Marina, California: Two Weeks Exploring Monterey, Big Sur & Point Lobos

We spent the first two weeks of April 2026 in Marina, California, using it as our home base to explore Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Point Lobos, Big Sur and even Pinnacles National Park.

Marina sits along Monterey Bay on California’s Central Coast, surrounded by beaches, coastal dunes and open space. It is close enough to Monterey and Carmel to make everyday exploring easy while still giving you quick access to Highway 1 and the Big Sur coastline. Marina itself also has access to the Monterey Bay coastline and nearby Fort Ord Dunes State Park and Fort Ord National Monument.

We stayed at Marina Dunes RV Resort for two weeks. It is part of the Encore collection available through our Thousand Trails Adventure membership. With our membership, we pay about $750 annually and were able to stay here for an additional $20 per night. Our total for the two weeks was around $320.

For that price, in this part of California, it was an incredible home base.

This entire area ended up being one of the most beautiful places we visited in California. The rugged coastline, wildflowers, emerald coves, cliffs and beaches are unlike almost anywhere else we have traveled. Cape Flattery in Washington is probably the closest comparison I can make, but even that feels completely different.

Quick Links

• Big Sur & Highway 1
• Garrapata State Park & Calla Lily Valley
• Point Lobos State Natural Reserve
• Carmel-by-the-Sea
• 17-Mile Drive
• Monterey Bay Aquarium

Marina Was a Great Home Base

We didn’t spend a ton of time sightseeing in Marina itself because there was simply too much to see around us.

We grocery shopped mostly in Monterey, including a Whole Foods, and even took care of normal life things like my annual eye appointment while we were there. That is one thing I appreciated about this area. We could spend the morning looking at one of the most incredible coastlines in America and still have all the normal stores and services we needed nearby.

Marina Dunes was also incredibly convenient.

Big Sur required a longer drive, but Monterey, Carmel and the surrounding coast were easy day trips. The beach was literally across the street from our campground. We never even made it down there, which sounds ridiculous now, but we only had two weeks and there were so many other places we wanted to explore.

Driving Highway 1 Through Big Sur

One of our big sightseeing days was driving Highway 1 south through Big Sur.

Unfortunately, we picked an incredibly foggy morning.

The clouds were so thick that many of those huge coastal views you picture when you think about Big Sur were partially or completely hidden. We could see enough to know it was beautiful, but I would absolutely love to come back and drive it again on a clear day.

We drove across Bixby Creek Bridge, although the fog made it difficult to really appreciate the surrounding views.

We also tried to visit Pfeiffer Beach, but the limited parking was already full by the time we arrived.

From there we continued through Big Sur Village, where we stopped near the river and let the kids splash around for a while. It ended up being a nice break after spending so much of the morning in the truck.

We continued south all the way to McWay Falls before turning around.

During our April visit, the main McWay Falls Overlook Trail was closed for a long-term retaining-wall project, leaving only a small viewing area along Highway 1.

Add the fog, and our view was pretty limited.

McWay Falls and Bixby Bridge are probably two of the most famous stops along Big Sur, yet neither ended up being the highlight of our day.

That honor easily went to Garrapata.

Garrapata State Park & Calla Lily Valley

Garrapata State Park was my favorite stop on our Big Sur day.

We parked along Highway 1 and followed the trail down toward Garrapata Beach through the area known as Calla Lily Valley.

It was beautiful.

April was the perfect time for wildflowers. Flowers covered the hillside as we walked toward the ocean, and we even saw some calla lilies along the way.

The hike itself wasn’t difficult for our kids, and eventually the trail opened onto this huge coastal beach surrounded by cliffs and rock formations.

The weather was still cold and foggy, so this wasn’t a swimming beach day. That didn’t stop the kids from walking through the waves, climbing around the large rocks and exploring.

Willie came with us too and had the time of his life running through the shallow water.

Garrapata has more than two miles of coastline, and California State Parks specifically allows leashed dogs on the beach at Gate 19 and on the trails leading to that beach. Dogs are not permitted throughout the rest of the park, so make sure you enter through the correct area if you’re bringing one.

By midday, some of the fog started lifting and we could see more of the coastline.

Would it have been amazing to see Big Sur without the fog? Absolutely.

But honestly, the fog also created its own atmosphere. Garrapata felt rugged, moody and almost otherworldly.

Of everything we did during our Big Sur drive, this is the place I would prioritize if we went back.

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve

If Garrapata was my favorite part of Big Sur, Point Lobos was my favorite place of the entire trip.

God is truly an artist.

This may be the most beautiful stretch of coastline I have ever seen.

Point Lobos sits just south of Carmel and has a network of coastal trails through cliffs, coves, cypress trees and marine habitat. Cypress Grove and Bird Island were the two areas we explored.

Parking inside Point Lobos is limited, and when we arrived the park was already packed.

