Pacific Grove

Pacific Grove sits at the northern tip of the Monterey Peninsula, just past Cannery Row and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It began in 1875 as a Methodist summer retreat of tents and small cottages and grew into a quiet town of Victorian houses, rocky coves and windswept cypress. It calls itself Butterfly Town, U.S.A., because western monarch butterflies have wintered in its groves for as long as anyone has kept records.

Our Monterey and Carmel guide covers the aquarium, 17-Mile Drive and Carmel. This page goes deeper on Pacific Grove itself: the Monarch Sanctuary and how to time your visit, Lovers Point, the shoreline drive, the Point Pinos Lighthouse and Asilomar. Pacific Grove is also home to Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station, on the rocky point beside the aquarium.

Getting there and drive time

Take US 101 south past San Jose and Gilroy, then State Route 156 west toward the coast and Highway 1 south toward Monterey. Leave Highway 1 at State Route 68 west, which becomes Forest Avenue and drops into Pacific Grove. The trip is about 90 miles and takes 1.75 to 2 hours in light traffic.

Weekday rush hour through south San Jose and Friday afternoons on 101 can add a lot, so leave Palo Alto by 7:30 a.m. if you can. You can also go over Highway 17 to Santa Cruz and around the bay on Highway 1, which takes a little longer and passes Capitola and Moss Landing. There is no practical transit for a day trip, so you need a car. You can compare rental cars from SJC or SFO.

The Monarch Sanctuary

The Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary is a small grove of eucalyptus and pine in a residential neighborhood a few blocks from the shore. The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, which runs the docent program, calls it the largest monarch overwintering site in Monterey County. Here is what the museum's monarch page says, last updated October 30, 2026:

• Address: 250 Ridge Road, Pacific Grove.
• Hours: sunrise to sunset every day. It closes only in extreme weather when high winds make it unsafe.
• Admission: free, with no reservations.
• Parking: free but limited, on nearby streets such as Lighthouse Avenue. There is no bus parking.
• Access: a packed gravel trail with a slight downhill slope. The sanctuary is ADA accessible.
• Docents: volunteers are usually there from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., October through February, weather permitting.
• Rules: no pets, no food and no smoking. Stay on the paths and never touch the butterflies. Pacific Grove police can fine violators up to $1,000.

When to go

Monarchs usually arrive in mid-October and leave in February. As of the museum's October 30 update, butterflies were still arriving and the peak was expected around the end of November. The museum recommends visiting from November through January.

Time of day matters as much as the month. Monarchs are cold-blooded. On cool mornings before about 11 a.m., or on overcast days below about 55°F, they hang in dense clusters that look like bunches of dead leaves or small pine cones. On sunny afternoons above 55°F they fly and feed in the nectar beds at the lower, south end of the trail. Ask a docent which trees the clusters are on that day, because they move.

Fewer butterflies than before

The western monarch population has crashed. The museum says it has lost more than 99 percent of its historic numbers. The 2025 Western Monarch Count, coordinated by the Xerces Society, reported 12,260 butterflies at 249 California sites, the third lowest total on record. Some years the Pacific Grove grove holds thousands and some years far fewer. Go for the experience and the docents and treat a big cluster as a bonus. Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz is another public monarch grove on the way.

Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History

The museum downtown at 165 Forest Avenue has exhibits on local birds, marine life and monarchs, plus a native plant garden. Its website lists hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday. Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for youth 4 to 18, students, seniors 65 and over and military. Monterey County residents get in free. If you bring a Monterey Bay Aquarium ticket from the past 48 hours, you get $2 off.

Lovers Point and the shoreline

Lovers Point is a small rocky headland with a park, a lawn and a sheltered sandy cove on the bay shore a few blocks below downtown. It is the town's favorite spot for a picnic, a sunset or a cold-water swim on a calm day. The paved Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail runs past it, so you can walk or bike from here back along the water toward Cannery Row.

West of Lovers Point, Ocean View Boulevard follows the shore around the tip of the peninsula and becomes Sunset Drive. It is one of the best short coastal drives in California and costs nothing, unlike 17-Mile Drive next door. Pull over to watch harbor seals and sea otters, explore tide pools at low tide and look for whales offshore in winter. In spring, magenta ice plant blooms along the bluffs.

Point Pinos Lighthouse

At the northwest corner of the peninsula, the Point Pinos Lighthouse has shone over the entrance to Monterey Bay since February 1, 1855. It is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast and still uses its original third-order Fresnel lens, which was shipped around Cape Horn. Since 2021 an LED lamp has replaced older light sources behind that lens. Inside, rooms are furnished to show keepers' lives, including Emily Fish, who kept the light from 1893 to 1914.

The City of Pacific Grove lists:

The short hours make timing important. Plan the lighthouse for a Friday to Sunday visit and arrive well before 3 p.m.

Asilomar State Beach

South of the lighthouse, Asilomar State Beach is a stretch of white sand, tide pools and restored dunes along Sunset Drive. Across the road, the Asilomar conference grounds began as a YWCA camp and include rustic buildings designed by architect Julia Morgan. The state park page lists hours of 8 a.m. to sunset and allows leashed dogs on the beach and trails. A boardwalk crosses the dunes. Waves here are powerful, so stay off rocks the surf can reach.

Where to eat

Downtown Pacific Grove, along Lighthouse Avenue and the cross streets, has cafes, bakeries and casual restaurants within a few blocks of the museum. Many are small and close early, especially on weeknights in winter. For more choice, Cannery Row and downtown Monterey are five minutes away. Pack a picnic for Lovers Point if the weather is good.

A sample November day

1. 7:30 a.m. Leave Palo Alto on US 101.
2. 9:30 a.m. Monarch Sanctuary while the butterflies are still clustered.
3. 11 a.m. Natural history museum, then lunch downtown.
4. 1 p.m. Point Pinos Lighthouse, Friday to Sunday only.
5. 2:30 p.m. Asilomar and Sunset Drive, then Lovers Point at sunset.
6. Evening. Drive home, or stay the night and visit the aquarium in the morning.

Pacific Grove has inns in restored Victorian houses and motels near Asilomar, often cheaper than Monterey or Carmel. You can compare inns in Pacific Grove. For a guided day on the peninsula, you can browse Monterey Peninsula tours.

Frequently asked questions