The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History is one of the finest small natural history collections on the California coast. Founded in the 1880s, it holds extensive displays of local birds, mammals, and marine life — including a full-sized grey whale skeleton suspended in the main hall — and is a good place to understand the ecology of the Monterey Bay before venturing out to observe it.
The museum's Native Plant Garden outside is planted with species native to the Monterey Peninsula and provides a quiet corner for identifying what you've seen on the coastal trail. The butterfly exhibit, timed to the monarch migration, draws extra visitors in the autumn. Admission is by donation.