carmel ca walking tour

ENJOY CARMEL

Wine, dine, and sightsee like a local with our expertly curated tours in carmel-by-the-sea, ca.

• Most Popular

CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA CLASSIC FOOD TOUR

Discover Carmel’s culinary delights and hidden gems on our Classic Carmel Food Tour, featuring five to six tastings at local eateries and shops, all while exploring the town’s unique charm. Book your Carmel food tour online today!

• Map Marker 5-6
• Hour Glass 3 hours
• User 3 yrs+

FEATURED TOURS AND ACTIVITIES

• Perfect for Corporate off-sites
• Hour Glass 2 hours
• User 16 yrs+

Team Building – Scavenger Hunt

The Carmel Caper Team Building Scavenger Hunt takes place in the heart of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Teams use our customized scavenger hunt app to track down clues and complete challenges at various locations throughout the town. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

• Map Marker 4
• Hour Glass 5 hours

Carmel Bikes, Bites & Bevs

The Bikes, Bites & Bevs Tour is a 2.5-hour e-bike tour of Carmel-by-the-Sea, followed by a 2-hour food tour with tastings at four local establishments. You’ll see some of the most scenic vistas on the Pacific Coast and learn about the town’s history, culture, and architecture.

Private Tours

• Hour Glass 1.5 hours

Instagram Mural Photo Tour

A must for art lovers! Duration 1.5 Hours About The Monterey Peninsula has long been a hub for creativity. On this walking tour, get ready to discover and photograph Instagram-worthy murals.

About Enjoy Carmel 

Enjoy Carmel started as Carmel Food Tours in 2012, becoming the first guided culinary and wine walking tour in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

We’re focused on helping visitors and Carmel residents alike enjoy the best “off-the-beaten-path” food and cultural experiences possible, turning every visit into a unique, memorable escape. Book your Carmel food tour online today! 

ENJOY CARMEL WITH ONE OF OUR TOURS OR ACTIVITIES!

This was a fabulous tour. Veronica did a fantastic job (she was well trained). She even figured out a way to accommodate the special needs within our group. A great way to familiarize with Carmel!

This food tour was amazing, great group of people, great guide, she provided heaps of useful information and the food was fantastic, definitely recommend this tour

My family and I enjoyed an afternoon with Bonnie from Carmel Food Tours. We had a private tour where we enjoyed fare from quite a few dining venues, the Nut Hut, and Lula's Chocolates. At each venue we were allowed time to enjoy their specialties and even had the chance to meet with the owners of the venues. We were able to learn about the locals, the city, all while feeling welcomed at the same time. We loved it so much and look forward to doing it again. Bonnie went above and beyond. Her bubbly friendly personality made it perfect.

We have visited the Monterey/Carmel area several times and never realized there was a food tour in Carmel By The Sea! Don’t miss this fantastic tour. We learned about the history and hidden gems here. The 6 stops ( yes 6) were at some amazing restaurants and a few libations too! You will not want to make dinner plans because you will be pleasantly full after the 3 hour tour! The walking was very easy and paced well, definitely wear walking shoes as the Carmel walkways are a bit bumpy. Veronica was our tour guide for the day. She was exceptionally knowledgeable and friendly! We look forward to enjoying this tour again next time we are in the area!,

Foodie Walking tours are awesome and this was no exception. Great food, nice people and interesting trivia about the town. Be assured you will not leave hungry.

• Restaurants
• Attractions
• Real Estate
• Neighborhoods
• Browse Walking Tours »
• Carmel-By-The-Sea

Walking Tours in Carmel

There’s no better way to get to know the city than to take of the many Carmel walking tours. These specialized and localized tours let visitors get up front and close to the city’s most amazing sights and landmarks, putting them in contact with locals who are the lifeblood of the city and who can tell visitors exactly the type of excitement that awaits for them. Whether it’s the historical sights downtown or the miles of beach along the coast, walking tours are the only way to make a personalized acquaintance with the city.

