What to do in Monterey with kids? About 2.5 hours south of San Francisco is Monterey Bay. This family-friendly town is so compact that everything is within fine distance of each other. Don’t forget to drive along Highway 1 to this city to get a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. Monterey is built up against a hill, which is also a beautiful sight. The typical steep streets give views of the bay and there is a nice atmosphere. We visited this destination with our kids and in this blog we list the best kids’ activities in Monterey Bay!
Best travel time Monterey with kids
The best travel time to visit Monterey with kids is from April through September because of the whale migration. Because of the cool breeze from the sea, it never really gets hot here. It is good to take this into account in terms of clothing. In winter, many activities are closed. We therefore advise against visiting this place in winter, although whales (other species) can also be seen in winter.
So there is not quite the wrong season to visit Monterey Bay with the family.
Transportation to and in Monterey
As always and everywhere, you need a car in the United States. Especially if you want to see more of the area, a car is necessary. Many families visit Monterey as part of a tour of the western United States, and most tourists arrive by plane in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
Both airports are great places to rent a car through Sunny Cars. Sunny Cars has an all in car rental package that is very comprehensive. So look online to rent a car in San Francisco or rent a car in Los Angeles.
However, you can park well in the Monterey Bay area near Fisherman’s Wharf and do things on foot from there. Fisherman’s Wharf itself is a car-free zone, which is of course nice if you are visiting Monterey with kids.
Children’s Activities Monterey
#1 Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Aquarium in Monterey is super fun to visit with kids. The entire aquarium focuses on animals that inhabit the Monterey area. It is a popular aquarium, so it is wise to book your tickets in advance. This is definitely recommended on weekends when it can be very busy! Upon entering, you are given a map that lists feeding times, shows and times when explanations are given about certain animals.
You can also look up this information in advance on the Monterey Bay Aquarium website so you can do a little planning in advance if you like. When you are inside and you turn right immediately after the entrance you walk directly into the Kelp Forest. This is a rendering of the real Kelp Forest in Monterey offshore. If you are lucky, the divers are still cleaning the huge tank, as the windows are washed every day.
There really is kelp growing in this open water tank. Swimming in the tank include sea otters, cod, moray eels, squid and starfish. Really a super cool sight! The kelp moves, as in the ocean current, and marine animals find shelter among the kelp’s roots.
Once you’ve finally managed to get your kids loose here, you can continue walking to the “touch tank. Here, staff members are ready to help the kids. Here you can gently touch, pet or view animals from above. The animals have a large surface area in the middle, so if they don’t feel like it, they also swim away.
It is great to learn about the animals of the sea in this way. The aquarium does a lot of ocean conservation and this also made it an attractive aquarium for us to visit.
Of course, the Aquarium is also dedicated to providing education on how to keep the ocean as healthy as possible. The open Ocean Exhibit is a lot of fun around feeding time. This is a huge tank that holds as much as 1.2 million gallons of water. In particular, how the sardines circle around, making it almost impossible for their attacker to get hold of them, is fascinating!
Again, sit down in time for the show (upstairs you have the best view and seats) because it can get quite crowded, especially on weekends. The aquarium also has an outdoor area and a restaurant. All in all, you can spend almost a whole day here. We ourselves went through it pretty quickly with our kids and had seen most of it after 2.5 hours, but you can definitely spend more time here.
Don’t forget to also take a look at the otters and jellyfish. We won’t give away everything you can see here ;-).
#2 Cannery Row
Leaving the aquarium, you soon walk onto Cannery Row. Here you will find some nice stores and restaurants. The atmosphere is cozy, but we found it less spectacular than often described on some websites. Still, it’s well worth taking a look around if you do visit the aquarium. However, if you are going to Monterey specifically for Cannery Row, we would skip it.
#3 Fisherman’s Warf
This is somewhat the same as Cannery Row. It’s super fun to visit if you’re there anyway, such as for a whale watching tour or a visit to the aquarium, but the area is not very large. What is wonderful is that it is car-free, so you can let the kids run free for a while without worrying about traffic.
There are nice stores selling fish and sweets, and some nice restaurants. It is definitely worth taking a stroll around, especially in the evening. Then there is a cozy atmosphere with live music, which makes it extra special.
#4 Walvistour
Without a doubt, the biggest reason for our visit to Monterey was to take a whale watching tour. There are several providers around Monterey, and we list the ones that all have good reviews. These include Santa Cruz Whalewatching, Seagoddes Whale Watch at Moss Landing and Discovery Whale Watch in Monterey Bay.
We chose Discovery Whale Watch and had absolutely no regrets. Please note that you cannot park at the whale tour address. It’s best to park at Fisherman’s Wharf Waterfront Lot, just a 5-minute walk away. Here you pay a maximum of $10 for an entire day’s parking. Discovery Whale Watch offers a 100% guarantee that you will see whales.
If you don’t see any whales on your tour, you’ll get a free ticket to join another time. This is rare, however, because the chances of seeing whales are very high. Kids under 4 go for $5 and anyone over 13 pays as an adult.
