Remote Surveillance Trailer in Carmel, CA

Top Hotel, Restaurant, Shopping, Wine and Under-the-Radar Picks

Carmel-by-the-Sea certainly fits the notion of a scene “straight out of a movie.” This charming town nestled on the hills of Northern California’s Monterey County is a quaint coastal village that is ready for any camera moment. Every block seems impossibly picturesque, with flower-draped cottages, cute markets, windswept cypress trees and storybook architecture that could easily serve as the set of your favorite romantic comedy.

For the dreamy escapist, Carmel offers a low key, high chic California vacation where the luxury is quiet, the history runs deep, the details are refined, and the entire town feels like something out of a postcard dream.

Best of all, for Texans looking to escape the Lone Star State’s oppressive summer (or early fall) heat, Carmel’s summer temperatures rarely rise out of the sixties, and the Pacific Ocean supplies a mist is as crisp as your favorite glass of chardonnay.

North Texans are now spoiled with nonstop flights available from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Monterey Regional Airport, which is a mere 10 minutes from Carmel’s downtown area. Houston travelers can get there on a one-stop flight, with easy connections through LAX or SFO setting up a relatively convenient trip to Monterey Regional Airport as well.

But where should you stay, dine and play? This is your whimsical under-the-radar hotel, restaurant, shopping and activity guide to Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Carmel-by-the-Sea Hotels

This outpost of boutique hotel group Palisociety offers stylish California charm. Each of the 34 guest rooms is outfitted with coastal cool furniture and vintage artwork, all wrapped around a flower-filled patio. Look for thoughtful touches that include a curated mini bar and a complimentary breakfast spread laid out by a crackling fireplace.

Those craving something classic should definitely consider La Playa Carmel, a 1905 mansion turned hotel tucked just blocks from the beach. Once the home of a Ghirardelli chocolate heiress, this Spanish-style estate oozes old world glamour, from its manicured gardens to its iconic bar Bud’s.

The 20 room Relais & Châteaux hotel is the epitome of cozy European sophistication. Its antique details — think tufted canopy bed frames, French doors and hand-hammered copper sinks — complement the modern luxuries. That means doting service and Aubergine, a two Michelin-starred restaurant.

If time allows, you will want to extend your trip beyond Carmel-by-the-Sea with a scenic drive south to Big Sur. That is where the Post Ranch Inn beckons with clifftop luxury and unobstructed ocean views. Or head just down the road to the dreamy Pebble Beach resorts and golf wonderland.

Carmel-By-the-Sea Restaurants

Carmel’s food scene is far more advanced than its quaint appearance lets on. Fine dining restaurants abound. Both Aubergine, tucked inside the intimate L’Auberge Carmel, and the nearby Chez Noir offer innovative tasting menus that draw on local foraging, fresh-caught seafood and seasonal California produce. These Carmel restaurants have earned their Michelin stars.

For something a bit more laid back but no less food worthy, La Bicyclette offers rustic, wood-fired French food in a cozy European setting. Stationæry, hidden behind a courtyard off Dolores Street, is a favorite for its artful approach to breakfast and lunch.

More casual, cozy restaurants in Carmel-by-the-Sea include Casanova. This romantic standby housed in a converted cottage serves up French-Italian comfort food and boasts a wine list with more than 2,000 bottles. Just across the way, Nielsen Brothers Market, a gourmet deli and wine shop that opened in 1951, is ideal for picnic provisions or a delicious sandwich between shopping stops.

Sweet cravings are rewarded on nearly every corner from the iconic Carmel Bakery, open since 1899, with its gingerbread cookies and apple strudel, to the endless array of chocolate and ice cream shops that dot Ocean Avenue.

For a proper nightcap, former Carmel mayor Clint Eastwood’s iconic Hog’s Breath Inn still pours a good stiff drink in its ivy-covered courtyard. And those in the know gather at Brophy’s Tavern, a neighborhood favorite with a classic pub feel.

California Monterey County’s Best Activities

Carmel’s greatest perk is the fun found in wandering. Take a long walk or bike ride along Scenic Road or take a seat on the sand at Carmel Beach and watch the waves. Peruse the rows of darling shops and fine art galleries.

As for the shopping? Hit the stylish Girl Boy Girl for women’s clothing and accessories, The Pajama Store for indulgent sleepwear and ThinkerToys for the little ones in your life.

For adventurers who need more action, Monterey County’s many pockets of nature and culture should not be missed.

Soak in the awe inspiring cliff-lined oceanfront of the area with a trip to Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, a coastal preserve just south of town with dramatic cliffs, hidden coves and trails that snake around. This is where you can spot sea lions and seals without ever leaving the land.

Wine aficionados can sample local vintages at the plentiful walk-in tasting rooms scattered around Carmel. Scheid Vineyards and Caraccioli Cellars offer delicious sips of the region.