Don't see the business you're looking for? Add it here

Walking Tours by Carmel Neighborhoods

• Carmel Bach Festival Announces 2016 Festival Line-Up
• Monterey’s Restaurant 1833 Offers a Fresh Menu With Classic Style
• The Most Scenic Golf Holes Near Carmel

Restaurants / Nightlife / Events / Attractions / Hotels / Real Estate / Jobs / Directory / Neighborhoods / Other City Guides

Add Your Business

List Your Event

Places to Stay

© 2024 Carmel.com: A City Guide by Boulevards . All Rights Reserved. Advertise with us | Contact us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Site Map

• Carmel Walks
• Monterey Peninsula Tours
• Testimonials
• SF Chronicle Article

No stress. Spend less. Travel success.

Walking Tour of Carmel: Fairy Tale Cottages and Secret Alleys

Are you looking for the most charming walking tour of Carmel, California? I have got exactly what you need and then some!

This is my last installment of the trilogy dedicated to attractions in Monterey Bay, California area. The previously posted stories are: Monterey family vacation itinerary and Things to Do in Carmel Valley and Carmel by the Sea . This final article provides you all the details you need to know about the self-guided walking tour of Carmel highlighting its fairytale cottages and secret alleys – one of the must see attractions in Northern California – and a MAP to go with it.

Walking Tour of Carmel: Should I choose guided or self-guided one?

Carmel-by-the-Sea is a cute small town on the Pacific Coast of California. It has very unique architecture, lots of shops and art galleries. The best way to explore all these attractions is through a walking tour of Carmel. A couple of companies offer paid walking tours of Carmel. A guided walking tour of Carmel will cost you $20+ per person. But why waste lots of money if you can do an easy and no less charming self-guided walking tour of Carmel with all the necessary pointers provided below for only $7.50 for the entire family or group of friends?

History of Carmel: Storybook Cottages

A couple of word of introduction about Carmel and its history. Carmel by the Sea has a a unique, whimsical, fairy tale-like architecture. It all started in 1920s when a gentlemen named Hugh Comstock, came to visit Carmel, where he met a rag doll maker, Mayotta Browne. They fell in love and got married and stayed to live in Carmel.

Mayotta’s business was very successful, she made many dolls but the problem was where to keep them all as they overflowed their house. Mayotta asked her husband to build a house for her dolls. Hugh was not an architect or a builder but had a talent for tinkering with things.

He built her a small cottage that he called “Gretel”, which was inspired by illustrations from a storybook “Hansel and Gretel”. Then, a year later he built another cottage and called it, not surprisingly, “Hansel”. You will be able to see Hansel and Gretel houses on this self-guided walking tour of Carmel.

Residents of Carmel and nearby areas noticed Comstock’s beautiful fairy tale creations and flocked to him with requests to build for them too. The rest is history. Comstock built about a dozen houses and later more people got inspired by his architectural designs, so you can see many more houses in Carmel now in the same style.

Walking Tour of Carmel: Secret Alleys

Another specific feature of Carmel has nothing to do with Comstock. There are a number of beautiful secret alleys that are not typically marked on Google maps or any maps for that matter. Most of these alleys don’t even have a name. If you don’t know where they are you will definitely miss them. I am not sure of their origin but my feeling is that they came to be when creative people of Carmel decided to find ways to use spaces in between buildings with an artistic purpose. You will be able to see several secret alley on my walking tour of Carmel. They are clearly marked on the map of Carmel that I will provide you.

Walking Tour of Carmel: Artists Colony

It feels like there are a lot of creative people living in town: Carmel-by-the-Sea is an artists colony of sorts. On this walking tour of Carmel you will pass by different galleries in downtown. I guess Carmel’s storybook charm attracts artistic souls like a magnet.

One of the most famous galleries in town is that of a famous Californian painter, the late Thomas Kinkade. He was the famous creator of pastoral and idealized scenes that now hang in about 1 out of every 20 American homes. And those bucolic cottages that you see in his paintings were inspired by Carmel architecture! You may or may not be a fan of his style but it is definitely interesting to visit his gallery because his paintings echo very well with Carmel’s fairytale feel.

Why this walking tour of Carmel is perfect for you

The walking tour of Carmel that I created is unique because it combines many elements: the storybook cottages, the secret alleys and a couple of other points of interest. I spent hours researching the town’s layout and mapping them. Then I traveled to Carmel and checked every attraction myself so that there are no surprises.

Each stop has a location on the map and a brief description. My walking tour of Carmel map does not highlight all the storybook cottages and all the alleys in town but it will cover a good couple of hours of leisurely walking. To make the most of your tour just stroll, look around, may be stop for a coffee, a truffle or a cake in one of the multitudes of cafes and shops downtown and most importantly – enjoy yourself!

