The Monterey Peninsula has some of California's most rewarding day trip territory within an hour's drive. Big Sur, 30 miles south on Highway 1, offers one of the world's great coastal drives and can easily fill a day. Carmel-by-the-Sea, at the southern end of the 17-Mile Drive, is a walkable village of galleries, wine bars, and impossibly quaint cottages worth an afternoon. Santa Cruz is about an hour north along the coast.
