount of time to explore the area, if you decide to do.
The common mistake (we obviously did) is to think "oh well, let's go there for this 17 miles and then head north!"
Those are not common 17 miles, those are miles where to drive SLOWLY, especially if in column with other sleepers.
Take at least 2 hours to do the things with calm.

Vista points

according the best american tradition of the Scenic Roads (you may find plenty of them in the United States of America), the 17-miles-drive is classified as Scenic.
Along THIS Scenic Road (actually the 17 miles drive is worth being called Scenic Road, far more than others) is filled with parking areas to stop, have a break, and enjoy the landscape.
Do it, the rocky profile of the Pebble Beach and surroundings deserve your attention.

Wildlife

It is always a pleasure and a discovery to find wild animals hanging around close to human houses or cars.
Ecosystem is intact in there, the area is filled also with big houses of rich people.
Evidency of richness, underlined also by the large cars with which they drive.
A lovely place to drive through.

History of the 17 miles drive 17 Mile Drive Review

This road "runs" (15 miles speed limit) through a forest called Del Monte forest and a lovely rocky beach called the Pebble Beach.
Reading a illustrative paper, I learnt that the area has been discovered in the 17th century by the spanish, but the first constructions did start early in the 20th century, including the inevitable Golf Course.
The ecosystem is well preserved, as the presence of animals close to the road clearly shows.

The 17 miles drive 17 Mile Drive Review

I was conscious that the real travel would have started once we would have left San Francisco heading east towards the Yosemite National Park, and so I have lived the time spent in nice-but-not-incredibly-wonderful-at-all places with serenity and fatalism.
Somebody told us that once you have driven through the Big Sur, nothing, in the 17 miles drive could ever impress you more.
That was true.
That road in the park, is nice, nothing more.