My walking tour of Carmel is easy. It can be done with kids and/or elderly too. Most of the route is stroller accessible and ADA accessible. The best part of my Carmel self-guided walking tour is that you can stop at any time and continue whenever you feel like it since you are not tied to a tour group. 

All the above is in addition to a ton of money you will be saving compared to a guided walking tour of Carmel.

Additional Tips for Walking Tour of Carmel:

1.Carmel by the Sea is located, well, by the sea :-), the Pacific Ocean to be exact. So the weather can be cool, foggy and windy even in summer. Bring layers with you.

2. Wear comfortable shoes. This walking tour of Carmel will take you at least 1,5 hours.

3. Carmel can get crowded, especially on weekends, and parking may be hard to find. My suggestion is to arrive early in the morning or if you arrive later, park further from downtown and walk to Stop #1 on the Carmel tour map.

4. Instead of waiting in line in overcrowded restaurants in Carmel during lunch or dinner time, I suggest having a picnic on the gorgeous Carmel beach.

How to obtain your Walking Tour of Carmel map

• Click “Add to cart” button under the Carmel map image below and pay $7.50 via PayPal (your cart contents will appear under the “Add to cart” button right on this page, not on a separate page)
• In comments section in PayPal, write “Map”
• The Walking Tour of Carmel map, created in Google Maps,  will be sent to you via a link (to the e-mail address indicated in PayPal) within 24 hours of payment.

If for whatever reason the payment button below malfunctions you can PayPal $7.50 to me at [email protected] and indicate “Map” in comments and I will e-mail you the map of the walking tour of Carmel within 24 hours.

Thank you for your purchase and I hope you will enjoy your walking tour of Carmel!

WALKING TOUR OF CARMEL MAP

Price: $7.50

***********************************************************************

Where to Stay in Carmel

If you would like to stay in Carmel for more than a day (which will incidentally save your parking problem), check out current hotel deals below:

Booking.com

If you found this information about walking tour of Carmel useful, please do me a little favor and share this information with others, for there’s a good chance that it will help them with their travel plans. 🙂 If you want to be notified when new itineraries are published, please, subscribe to our blog or follow us on Facebook.

Share this:

• Share on Tumblr

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

WC Captcha 38 − 32 =

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Scenic Path Carmel-by-the-Sea: A Self-Guided Audio Tour

• Lifetime access to this tour in English
• VoiceMap app for Android and iOS
• Offline access to audio, maps, and geodata
• Smartphone and headphones
• Transportation
• Food and drink
• Tickets or entrance fees to any museums or other attractions en route
• Camino Real & 8th Avenue, Camino Real & 8th Ave, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93921, USA The tour starts at the entrance to the La Playa Hote. Before arrival, install the VoiceMap app and use the code provided on your ticket. This is a self-guided audio tour that you can start, pause, or restart any time and complete at your own pace. Directions to the starting point are in the app.
• Not wheelchair accessible
• Service animals allowed
• Confirmation will be received at time of booking
• Most travelers can participate
• This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers
• All sales are final and incur 100% cancellation penalties.
• Ocean Avenue

Similar experiences

• You'll start at Camino Real & 8th Avenue Camino Real & 8th Ave, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93921, USA The tour starts at the entrance to the La Playa Hote. Before arrival, install the VoiceMap app and use the code provided on your ticket. This is a self-guided audio tour that you can start, pause, or restart any time and complete at your own pace. Directions to the starting point are in the app. See address & details
• Pass by Carmel Beach Boardwalk Ocean Avenue Clinton Walker House - Frank Lloyd Wright Sea View Inn - luxury vacation rental Carmel by the sea Carmel Cottage Inn Scenic Road Walkway Carmel-by-the-Sea
• You'll return to the starting point

