Fisherman's Wharf at Monterey, CA
Amadscientist, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted

Southwest > California > Monterey Bay

Monterey Bay Travel Guide

Bay of the Pacific Ocean, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and north of Big Sur, and includes the cities of Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea and Santa Cruz

Places to See in Monterey Bay

Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Rating ★ 5.0

Central California city along the Pacific Coast known for its natural scenery and rich artistic history

Invertzoo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted

Fort Ord Dunes State Park
Rating ★ 5.0

State park along 4 miles of coastline on Monterey Bay and created from part of the closed Fort Ord, includes a boardwalk, a path to the beach, and a 4-mile (6.4 km) road for walking and biking

Invertzoo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted

Fort Ord National Monument
Rating ★ 5.0

Former United States Army post on Monterey Bay of the Pacific Ocean coast

Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

Rating ★ 5.0

State park, preserving mainly forest and riparian areas in the watershed of the San Lorenzo River, including a grove of old-growth coast redwood

Amadscientist, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted

Monterey, CA
Rating ★ 5.0

City on California's Central Coast, founded in 1770, and until the 1950s was an abundant fishery, with present-day attractions including the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cannery Row, and Fisherman's Wharf

Tshrinivasan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted

Mystery Spot
Rating ★ 5.0

Tourist attraction near Santa Cruz, where visitors experience demonstrations that appear to defy gravity

Jpatokal, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted

Roaring Camp
Rating ★ 5.0

Narrow-gauge tourist railroad that starts from the Roaring Camp depot in Felton, California and runs up steep grades through redwood forests to the top of nearby Bear Mountain

Santa Cruz
Rating ★ 5.0

Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a popular tourist destination, owing to its beaches, surf culture, and historic landmarks

Overview

Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by about 75 miles (120 km), accessible via CA 1 and US 101.Santa Cruz is located at the north end of the bay, and Monterey is on the Monterey Peninsula at the south end.

The first European to discover Monterey Bay was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo on November 16, 1542, while sailing northward along the coast on a Spanish naval expedition. The present name for the bay was given in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno, who had been tasked by the Spanish government to complete a detailed chart of the coast. On December 16, 1602 he rounded a large peninsula and entered a bay that he named Puerto de Monterrey in honor of Don Gaspár de Zúñiga y Acevedo, 5th Count of Monterrey, who was governor of New Spain and had dispatched the expedition. Monterrey is an alternate spelling of Monterrei, a municipality in the Galicia region of Spain from which the viceroy and his father (the Fourth Count of Monterrei) originated.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Monterey Bay", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0