Monterey

The sand is beautiful and the water is cold. Monterey Bay rarely climbs much above 14°C even in late summer, so the beaches are for walking, picnics and watching the surf rather than long swims. Del Monte Beach runs along the town's eastern edge, the white sand and cypress trees of Carmel Beach are a short drive south, and the dunes at Asilomar in Pacific Grove catch the open Pacific. Many stretches have strong rip currents.

On a warm autumn afternoon, which is often the sunniest part of the year here, families paddle in the shallows near the wharf and wetsuited kayakers and divers take to the water. Nobody plans a stay here around lying on the beach.

Eating here centres on the sea and the farmland behind it. Local squid, Dungeness crab, rockfish and sand dabs feature on most menus, and the Salinas Valley a few kilometres inland grows much of the country's lettuce and artichokes, so produce is good. Fisherman's Wharf and Cannery Row are lined with chowder-in-a-bread-bowl places aimed at day visitors, and the better cooking tends to be in Old Monterey's side streets, Pacific Grove and nearby Carmel.

The Carmel Valley and Santa Lucia Highlands produce serious Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with tasting rooms in Carmel and the valley villages. Range is limited for a town this size, and fine dining tends to be priced for resort guests.

Monterey was the capital of Spanish and Mexican Alta California, and that history survives on a small scale. Monterey State Historic Park takes in a walkable cluster of adobes, including the Custom House, the oldest government building in the state, and Colton Hall, where California's first constitution was written. The Royal Presidio Chapel has been in continuous use since the 18th century. Ten minutes south, the Carmel Mission is the most beautiful of the California missions and the burial place of Junípero Serra.

Cannery Row keeps the shells of the sardine canneries John Steinbeck wrote about, though it is now mostly given over to visitors, and the Monterey Museum of Art covers regional painting. It is pleasant, compact history, not a city of major museums.

Evenings here are about dinner and perhaps a drink afterwards. Alvarado Street in downtown has a short run of pubs, wine bars and brewpubs that draw locals and students from the language and naval schools, and Cannery Row has hotel bars and a few livelier places on weekends. There are no clubs to speak of and most of the town is quiet well before midnight. Visitors who want a real night out would need to head to Santa Cruz or further north.

This is one of the great coastal landscapes, and the wildlife is the headline. The Monterey Submarine Canyon drops to great depths just offshore, so humpbacks, grey whales and orcas pass close enough for boat trips from the harbour through much of the year, while sea otters float in the kelp beside the recreation trail and sea lions crowd the wharf. Kayaking, kelp-forest diving and cycling the shoreline path to Pacific Grove and Lovers Point are all easy from town.

Point Lobos, a short drive south, has some of the finest coastal walking in California, and Big Sur begins beyond it, with redwood canyons, waterfalls and cliff trails along the Santa Lucia range. The 17-Mile Drive, Elkhorn Slough's birdlife and Pinnacles' volcanic spires add more. Expect fog in early summer.

The best outings are close. Carmel-by-the-Sea, with its storybook cottages and galleries, is fifteen minutes away, Victorian Pacific Grove is next door, and Carmel Valley's wineries and village tasting rooms are a short drive inland. Salinas, about half an hour away, is John Steinbeck's hometown and the heart of the farm country he wrote about, and the mission and old plaza at San Juan Bautista are a little further.

Santa Cruz, under an hour north, brings a surf town and a seaside boardwalk. San Francisco is possible in about two hours each way but is better as a stay of its own. Beyond that the list of towns runs out quickly.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is reason enough for many families to come: a towering kelp forest, sea otters, jellyfish galleries and hands-on exhibits for small children, on the site of an old cannery. Beyond it, children can watch otters and sea lions from the waterfront path, explore the tide pools at Pacific Grove and Point Lobos, take a whale-watching boat, and run off energy at Dennis the Menace Park by Lake El Estero.

The town is safe, relaxed and small, and the beachfront rides of Santa Cruz are under an hour away. The cold water means beach days are more about sandcastles than swimming, and most outings beyond the waterfront need a car.

The core of a visit is walkable. The flat Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail links Fisherman's Wharf, downtown, Cannery Row and the aquarium, and carries on to Pacific Grove, so on foot or by hired bike the waterfront is easy. Local buses connect the peninsula towns, but they are slow and sparse for sightseeing.

Almost everything beyond the town, from the 17-Mile Drive and Carmel Valley to Point Lobos and Big Sur, is best reached by car, and most visitors arrive by road. Parking near the aquarium and Cannery Row fills up on summer weekends.

Shopping in Monterey itself is mostly souvenirs, saltwater taffy and sea-otter gifts along Cannery Row and Fisherman's Wharf, with an open-air mall on the edge of town for everyday needs. The more interesting browsing is in Carmel-by-the-Sea, where small streets are filled with art galleries, independent clothing and homeware boutiques and wine-tasting rooms, and in Pacific Grove's antique shops. It makes a pleasant afternoon, not a reason to come.

This is an expensive place to stay. Rooms on the peninsula are priced for the Californian weekend market, waterfront and Carmel hotels are dear, and rates climb steeply on summer weekends and during the classic-car week at Pebble Beach each August. Eating out is costly too: a sit-down dinner on Cannery Row or in Carmel is priced for resort guests and day visitors, and even casual seafood on the wharf is not cheap. The aquarium is a significant outlay for a family.

Visitors on a budget stay in the chain motels along the highway or in Seaside and Marina just inland, come midweek or in winter, and fill the days with free pleasures: the coastal trail, the tide pools and watching the wildlife from shore.

Monterey's place in music history rests on its festivals. The Monterey Jazz Festival, held every September since 1958, is one of the longest-running jazz festivals anywhere, and the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival took place on the same fairgrounds. In summer the Carmel Bach Festival fills churches and halls on the peninsula, and Carmel's open-air Forest Theater stages plays under the pines.

Outside those seasons the offer is modest: the Monterey Symphony's season, touring acts at the restored Golden State Theatre downtown, and some live music in local bars. Plan around the festivals if this matters to you.

Relaxation here comes from the pace rather than from any bathing tradition. Mornings of fog lifting off the bay, evening walks along the shore in Pacific Grove and quiet days in Carmel suit travellers who want to slow down, and the sunnier Carmel Valley inland has resort spas set among vineyards and oaks. Golf resorts at Pebble Beach have their own spas.

There are no public thermal baths or bathhouse culture, and the hot springs further south along Big Sur are retreat centres rather than places to drop in. Summer weekends bring crowds and traffic to the waterfront, so the calmest stays are midweek or out of season.