Beyond Carmel-by-the-Sea, several other enticing pockets within Monterey County are worth visiting. The Fisherman’s Wharf Monterey (not to be confused with the tourist trap in San Francisco) is a must for seaside kitsch and real seafood dives. Then there’s Cannery Row, a transformed fish cannery turned cute shopping street near the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium, which remains one of the best in the world.

In the cute bungalow-lined Pacific Gove, restaurants such as Passionfish, nationally known for its sustainable seafood program and slightly above cost wine prices and Fandango, a beloved art-filled bistro are a reason to get out and explore.

Like your favorite moive, your trip to this coastal slice of California paradise will no doubt stick in your memory. If you vacation right.

For a decade, Monaco billionaire Patrice Pastor has acquired more than $100 million in properties across Carmel. But his long relationship with the town has seemingly come to an acrimonious end this week in the wake of a city council decision that resulted in further delays on one of his major construction projects.

Pastor, in a written statement sent to SFGATE on Friday, pulled no punches. “Following this latest City Council meeting it’s clear that I need to reconsider my investment in Carmel,” the statement said. “We are not treated the same as everyone else, I suppose we are now at the point where we need to accept we are not wanted and draw the necessary conclusions.”

“It’s time to leave this strange community,” he continued, “if you can call it a community.”

When SFGATE asked Friday what immediate future plans Pastor has or specifics about a pending exit, Claire Totten, Pastor’s spokesperson, wrote in an email, “I don’t have anything further to share beyond those comments.”

Pastor’s company, Esperanza Carmel, has bought, managed and, in some cases, rehabilitated many marquee properties in the oceanfront town, with varying degrees of success. Among the more notable properties currently in his portfolio are the L’Auberge Carmel hotel, the Carmel Beach Hotel, the Eastwood Building, the Hog’s Breath Building, the La Rambla Building and the Forge in the Forest.

Other structures of note in the area that Pastor owns include the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Carmel, which is known as the Mrs. Clinton Walker House, and the Rocky Point restaurant, coupled with a recent expansion into Big Sur following the acquisition of the Village Big Sur in May.

But it seems, at least for now, that Pastor is done with Carmel and his projects in the area. His comments were sparked by the delay of a planned development on Dolores Street, south of Seventh Avenue, a 30,000-square-foot retail and residential space known as the JB Pastor Project.

That proposed project is close to another one of Pastor's other unfinished developments on the same street, a gaping midtown hole — which stretches half a city block and has come to be referred to as “The Pit." Its official name is Ulrika Plaza, a proposed retail and residential development covering over 38,000 square feet. In August 2023, the Carmel Planning Commission approved that project unanimously after three years of back and forth, but no work has materialized on the project.

Dee Borsella, who owns a boutique called Ruffle Me to Sleep across from “The Pit,” told SFGATE during a visit in late July that she has been waiting to see “action, any action” at the hole across the street for years.

At the same time, prior to the Aug. 4 meeting, she speculated that further delay could also put the project in jeopardy wholesale. “When he got his approval from the Planning Commission in August of ’23, I was told he had two years to do something with it,” Borsello told SFGATE. She said that Pastor himself came to visit her last year and assured her that construction was going to start in September 2024.

“Well, August ’25 is right around the corner, and nothing’s been done,” she noted.

On Monday, the city council held a special meeting to consider the appeal of the JB Pastor Project, which Carmel attorney Krista Ostoich filed on behalf of 11 residents.

They wanted the city council to review the project again, based on what they felt were missteps from the planning commission in its approval. Those missteps, according to the appellants, included the project’s exemption from having to undergo an environmental impact report, as well as its noncompliance with the zoning laws, among other considerations.

The project, along with Pastor’s involvement, has divided the town. “This has just been an embarrassment for the city, an incredible embarrassment,” Karyl Hall, a former member of the Historic Resources Board, told the city council on Monday. “Some of the appealers are my friends, and I know there are various different reasons they have appealed, but I obviously don’t agree with them. … He does quality work. He’s done excellent work. He’s saved our historic structures. We are lucky to have him, and if he does anything that is not in the character of Carmel, I’ll be here complaining.”

Planning Commissioner Mel Ahlborn also defended the commission’s decision to allow the project to go forward and suggested other factors may be getting in the way. “This seems to be a rather emotional case,” she told the city council on Monday. “I wanted to weigh in. When the Planning Commission made its decision on this project, they based their decision on its conformity with the general plan, with the municipal code and with the local coastal program.”

Others said there is still work that needs to be done in terms of vetting the historical value of the project’s neighbors and seeing how it would fit into the neighborhood wholesale. “A proper assessment of how the new project relates to its historic neighbors will help our boards and commissions guide development that respects the character of this area,” Kristi Reimers, a local resident and the owner of Eco Carmel, told the city council.

