The Peninsula is small enough to feel walkable and spread out enough to trip up a newcomer. The good news is that getting around here is easier than in most places its size, once you learn the shape of it.
A car is still the default for most people, and the distances are short. Monterey to Carmel is a ten-minute drive, and the whole Peninsula fits inside a half-hour radius. Parking is the catch, tight and metered in the downtowns and genuinely difficult during big event weeks, so the walkable move is to park once and stay on foot.
Monterey-Salinas Transit runs the buses, and the lines connect the main towns and reach out to Salinas and Big Sur seasonally. The Recreation Trail along the water is the other secret, a flat, paved path that makes a bike the fastest way between Monterey and Pacific Grove on a busy day.
Rideshare works in the core towns but thins out fast toward Big Sur and the valley, so plan the far-flung trips around your own wheels.
Road closures and event-week traffic notes land in our News coverage, and event logistics show up on the events calendar. For routes and schedules, Monterey-Salinas Transit has the current maps.