• jeffreywU1761KH 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles April in Paris is amazing! The best tour company we've ever experienced. Eight of us who had been to Paris a number of times were led on this tour by the extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic April. We saw places and learned interesting things about parts of Paris we had never seen before. Read more Written April 23, 2024
• Camper19913922309 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Beautiful, historical Caramel -by - the- Sea The audio tour was easy to follow with just the right amount of information...3 minutes or less per house. Walking this beautiful area and seeing historic homes was well worth the time, less than an hour. Being able to walk uphill and down is a requirement! Wear good walking shoes! Read more Written March 1, 2024
• davidbA1510KR 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Very good self-guided tour Excellent self guided tour of Cannery Row area. The tour was easy to follow. Recommend reading book before the self tour - will add a lot of insight and value into characters, locations. Read more Written March 1, 2024
• gailmS80UD 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Very disappointing Even though we had reviewed the walking tour download before we left - we could not figure out where to start or where to head next, despite the map that was included. The street signs in Carmel by the Sea are on narrow posts on street corners - but not every street corner. We managed to find the hotel with the sign out front (there is another hotel of the same chain close by) and we found the red telephone booth. After that we were totally lost trying to find the right streets. The experience was a great disappointment. Read more Written February 14, 2024
• polarap1 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Could not access due to bad password-- bad informatics! The password never worked and we had to interpolate the locations just to see them. The locations are wonderful but no help getting a functioning password to the app. Read more Written December 31, 2023
• vanessasO1368GA 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Helpful tips and trivia This was a cool little audio tour. We enjoyed driving down the coast and having fun facts pointed out along the way. It was especially useful to have tips on where to stop and take short hikes. My dad, his girlfriend and I all enjoyed the tour. Read more Written November 22, 2023
• M6888GIsaraa 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Rep off Is a rep of. I do no undestand why do I have to paid to walk on the street in front of private properties just to see The houses outside. Read more Written November 14, 2023
• daisysa2023 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Peaceful Drive Such beautiful Tiny homes. We drove it instead of walking due to my torn tendon. But it was a peaceful drive down the streets looking at all of them and seeing all the beautiful details of the homes. Next time I will definitely do the self walking tour. Read more Written November 13, 2023
• Cayetana 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Love Carmel by the sea!! One of my favorite places on earth! Small town full of small shops, cozy streets, lovely house and a spectacular beach. Great to unwind and relax. Lots of dogs and relaxed people just wandering on the streets and small shops Read more Written October 28, 2023
• Sightseer756356 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Lousy experience. Not worth the money. Stay away. App wouldn't load and was confusing to use. No paper map to follow. Meeting/starting place was wrong. Read more Written October 16, 2023
• Susysalsa 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Not what we expected I think the idea behind this is great, and my husband and I were looking forward to doing this driving tour through Monterey. Unfortunately, we were under the impression that the map would show up on our navigation so we would get directions on the screen as to where it would be going, Unfortunately, this was not the case. We had to follow the map on the cell phone app while driving. This caused lots of u-turns and arguments and we actually stopped the tour. This may have been operator error, I’m not sure. I would perhaps update the description to indicate that it does not operate through the car’s nav system. Before we ended up canceling the tour, we did learn about a super cool new beach, so will download the transcript and map it out ourselves before we go down to Monterey again. This way we can take the tour and have the directions ready to go. Again, I love the idea here but was expecting something else. If this is operator error please advise how to set this up properly. Thanks! Read more Written October 9, 2023
• E798IBsusanp 0 contributions 1.0 of 5 bubbles Never could figure it out I couldn’t get it to work. I spent about an hour downloading stuff and trying to find the starting point etc. When we finally found the starting point the narrative did not fit our surroundings. We tried for another 30 minutes and finally gave up. Granted I may be challenged with technical stuff so others might find this to be easier. Read more Written September 14, 2023
• frazzled1 0 contributions 2.0 of 5 bubbles disappointing had difficulty with the audio. wasn't pin pointing my location well. wouldn't work when i was at my location. when it did work it was too long winded. Read more Written August 10, 2023
• 508venusw 0 contributions 4.0 of 5 bubbles Lots of fun 🤩 Truly loved the audio auto tour. Make sure to go through the tour before you start driving it, a few of the geo tags are slightly out of place and you want to make sure to be in the right hand lane mostly for all the times you will pop off the freeway. Enjoy, We Did! Read more Written August 8, 2023
• 534carynf 0 contributions 2.0 of 5 bubbles exasberating I just felt it was long winded and the audio didn't always go off so struggled with getting the right segment with the location. great more frustrating than enjoying. Read more Written August 4, 2023

More to explore in Carmel

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Scenic Path Carmel-by-the-Sea: A Self-Guided Audio Tour provided by VoiceMap Monterey Peninsula