The Monterey Peninsula on a Budget

By Stuart Thornton

 

Let’s face it, the Monterey Peninsula is an expensive place to visit. During the summer, overnight stays at bayside hotels can cost close to the amount of a monthly mortgage payment in another part of the country. Here are a few tips to make your dollars stick around longer while visiting the Monterey Peninsula. 

 

Free Activities

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Museums

There are a handful of worthwhile free museums to visit around the Monterey Peninsula. The Monterey State Historic Park allows guests to visit its two most important buildings without having to pay a dime. The Pacific House on Monterey’s Custom House Square has a free museum with exhibits on Monterey history on the first floor and an impressive collection of Native American artifacts upstairs. Next door is the also free-to-enter Custom House, which was built in 1827 by the Mexican government. The building is filled with replica goods from Monterey’s Mexican era including a Chinese tea brick, a grizzly bear trap, and a collection of cowhides.

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Parks

Families with young ones should definitely venture to the City of Monterey’s Dennis the Menace Park. Created with the assistance of Dennis the Menace cartoon strip creator Hank Ketchum, the playground park has a giant slide, a suspension bridge, a climbing wall, an old train engine, and more. And it’s free to visit. 

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One of the best and cost-free ways to experience the Monterey Peninsula’s coastline is to take a walk on the paved Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail known locally as the Rec Trail. A superb segment with beautiful bay views is the portion between the Monterey Harbor and Pacific Grove’s Lovers Point Park. 

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Another great place for a walk or short hike is in Jacks Peak Regional Park, which is home to the peninsula’s tallest peak. The 525-acre park has 8.5 miles of trails, many with great views of the Monterey Peninsula below. The entrance fees to the park are nominal, but admission can be free if you park below the usually unmanned entrance booth and walk in.

 

Happy Hour Deals

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One way to experience a restaurant without blowing your budget is to visit during happy hour. A frequent winner of the Monterey County Weekly’s “Best Happy Hour,” Hula’s Island Grill has a “Tiki Tuesday” (2pm to close) along with happy hours (Sun.-Mon. 4pm-6pm, Weds.-Sat. 2pm-6pm) every other day of the week. This means all tiki drinks (Mai Tais, Hurricanes, Margaritas, etc.) and appetizers (ceviche, abalone style calamari, crispy coconut shrimp rolls, etc.) are $6 each during these times.

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Peter B’s Brewpub brews their own beer and does happy hour (daily 4pm-6:30pm) from inside Monterey’s Portola Hotel & Spa. Enjoy half-priced beer including their tasty Inclusion Amber Ale along with half off appetizers like their delicious but dangerous breaded cheese curds.

  

Monterey’s Melville Tavern is a new local favorite. The tavern’s happy hour (Mon.-Thurs. 4pm-6:30pm) serves up $5-$7 small bites along with discounted bottled beers and house wine.

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The Cannery Row Brewing Company doesn’t brew their own beers but has over 70 different varieties of brew. Their happy hour (Mon.-Fri. 3pm-6pm) has $4 draft beers and reduced price appetizers.

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The Monterey Cookhouse has happy hour (daily 4pm-6pm) with the usual reduced alcohol offerings and appetizer items. The real winner here is a happy hour special consisting of a burger, fries, and beer for $10. 

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Maybe the best deal around is at the La Playa Carmel Bar. It’s not a happy hour but rather 10 minutes of insane drink deals. It’s called “Bud Allen Hour” (Sundays 5pm-5:10pm) and offers drinks for just 10 cents. Be aware that they only take dimes as payment.

 

Lodging

Most visitors to the Monterey Peninsula spend most of their money on lodging. Here are a few more moderately priced accommodations though even these can go up on crowded summer weekends. 

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With a location, just a few blocks from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row, the Monterey Hostel offers the area’s least expensive lodging. Beds in a dorm room are $37 each, while private rooms usually don’t go above $150.

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Inn By the Bay Monterey is up Munras Avenue a few blocks from downtown Monterey. The rooms here can hover around $100 in the summer at their lowest rates. 

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Another option is Lone Oak Lodge on Monterey’s North Fremont Street. Rooms here can occasionally get down around the $100 mark even on summer nights.

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One of the best ways to secure lodging at the last minute at the best possible price is to use the Hotels Tonight phone app (www.hotelstonight.com). Using the app, you can find rooms $70 lower than their normal prices. Or you can sometimes find a room when it seems like none are available.