Carmel-by-the-Sea

Carmel was founded as an artists' and writers' colony in the early 1900s and has legislated hard to stay village-like: there are no street addresses - mail is collected from the post office and directions are given by cross street and building description - no streetlights, no parking meters and few pavements in the residential parts. An ordinance requires a permit to wear heels over two inches, a liability measure over uneven pavements that is never enforced but genuinely on the books. The Carmel Mission, founded 1771, holds Junipero Serra's grave. Tor House, the granite house the poet Robinson Jeffers built by hand, is shown by tour. Trees have legal protection and the streets bend around them.

What's there

• No street addresses - mail collected from the post office.
• No streetlights or meters - by long-standing ordinance.
• The Carmel Mission of 1771 - with Serra's grave.
• Tor House - built by hand by Robinson Jeffers.

When to go

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

Good to know

It is very expensive and small - shops and galleries dominate. Parking is free but scarce. Summer fog can sit all day. The heels ordinance is real but not enforced, whatever the signs suggest.

Nearby

Point Lobos is south; Monterey and 17-Mile Drive are north.

Key facts