hi need some help on deciding the last faze of our Californian honeymoon tour.
We spending labourday weekend in Santa barbara and then planning on heading up to San Fran for our flight back to the UK.
we have 3 days and 2 nights so should we
a)Drive up to the Madonna Inn for our first night, then carry on up to Monterery (staying at the Marina dunes resort) for our 2nd night.
b) give the Maddona Inn a miss as the hotel is the only thing interesting us and just spend 2 nights at the Marina Dunes resort?

Is there plenty to see and do in Monterey or should we explore the coast further south and stay at the Madonna?
Thanks for your help, Allan & Louise

You can easily spend two or three days on the Monterey area. A good web site, for starters, is http://www.monterey.com/ . Do a search on Monterey or Carmel on this board for much more information.

Hi Allen,
As interesting as the Madonna Inn is, I dont know that it is worth a stay there. Especially when you have Montery waiting further up the coast. You know, you could just stop in Madonna Inn and have lunch and look around a bit.
minnie

Yikes, don't stay at the Madonna Inn. Stop for lunch at the coffee shop if you must, peek into the men's restroom to see the rock waterfall urinal, but not worth a night. SLO is only two hours drive north of SB...keep going. The Carmel/Monterey area is much more charming and with things to do. Hope you have reservations for Labor Day in advance, where are you staying in SB?

Thanks Minnie. I think were going to drop the Madonna and spend some more time in Monterey. Our Honeymoon is 21 days in total and we could of easily filled it work and money permiting!
I'm sure we'll be back.
Allan.

MBnancy, Cheers for the advice. Yeah were booked into the "Marina Beach" in Santa Barbara. Anygood?

Allan, I know where the Marina Beach is located, and it is near the harbor and walking distance to Stearns Wharf. It's in a good area and will be fine. We haven't stayed there, but looks like it will be fine.

Instead of the inland route, please consider driving highway 1 up the coast. The Big Sur coast (starting a ways north of Santa Barbara and continuing almost to Carmel/Montery) is some of the most beautiful in the world!! The mountains and forest run directly to the ocean. It's completely different from the Santa Barbara area coast. I've lived in the area all my life and still find Big Sur amazing. Also, just south of Carmel is the Point Lobos reserve--stunning ocean views, sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals, and pleasant hikes. And you might want to check out Pacific Grove, just south of Monterey and much more enjoyable, in my opinion. Much less touristy and with a much prettier shoreline. Finally, the Montery Bay Aquarium is amazing.