Liz

After a number of posts recommending this scenic drive I've got to know if others were disappointed also. We put it on our don't miss list for a trip last year and don't understand the fuss. A large portion of the drive is through residential communities, so if you aren't interested in seeing expensive real estate or golf courses, it doesn't seem worth doing to me. Did we miss something?

Brian in Atlanta

I'm with you Liz. We enjoyed driving the PCH and Mulholland Drive in LA much more. And those were free!

Neal Sanders

Liz, what you missed (or rather, didn't miss) was 25-plus years of development. When the 17 Mile Drive was first opened, it consisted of a golf course and miles of wind-swept cypress with fabulous ocean views of the Monterey Peninsula. I first drove it in, I think, 1974, and it was truly worth paying for. Then came the hotels, more golf courses, and those oh-so recherché developments.

I'm incensed that any guidebook would still list the drive as a "don't miss" tourist attraction given the extent of development; I thought most quietly dropped it years ago. Any that still do have editors that haven't bothered to check out their recommendations.

For anyone reading this, here's a hint on how to do the drive for free: make a lunch reservation at the Inn at Spanish Bay (which by the way, has very good food). Your reservation will get you on the "pass" list at the toll booth.

Amy

I'm with you too Liz! What a let down. My boyfriend and I took 2 weeks in Sept. and drove the PCH1 and had 17 Mile Drive on our list of DONT MISS - ugh, what a joke. It was more fun to drive around Monterey & Pacific Grove with our map....free of charge! I must say though...that didn't dampen our great time or our wonderful memories of that beautiful area.

George

If your not into golf or superaffluent
residential architecture, then yeah, its
not worth the price of admission. We did pay the price and took the drive to
watch the sunset. My regret is that
we didn't have any golf clubs with us.
The courses were practically deserted.
It would have been neat to tee up a ball and take a free hit, just to be able to say we drove one into the drink at Spanish Bay.

Liz

Neal,
Thanks for clearing that up for me. My theory was that the residents just wanted to charge people for driving through their neigborhood. By the way I guess "recherché" means more money than taste?

sandra engley

We first did the drive in 1984, it was very scenic then and we had a picnic on the beach by seal rock. I think it depends on your expectations and what else you see on the same trip. We went again about 5 years later and took perfect sunset photos. I trust Neal's comments on the excessive growth, too bad you did not get to see it when it was impressive.

John

Yeah, isn't it too bad none of us got to see the California Coast before it was spoiled by developers and their politician stooges.
I first drove the 17-mile Drive in 1964, and I felt ripped off back then (and I think it cost only two bits to get in). Sure, there still are a few good view points for sunsets, but they're much better at Point Lobos, a couple of miles south on CA 1.
But you can still experience some of the old magic: park your car at the Asilomar Beach trailhead and walk in. You can actually walk all of the drive (via foot and bike trails and roads) for FREE!
And don't worry about the distance. It's not seventeen miles long. The Drive got its name when the old Del Monte Hotel (now a Navy Graduate School) offered carriage rides for its guests from the hotel (on the far side of Monterey) to Carmel--a seventeen mile round trip.

John

Don't worry Liz, you are NOT alone in your opinion!! I was there YEARS ago when it was supposedly "pristine," and I thought it was a big NOTHING way back then, development or no development!! And someone on this Board awhile back actually had the NERVE and GALL to say that she had been on scenic drives all over the world, including the French Riviera, and that 17-mile drive was the most beautiful one she had ever seen! PLEASE -- what a J O K E !!!!

Larry

I completely AGREE! I went to Monterey in February (my first time in California) and was very let down by the 17 mile drive. Personally, I much prefered the drive south on Rt 1 from Carmel down thru Big Sur- and that was FREE!

John

If you want to see some really pretty cliff and saltwater (and island) scenery, check out Chuckanut Drive, south of Bellingham, WA. It's a lot more beautiful than the 17-mile Drive and there's no admission charge. (One of the Seattle papers ran a story about it this week; you can read it by searching for it at www.seattle-pi.com). The best time to visit is in May ot June, when the wild roses bloom in Wildcat Cove.