The hearing involved more than six hours of testimony and discussion, with Mayor Dale Byrne and Councilmember Bob Delves recusing themselves based on potential personal conflicts. In the end, the remaining three council members decided to push a decision on the development until their September meeting. At that time, they agreed they would take the matter up again and vote whether to accept the appeal and send the project back to the planning commissoin.

Chris Mitchell, the managing director of Esperanza Carmel, Pastor’s development company, remained skeptical in the wake of the council’s inaction. In a statement obtained by SFGATE on Friday, he wrote, “This process has made a mockery of the city’s own rules. Our project was reviewed for six years, redesigned five times, and approved by the Planning Commission and City staff. Then, on Monday, we were undercut again but this time by last-minute political manoeuvring to further stall.” He continued: “Carmel needs more housing, and we were one of the few businesses willing to invest in doing it right. We have been doing this for over a decade in Carmel. But the message from City Council is clear: it doesn’t matter how much you follow the rules, if your business is not wanted here, you won’t be treated fairly.”

The need for a vote on the project in September now seems to hinge on whether Pastor himself wants to continue this process or keep doing business in Carmel at all. Given his statement on Friday, an exit from the wealthy oceanfront town appears imminent.

“The grotesque situation at Ulrika Plaza, where everything is wanted so as not to let us begin work for reasons that are akin to a schoolyard, confirms that it’s time for us to bring our expertise and motivation to other projects, elsewhere, where we will be better received and in a more professional and serious political environment,” Pastor’s statement concluded.

Editor's note: The story was corrected at 10:20 a.m., Aug. 10, to reflect that the Carmel City Council's decision was to delay work on the JB Pastor Project last week.

One of the more notable gas stations in California is now for sale, and it’s got at least one very famous neighbor.

The Carmel Highlands General Store includes a pair of Spanish-style buildings, a pair of gas pumps and more than a dozen parking spaces. It’s in a conspicuous spot next to Highway 1, where an estimated 40,000 vehicles drive by every day, making it one of the most recognizable gas stations in California.

And it went on the market in late July for $6 million.

The property, which includes a convenience store that carries local wines, cheese and coffee, along with a gallery space and manicured garden, was built in 1937 as an extension of the neighboring Carmel Highlands Inn Hotel (now part of the Hyatt Carmel Highlands).

The store and gas station’s current owners bought the property over four decades ago and renovated the roughly 3,000 square feet of buildings on the property. It’s now a gateway to the Monterey Peninsula to the north and Big Sur to the south.

The store is the kind of whimsical and fancy stopover one might expect to find in greater Carmel, an alternative to the big name, neon sign gas stations an hour east off Highway 101 near Salinas.

Patrick Stafford, who works for the Monterey-based commercial real estate firm Mahoney & Associates, said the property’s owners aren’t necessarily looking for an owner as much as they are searching for the next stewards of the property.

“They own a number of residential properties in [Carmel] Highlands and wanted to see it preserved,” Stafford told SFGATE on Tuesday. “They want to find the next fiduciary to run the property.”

As such, the search for the right buyer has been a targeted one, Stafford said.

“You know, it’s interesting, I get a lot of people in the fuel and convenience store business that are investment players,” he said. He noted that as a courtesy, he tells those type of potential buyers that the property might not be for them.

On the other hand, there are potential suitors steeped in the property’s history who relish the opportunity to preserve the plot. Stafford added that several locals are interested in the property, as well as buyers from New York, Palm Desert and Hawaii.

Why the interest? Part of the reason might be, for car enthusiasts especially, the property’s storied annual transformation into “Casa Ferrari,” the default Ferrari headquarters during Monterey Car Week, which kicks off in a couple days.

The conversion of the space includes showcasing Ferrari’s newest cars and vintage stalwarts. It also involves converting the store’s gift shop into an Italian villa and turning the garden area into a place “where real Italians served real Italian treats such as prosciutto, Parmesan cheese, espresso and gelato,” the Los Angeles Times reported in August 2015.

“It’s a wonderful site for an event venue,” listing agent Stafford said, noting that Ferrari had to even get its special “Ferrari Red” color approved by the county for the temporary signage during its event in the area.

Potential buyers looking to own the legacy gas station and store, which offer more than 250 feet of Highway 1 frontage, will have at least one famous neighbor in Brad Pitt, who picked up the D.L. James House right across the street in 2022.

“With Brad Pitt’s moving to Carmel Highlands ... someone would recognize the value and charm of the property,” Stafford said.

The store is also just down the road from Point Lobos State Reserve and is about 5 miles south of Ocean Avenue in the heart of Carmel. “Before talking to you, I had a lady say, ‘I need to buy this property. I can’t see it turn into a 7-Eleven,’” Stafford said. “That’s the profile we’re looking for.”