17-Mile Drive

The road is private, owned by the Pebble Beach Company, and has charged a toll since the 1880s when it was a horse-carriage route from the Hotel Del Monte. It runs about twenty-seven kilometres round the peninsula past a series of marked stops: Spanish Bay, Bird Rock with its sea lions and cormorants, the Lone Cypress standing on a granite outcrop and held up by cables after a century and a half of storms, and the Ghost Tree, a bleached Monterey cypress on the shore. Pebble Beach Golf Links, which has hosted six US Opens, runs along the water. The Monterey cypress grows naturally in only two small groves on earth, both on this stretch of coast.

What you actually see

• The Lone Cypress - on its rock, held by cables.
• Bird Rock - sea lions and nesting cormorants offshore.
• Pebble Beach Golf Links - along the water.
• Native Monterey cypress - which grows wild in only two groves anywhere.

When to go

April to October; fog is heavy in early summer. Half a day.

Honest expectations

There is a toll per vehicle and motorcycles are banned entirely. Fog can hide the coast for days in June and July. The Lone Cypress is fenced and cannot be approached. Traffic backs up at the stops on weekends.

Nearby

Carmel is at the southern gate; Monterey and Cannery Row are north.