Containing the Fremont Peak Astronomical Observatory, this park offers excellent views of Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean from its four-mile network of hiking trails traversing moderate terrain.
Fremont Peak State Park
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
24.23 MILES
Monterey is practically synonymous with its world-class aquarium overlooking Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which protects dense kelp forests and…
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve
29.42 MILES
They bark, they laze and bathe and they’re fun to watch – sea lions are the stars in this state park some 4 miles south of Carmel, along with the…
10.21 MILES
This museum will interest almost anyone, even if you don't know anything about Salinas’ Nobel Prize–winning native son, John Steinbeck (1902–68), a…
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo
27.56 MILES
Carmel's strikingly beautiful mission is an oasis of solemnity with flowering gardens and a thick-walled basilica filled with Spanish Colonial art and…
24.29 MILES
Find out what's currently open at Monterey State Historic Park, grab a free map and buy tickets for guided walking tours inside this 1847 adobe building,…
28.18 MILES
Even if you’ve never heard of 20th-century poet Robinson Jeffers, a pilgrimage to this house built with his own hands offers fascinating insights into…
24.29 MILES
Old Monterey is home to an extraordinary assemblage of 19th-century brick and adobe buildings administered as a state park and linked by a 2-mile self…
24.77 MILES
A study in geological drama, this park's craggy monoliths, sheer-walled canyons and twisting caves are the result of millions of years of erosion. In…
Nearby attractions
1. Fremont Peak Astronomical Observatory
0.18 MILES
Equipped with a 30in telescope, Fremont Peak's astronomical observatory is usually open to the public on many Saturday nights between April and October,…
2. San Juan Bautista State Historic Park
6.1 MILES
Buildings around the old Spanish plaza opposite the mission anchor this small historical park. Cavernous stables hint at San Juan Bautista in its 1860s…
6.17 MILES
Founded in 1797, this mission claims the largest church among California’s original 21 missions. Unknowingly built directly atop the San Andreas Fault,…
10.21 MILES
This museum will interest almost anyone, even if you don't know anything about Salinas’ Nobel Prize–winning native son, John Steinbeck (1902–68), a…
10.41 MILES
Steinbeck was born and spent much of his boyhood in this house, four blocks west of the museum. It’s now a twee lunch cafe, which we’re not sure he’d…
6. Garden of Memories Memorial Park
10.47 MILES
Steinbeck is buried in the family plot at this cemetery, less than 2 miles southeast of downtown Salinas.
7. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
12.88 MILES
Rent a kayak from outfitters on Hwy 1 and paddle past harbor seals into Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, or take a guided weekend hike…
17.06 MILES
Heading east from Gilroy on Hwy 152 toward I-5, Casa de Fruta is a commercialized farm stand with an old-fashioned carousel and choo-choo train rides for…