If you pick a tour from another provider, make sure it is not too short. After all, you need quite some time to get out of the harbor and out to sea for a while. If you then choose a cheap tour of an hour and a half, you spend half an hour sailing there and half an hour sailing back, effectively leaving only half an hour to see anything.
We opted for the 2.5- to 3-hour tour, and even that felt short. Once you see something, time flies and half an hour of watching only seems to take 10 minutes, that’s how impressive it is to spot whales in the wild. With the boat ride, you will receive a small snack, such as hot chocolate, coffee or tea, and a cookie. The tour is also a great experience for small kids!
There is a hostess on board who engages the kids and to whom the kids, as well as adults, can ask any questions. When we went in April there were 2 other families on board with us and therefore there was plenty of room for questions and comments. In addition, she points out animals you see along the way. Immediately as we exited the harbor we saw sea lions lounging on the piles of the dock.
We also saw 2 sea otters swimming and a little further on we saw the first seals. We didn’t come for that, of course. We were hoping for whales and maybe even an orca, as they sometimes show up here. Dolphins are also common here. After 45 minutes of sailing we saw our first whales, so super awesome!
The kids were also absolutely thrilled. After this time, we saw several more (groups of) whales. When there is very little to see in between, one of the staff members pulls up jellyfish (jellyfish) with a bucket and shows what they look like here. In this case, typically flat jellyfish with a blue rim and raised fin.
They also help you if you want to hold on to them without getting hurt. The animals are neatly put back overboard afterwards. You can buy a pill in advance for seasickness, we did this for our youngest two kids. In which it turned out that the youngest was not allowed a pill because she was still too small (4 years old).
Americans are very careful when it comes to claims, so we looked up online first to see if it was safe. We ended up giving our youngest a pill for seasickness anyway, just to make sure we didn’t have any kids puking on board. Fortunately, the sea was very calm, so in retrospect it probably wouldn’t even have been necessary.
As the sun set, we sailed back to the harbor. By now the kids were tired and sat inside with the hostess, who let them play on her phone and gave them homemade stickers with sea creatures. We didn’t expect or purchase this extra service, but we thought it was incredibly sweet and thoughtful!
We were warned in advance that it can be really cold at sea. So we had also brought out our winter coats and extra sweaters. It wasn’t even blowing hard, but it sure was cold. Especially when the sun went down, we were glad we had our winter coats with us. As we indicated earlier; it rarely gets really hot in Monterey.
Because Monterey is in California, wild camping is prohibited in many places by RV. If you travel by RV like we did, make sure you have pre-arranged overnight accommodations. In fact, if you take the evening tour as we did, you will arrive back at the port around 8:15 pm. Before you get back to your camper it is at least 8:30 pm. It’s not relaxed if you then have to go find another place to spend the night.
So book this overnight spot in advance. Of course, it is also possible to take a tour in the early afternoon. For the chance of seeing whales, dolphins this does not matter said our hostess.
#5 Point Lobos, Big Sur and Carmel
From Monterey you can get to other beautiful places in California in a short time. We recommend taking the road south. This way you pass Carmel and Point Lobos State Park. Nature is overwhelmingly beautiful here! You can continue down Big Sur via Highway 1. Perhaps the most beautiful road in the USA.
You really are in nature here and you don’t encounter a shopping mall or traffic light for a while. You can, however, fully enjoy the spectacular views of the cliffs and the ocean. The reason we recommend driving down this road to the south is because it puts you on the right side of the road for the beautiful views. Along the way are several stopping points to get out or take a walk.
The sea is often chilly here, so a dip was out of the question for our family in the month of April. But we did find beautiful starfish and enjoyed how rugged nature is here. If you do decide to take a dip in the summer, pay close attention to where you do so. By no means all places are suitable for taking a dip in the sea, as the ocean here is often rough. If you are lucky you can also find sand dollars along the coastline, good luck!
Family-friendly restaurant Monterey Bay
You can eat in Monterey Bay with kids just fine. You have plenty of family-friendly restaurants where you can get something to eat and drink. Steak & Sushi Sapporo at Fisherman’s Warf has delicious food, but is not particularly family-friendly although you can eat here just fine with kids if they like a lot (this is a Japanese restaurant).
On the Fisherman’s Warf, however, you also have all kinds of stalls where you can buy a delicious fish bowl, but of course you have to love this. If you really can’t figure it out, there is always a Mc Donald’s within walking distance of Fisherman’s Warf, too ;-).
Family-friendly hotel Monterey Bay
You can stay in Monterey with kids just fine, as you have quite a few family-friendly accommodations you can book. We list some of the best-reviewed family-friendly accommodations below. Click on the blue link for more information.
Budget accommodation: Ramada by Wyndham Monterey
Mid-range accommodations: Beach Street Inn and Suites
Luxury Accommodation: Dream Inn Santa Cruz
Also check out the entire list of family-friendly accommodations in Monterey Bay.
About the author: this blog is written for Ilse Stelma on IG to follow under traveling_stelmafamily. Ilse has been to 34 countries and she loves to travel with her family. In addition, they love nature, (wild) camping, occasional luxury and places not yet frequented by many tourists.