This was another day when bringing our e-bikes paid off.

We parked outside the reserve and rode our bikes into the park. Bikes are permitted on the paved roads inside Point Lobos, but not on the hiking trails, so we used them to travel between trailheads and then explored on foot.

It worked perfectly.

While cars were competing for very limited parking, we could move around the park easily.

Cypress Grove Trail

Cypress Grove gave us the dramatic California coastline I had imagined before this trip.

Huge cliffs dropped into the ocean while waves crashed into the rocks below. The cypress trees and rugged coastline made the entire trail incredibly scenic.

The funny thing was that although the parking situation made the park seem incredibly busy, the actual trail never felt overwhelmingly crowded.

Bird Island Trail & China Cove

Then we rode over toward Bird Island.

This part looked completely different.

China Cove was stunning.

The water below us was clear and emerald green, surrounded by cliffs and white sand. We could see seals hanging out around the cove, which made the whole experience even more memorable.

California State Parks notes that Point Lobos is known for wildlife including seals, sea lions and otters, and Bird Island overlooks the China Cove area.

I honestly couldn’t choose whether Cypress Grove or Bird Island was more beautiful.

Cypress Grove had the dramatic crashing waves and cliffs.

Bird Island had the emerald water, quiet coves and seals.

Together they made Point Lobos one of my favorite places we have visited anywhere in the country.

Carmel-by-the-Sea & 17-Mile Drive

After spending roughly half the day at Point Lobos, we headed toward Carmel-by-the-Sea.

We mostly drove through Carmel rather than spending a lot of time exploring the town or beach, but even driving around gives you an idea of how beautiful—and expensive—this little part of California is.

From there we did 17-Mile Drive through Pebble Beach.

This is one of those things I think is worth doing once.

The drive takes you through an incredibly manicured and wealthy part of the Monterey Peninsula with ocean overlooks, enormous homes, famous golf courses and beaches.

We stopped at several of the major viewpoints, including stops at Spanish Bay, Seal Rock, Fanshell Beach and the Lone Cypress before continuing through Pebble Beach.

One of my favorite stops was a beach with incredibly white sand and clear water. It looked like somewhere you would want to immediately jump into the ocean—until you remembered you were on the Central California coast in April and the water was freezing.

There weren’t many people there either, and I could see us returning just to spend more time at that beach.

Would I do the entire 17-Mile Drive every time we came back?

Probably not.

But I am glad we did it once.

And if I had to choose between paying to do 17-Mile Drive or spending my time at Point Lobos?

Point Lobos. Easily.

Monterey Bay Aquarium: Our Biggest Disappointment

This may be an unpopular opinion.

We did not love the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

I actually wanted to love it. It is one of the most famous aquariums in the country, and there were some genuinely beautiful exhibits.

The jellyfish displays were incredible. We loved watching the huge schools of anchovies and sardines swim together. There were interesting kelp and reef exhibits, and the outdoor area overlooking Monterey Bay was beautiful.

The problem wasn’t really the aquarium.

It was the number of people inside it.

We arrived fairly early and still joined what felt like five million people waiting to get inside.

The line moved quickly, but once we entered, it was difficult to enjoy many of the exhibits because there were simply too many people around them.

Adults were standing directly in front of tanks recording animals on their phones while kids couldn’t get close enough to see. The touch tanks were so crowded that our kids weren’t able to participate.

That was disappointing.

The kids probably weren’t as bothered by the crowds as I was, but they were definitely disappointed that they couldn’t experience some of the interactive areas or get close enough to see everything.

We spent close to $300 for our family of five, and for us, the experience simply wasn’t worth that amount of money.

Current admission remains expensive for families, with 2026 tickets listed at $65 for adults and $50 for youth ages 5–17.

Afterward, we walked around Cannery Row, did some shopping and enjoyed seeing the historic area surrounding the aquarium.

That part was fun.

But if I had to plan this trip over again, I would probably skip the aquarium and give that day back to the coastline.

Maybe we hit it on an unusually busy day. Maybe someone visiting during a quieter period would have a completely different experience.

But for our family, it was easily the most disappointing part of our Monterey trip.

What We Missed

Even with two weeks, we didn’t do everything.

We never made it to Elkhorn Slough, which I would absolutely add on another visit.

We also somehow never spent a full day at the beach directly across from Marina Dunes.

That alone tells you how much there is to do here.

Usually after two weeks somewhere, I feel like we have seen most of what we came to see.

I didn’t feel that way when we left Marina.

Read More

Marina Dunes RV Resort Review
Our full review of the Encore resort we used as our home base for two weeks.

Pinnacles National Park With Kids
Our day exploring Bear Gulch, Moses Spring, the rock formations and reservoir.

Daniel Cormier Wrestling Academy Review
What it was like training for two weeks at Daniel Cormier’s gym—including an unexpected seminar with Olympic champion Magomed Ramazanov.