What We Did In Carmel

If you aren’t familiar with Carmel-by-the-Sea, then be prepared to fall in love and add a new spot to your travel wish list! Carmel-by-the-Sea is one of California’s most charming seaside towns. It is so idyllic and also full of yummy restaurants, delicious wineries, interesting shops, and stunning coastlines. All in all, it’s a glorious little spot located between Monterey and Big Sur. Carmel-by-the-Sea is a tiny little town but it sits adjacent to the expansive Carmel Valley so there is no shortage of things to do between the two. My family traveled to Carmel this past weekend for my cousin’s beautiful wedding so I wanted to share what we did! A big thanks to my cousin for picking such a glorious spot to tie the knot!

Top / Jeans / Scarf (also love this scarf) / Purse (old – last seen here, similar)

How to Spend a Weekend in Carmel, California

I hadn’t been to Carmel for a few years so it was a real treat to be back in the little oasis of a town. My family has another wedding in the area this coming October so I’m going to be a Carmel expert in no time! In the meantime, here is what we did in Carmel on this trip and what I know and love from past trips.

What We Did In Carmel

We were pretty busy with wedding activities (my cousin got married at Holman Ranch, which was gorgeous!) but we still had a good amount of time to explore and enjoy Carmel. For starters, we loved spending cocktail hour at Cypress Inn while listening to their live music. My family also had a fantastic dinner on the covered patio at Casanova. Both the Cypress Inn and Casanova are Carmel classics so I highly recommend both! We also loved wine tasting at Folktale Winery in Carmel Valley (where my cousin had his rehearsal dinner!). The town of Carmel-by-the-Sea also has a bunch of winery tasting rooms by the area’s surrounding vineyards. It’s great fun to spend an evening in town hopping around to try a few. We went to the Scheid Vineyard Tasting Room in town, which was the perfect way to kick off one of our nights.

Carmel is also a wonderful town to wander and window shop. My favorite stores are the women’s clothing boutiques Girl Boy Girl and Paloosh as well as the antique store Roberton’s Antiques. Both boutiques have a fantastic selection of brands like Ulla Johnson and Saloni while Roberton’s Antiques is full of treasures big and small (I have no idea why their Yelp reviews are so so – I thought it was a wonderful store). Another Carmel highlight that we did on this trip, as we have in the past, is the 17 mile drive… so beautiful! I also can’t recommend Carmel Beach enough. It is a gorgeous cove with beautiful turquoise water and where I shot this blog post! My dad and brother also golfed at Spyglass. In case you weren’t aware, golf is a must around Carmel!

More Carmel, CA Recommendations

If you need more recommendations than what I mentioned above, then dive into these ideas…

Restaurants: Hogs Breath Inn // La Bicyclette // Porta Bella // Grasings // Dametra Cafe // Rocky Point Restaurant // Corkscrew Cafe // Village Corner // Basil // Carmel Bakery // Cottage of Sweets // Brophy’s Tavern // Culture Comida y Bediba

Wineries & Wine Tasting: Georis Winery // The Cheese Shop // Trio // Silvestri Vineyard // Galante Vineyard // Hahn Wines // Blair Wines // Wrath // Manzoni

See & Do: Drive South on Highway 1 to Big Sur // Hike Point Lobos State Park // Carmel Art Walk (second Saturday of the month) // Rent bikes at Mad Dog & Englishmen

Stay: Cypress Inn // L’Auberge Carmel // Lamp Lighter Inn // The Carmel Mission Ranch // Bernardus Lodge // Carmel Valley Ranch // Rent a house in Carmel-by-the-Sea // Rent a house in Carmel Valley

What I Wore

I’m going to share a few more outfits from our trip in the coming days but I wanted to start out with this outfit because it was the perfect look for our trip. Carmel-by-the-Sea can be very foggy and chilly (even still in the summer) while Carmel Valley is sunny and warm this time of year. This outfit struck a happy medium with both climates… my favorite cropped blue jeans and a beautiful blush plumb colored linen top.

Top / Jeans / Scarf (also love this scarf) / Purse (old – last seen here, similar)

Get my What We Did in Carmel look:

Photography by Edwin Eversole