17-Mile Drive & Pebble Beach
The famous coast, one gate fee away
⏱ 2-3 hours👤 All ages$
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Get 17-Mile Drive Tickets
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Since 1881, when carriage tours first looped guests from the Hotel Del Monte through the Del Monte Forest, the 17-Mile Drive has been the West's definitive scenic toll road — now the spine of the Pebble Beach resort lands, open to the public per car at the five gates (the fee credits against resort restaurant spending, which converts the toll into lunch at the Lodge for most visitors who think it through).
The genius is the sequencing. From the Pacific Grove gate, the shoreline unspools south through marked pullouts: Spanish Bay's boardwalk and white crescent (bagpiper at sunset, resort tradition); Point Joe, where misaligned currents shred the surface and once shredded ships; the Restless Sea and China Rock; Bird Rock's barking pinniped census; Seal Rock picnic grounds; Fanshell Beach's harbor-seal nursery (screened during spring pupping); Cypress Point Lookout, the drive's grandest prospect; Crocker Grove's ancient cypresses; and then the icon — the Lone Cypress, alone on its buttressed granite for a quarter millennium, the resort's trademark in both senses. The ghost trees at Pescadero Point (bone-white, wind-stripped) close the wild stretch before the manicured finale: Pebble Beach Golf Links, where the public can walk to the 18th green's seawall, browse the Lodge's shops, and — gate-fee math — lunch above the most famous finishing hole in golf.
Practicalities: two hours minimum with stops, longer with a meal; morning fog is atmospheric and burns off midday; cyclists enter free (the ride is a bucket-lister); motorcycles are not admitted. The drive connects Pacific Grove and Carmel, so it slots naturally as the scenic route between them. Golf pilgrims can book the resort's public tee times (Pebble Beach is public, famously priced) months out; everyone else gets the course's drama for the price of the gate — refunded, with planning, against a very good clam chowder.
What to Expect
Format
A private scenic loop through Pebble Beach — per-car gate fee (credited against resort dining), marked coastal stops from Spanish Bay to the Lone Cypress, seal and bird colonies, and public access to the Lodge and the 18th green.
Best Time
Late morning once fog lifts, or late afternoon for golden light on the cypresses. Spring brings seal pups (some beaches screened); sunset at Spanish Bay comes with a bagpiper.
Duration
Two hours with the classic stops; three with a Lodge lunch — which the gate fee subsidizes.
Tips
Keep the gate map and follow the red-dash line — the inland forest loops are skippable on a first pass. Spend the gate fee at any resort restaurant and it's refunded. Bikes enter free; motorcycles can't enter. The Lone Cypress pullout is the crowd — Cypress Point Lookout two stops earlier is the better photograph.
⚡ Quick Picks
Best For
First-timers and anyone who wants California's most famous private coastline curated from a car seat.
Families
Bird Rock's seal colonies and the tidepool-adjacent pullouts break the drive into kid-sized chapters.
Couples
Golden-hour ghost trees, then a drink on the Lodge's terrace above the 18th.
Pair With
Carmel-by-the-Sea at the south gate, or Pacific Grove's Lovers Point at the north — it's the scenic connector between them.
Time Needed
Two to three hours.
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Get Tickets →Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the gate fee and is it really refunded?
A per-car fee at the gate (cash/card), credited back against same-day spending at Pebble Beach resort restaurants — the standing local move is to let lunch at the Lodge absorb it.
What's the one stop not to miss?
The Lone Cypress is the icon, but Cypress Point Lookout and the Pescadero Point ghost trees are the better photographs — do all three; they're minutes apart.
Can we see Pebble Beach's course without playing?
Yes — park at the Lodge, walk to the 18th green's seawall, and browse the shops. Playing it is public but books months ahead at famous prices.
How long does the loop take?
The coastal stretch with stops runs about two hours; add lunch and it's a half day. Cyclists ride it free and call it one of the coast's great miles.
Which gate should we use?
Pacific Grove gate southbound puts the ocean on your right the whole way — the classic direction — exiting into Carmel. Highway 1 gate works the reverse.
More Monterey Attractions
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Carmel-by-the-Sea
The storybook village — one square mile of fairy-tale cottages, hidden courtyard galleries and wine rooms, no street addresses, dogs welcomed everywhere, and a white-sand beach under cypress at the foot of Ocean Avenue.
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve
"The greatest meeting of land and water in the world" — painters' coves of jade water and wind-carved cypress just south of Carmel, with sea lions on the rocks, otters in the kelp, and trails that fit any legs.
Monarch Grove Sanctuary
Pacific Grove's winter miracle — thousands of monarch butterflies clustering in a eucalyptus grove from October to February, hanging in living garlands that explode into orange flight when the sun warms them. Free, docent-staffed, fifteen quiet minutes.