Best Of Northern California Travels: Carmel Valley & More

Carmel Valley travel has endless possibilities including wine tasting, hill country hiking, Laguna Seca racing and events, fine restaurants and more!

I love to travel and in the past year have been out to the west coast several times. My sweet daughter is coming up on her one year California “live-aversary” in the bay area next month, so it’s a great excuse to visit! I’ve been out here before, and each time I come to CA I become more smitten. The landscape, the fact that you can be in the mountains in the morning and drive a short distance to the beach if you want in the afternoon. And the weather. Did I mention the weather?  Several of you have asked about my trip and I’m home in Miami now, but here is a brief synopsis if you’re interested.

With a few trips out to San Francisco specifically, we’ve stayed mostly in hotels. We stayed around Union Square and found it to be too crowded and noisy. We enjoyed our stays in Nob Hill and Pacific Heights and I recommend the Hotel Drisco which is sophisticated and elegant with a nightly happy hour. This time we wanted something with more of a neighborhood feel on this trip and more room. My searching on Airbnb found us in the Noe Valley neighborhood…great for walking, coffee shops and a Whole Foods 5 minutes away. We rented THIS APARTMENT and it was nice to have a kitchen for making breakfast and reasonably priced.

The apartment was in the turn of the century victorian pictured above that couldn’t be more charming on the outside.

We spent time just walking the city and that’s our favorite activity. San Francisco is a wonderful walking city but there are steep hills to climb and will really get your heart rate going! If you’ve been to the city before, check out alternative activities like the Botanical Garden, located in Golden Gate Park. Next it was down to Carmel Valley for several days and since I’ve been asked for where we stayed I’m posting it below.

A two bedroom/two bath craftsman style home nestled in the wood in Carmel Valley and on a creek. Whenever I stay in a home I can’t help but think of the renovations and changes that I would make if it were mine. This place has potential and it’s kind of a mish mash of styles with what I think was an addition above. Behind the door there was a little office, where I tried to get some work done quietly. Outside was a deck that overlooked the woods and creek and we spent some time sitting and sipping in the evenings.

The spiral staircase led to a loft bedroom area, which is perfect for small children.

The place that we stayed in above can be found on VRBO and although it had a few hiccups (like a non-working dishwasher and kitchen with some issues) it was a good choice for the four of us (plus dog). You can find out more at the link above and judge for yourself.

We came down to Carmel Valley because my husband wanted to attend a Porsche event at the racetrack Laguna Seca. It was lots of fun seeing the hundreds of Porsches all in one place and seeing him happy. Me? I don’t care much about cars but I do about him and it was fun to hang out with the fam.

A sea of Porsches, lots of testosterone and noise from the racetrack area and well…maybe this would be my car, LOL.

We were in the area for several days and spent one day in the Monterey area. Drawn to the beach as always, we drove around Pebble Beach and the surrounding spots and had a seafood lunch at a spot only known to the locals that my son-in-law found.

The Carmel Valley area has so much charm, and after wine tasting we head up to the top of the hills to visit the private estate of a friend. We were smitten…acres of well tended gardens filled with fruit trees and raised garden beds yielding all of their own vegetables. Truly the good life and one that we enjoyed being a part of, if only for just an afternoon.

And my husband fell hard for the area. As his grandparents had a farm in Michigan he has always had the dream of being a gentleman farmer. One doesn’t know what the future holds, but we keep on dreaming and working hard and dreams sometimes do come true.

I hope that you enjoyed the tour, and if you have any questions about where we stayed feel free to comment or email!