Roland C

As I recall the price to enter the drive last year was $7.50 or there abouts. That price is good for the day. We like to make a day out of it. From Pacific Grove to Carmel and back there are so many spots to just stop and gawk. I find it hard to believe the sour grapes I read here. Are you all in such a hurry that you cannot stop every chance you can, get out and check out the shoreline? Gracious, how rich you all must be not to be able to appreciate the homes there along the drive. We couldn't afford it but it's nice to look and dream about the exact spot to put the home of your dreams. The drive is not about money, it's about finding beauty in nature. We are from the east coast but are fortunate to have been able to afford travel to the Monterey area each year since the early 80's and the drive is on our list every time. We have walked the drive from Asilomar to Bird and Seal Rock and it's a wonderful experience. Finding golf balls in the sands below the bluffs along Pebble Beach. Hey maybe that was the one Tiger put over the side, or maybe it was the one Clint flubbed out of that sand trap. Imagination, people! Good grief, next thing you'll be telling me is that the Lone Cypress is just a tree!

Granted, Pt. Lobos is magnificent and we have spent many lovely days there and hopefully will spend many more, but don't forget, it is a State Preserve and there is also a charge to enter (unless you wish to park on the highway and walk in).

It's all in your perspective. We have always advised our friends that intend to visit the left coast in and around Monterey, DON'T just drive through . . . stop and smell the roses.

Yes, perhaps you did miss something, Liz but I can only hope you get to go back and see it again.

Rolly

Liz

O.K. Rolly, I'll try it again and next time I'll IMAGINE what it looked like before over-development.

April

I'm in the dark here. You PAY a fee to drive down a road?

Ted

Roland, get out of your DREAMWORLD, PLEASE!! Of course I went through there because I wanted to experience "beauty in nature" as you call it! But, unfortunately, it just wasn't there at all, in my opinion! And YES, the lone cypress tree IS just a tree, for God's sake!

goodness

Gee Whiz, Roland C., you must be SO accustomed to overdeveloped. spoiled coastlines that Monterey is just a big picnic to you! Some of us remember what it was like before all the super-wealthy development came along, and that is what most who take the drive (and PAY for it) are looking for -- not golf balls from Tiger Whothehell, but pristine NATURE, something that is rarer and far more precious than ostentatious homes and stupid freaking golf balls, for God's sake.

John

No, the lone cypress is not just a tree: it is a COPYRIGHTED tree. Talk about taking commercialism to the xteenth degree! Pretty soon they'll charge you for taking pictures of it!

Roland C

Gosh, I seem to have struck a chord. I'm truly sorry. I would have hoped there was still a little dreaming ability from our society. I guess I was mistaken. However, that is the beauty of this day and age . . . one can state disagreement and be roundly chastised but remain upright.

True John, the Lone Cypress is copyrighted but it is also a symbol. Goodness, there are many things that are copyrighted but you don't balk at paying to see, drink or wear them. And, by the way, they do charge to take its picture, $7.50 to take the drive.

Sorry that you don't enjoy it any more folks, but then again, perhaps this year there will be less people there which will make it more leisurely for us.

Rolly

Cal

Well I guess that I am the oddball or at least one of them. We have been on the 17 mile drive at least 20 times over the last several years. We never get tired of it. I love seeing the scores of deer on the golf course.

There will always be the dissenters that are against any kind of development and would rather that we live like the cavemen did.

I can't believe all of the fuss over paying $8.25 to go on the drive. Are you folks really that poor that it breaks your budget?

Liz

I don't think anyone would complain about the price(the price is per car) if they felt there was something to see. I'm more concerned about spending valuable vacation time on something that is mostly interesting to golfers or suburban neighborhood lovers. Also, the Lone Cypress has a little stone wall around it's base and is more "Lone" in a well-cropped photo than in real life. It made me giggle. Of course all develo