november_moon: Just came back in on Sunday! Will be working on a trip report soon and hope to have it up within the next 2 weeks! 15 days was hard to keep a track of! I have notes everywhere!

We just stayed for the second time at the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa, we had two oceanview rooms since we were traveling with the kids (young adults.) This is an awesome property with beautiful views and the customer service here is first class. We dined at The Duck Club for Mother's Day breakfast, then went into Carmel for lunch. One of the nicest features of The Plaza is their rooftop spa which we used a lot! ***kim*** ((#))

I appreciated your advice,thank you.
Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa looks great, but don't have availability on my dates and look expensive.

Did anyone stayed in any of these hotels in Monterey?

Best Western Beach Resort Monterey

Knights Inn Carmel Hill(near Monterey Bay Aquarium )

Howard Johnson Inn And Suites Monterey Pacific Grove

We stayed at the Monterey LaQuinta two weeks ago. Nice with a good free breakfast. Room with two queens, four people in August is $129.00. We also stayed at a LaQuinta in Visalia and were very satisfied there.

Monterey LaQuinta $170(with breakfast) for my dates in July(25-28)
Monterey Bay Lodge $173(no breakfast)

Any other suggestions? I'm looking for good location clean hotel(prefer with breakfast)around $130-$150.

My plan for this area:
1. Carmel -Mission ranch
2. Monterrey Aquarium
3. drive down Big Sur coast?
4. Carmel beach
5. 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach for views/picnic area
6. Point Lobes state park

<<<drive down Big Sur coast?>>>

that shouldn't even be a question. Go at least as far as Nepenthe. Here's my trip report from a day trip we did from San Francisco last Labor Day.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...t-part-way.cfm

Hi sf73o7 Beautiful pictures, I so enjoyed your mini trip report . Thanks for sharing. I will print the directions to Pfeiffer Beach! So how long is the drive from Monterey to Big Sur?

lada, and those were taken with my cell phone - so imagine how beautiful it is in real life! I honestly don't recall how long the trip was because we kept stopping. I'll say the whole day from south of San Francisco to Nepenthe and back to Pacific Grove (where we had dinner), including stops at Capitola, Pfeiffer and Nepenthe (probably an hour each), was all day --- about 8 hours.

I'm still looking for good value and location hotel in Monterey/Carmel. Anyone?

have you considered. vrbo.com or homeaway.com? We are staying just north of Guerneville for a week, $1200+ for 7 nights. You can find deals, but not sure about $150 a night. I just thought I'd throw that out there. We've had great luck with both.

Those are good ideas, Austin. Also,lada, you might look
at the CA Pacific Coast Hotels at http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/
and consider bidding for a hotel in the Monterey area
at the Name Your Own price section of http://priceline.com

R5