• Bicycle the 17-Mile Drive (no charge to bicyclists). Prepare to stop frequently along the way for sightseeing and vista views. Take a picnic lunch.

• Walk one of the challenging hiking trails and enjoy the magnificent scenery in the area’s parks. Jacks Peak Park in Monterey and Garland Park in Carmel Valley have dozens of trails and matchless views. Point Lobos State Reserve off picturesque Highway 1 is great for picnics. Go farther down the coast for Andrew Molera State Park and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur.

• Go camping in the Big Sur region; you can hike, bike or ride a horse to get a good look at this beautiful area. Big Sur, 90 miles south at the edge of San Luis Obispo County, has 3 million acres of untouched wilderness area and 300 miles of trails.

• Go sailing or yachting in Monterey Bay. Take sailing lessons if necessary.

• Get thee to the newest city on the peninsula, Marina, where you can take to the air in all sorts of ways: hang gliding, helicopter rides, hot-air balloon rides, skydiving and sailplane rides.

• Hone climbing skills at Sanctuary Rock Gym in Seaside/Sand City. It has 5,000 square feet of indoor sculpted climbing terrain and a 30-foot man-made peak. Next door is an indoor skateboarding park, the SK8Station.

• Visit in September in order to attend the three-day Monterey Jazz Festival featuring contemporary and classic jazz artists. It gathers the best in jazz.

• Check out the nightlife, some of it quirky, in downtown Monterey and Cannery Row including comedy clubs, small live theaters, dancing, billiards and pool.

• Bike or rollerblade on the path from Lover’s Point in Pacific Grove to Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey.

• Scuba dive in Monterey Bay. Or, sightsee above water, in a kayak. Or, surf in the bay.

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• Time your visit to coincide with a festival that appeals to you. Consider the Cherries Jubilee, the Great Monterey Squid Festival, the Monterey Blues Festival (separate from the Monterey Jazz Festival) and the Monterey Wine Festival.

• Take a whale-watching excursion. Trips are offered in Monterey and Pacific Grove, among other places.

• Go to the auto and motorcycle races at nearby Laguna Seca Raceway.

• Make the obligatory visit to the Monterey Aquarium. This site is for everyone, but especially those in the middle of the travel-personality curve. You'll walk through huge aquariums on both sides and see fish swimming overhead. For the “Jellies: Living Art” display special-effects lighting brings out the dynamic colors of jellyfish. Popular exhibits include the otters at feeding times, outdoor tide pools and tanks where children can pick up starfish and other sea creatures.

• Visit the Carmel Mission, and learn about the history of California's 21 missions stretching most of the length of the state. The mission style of architecture has inspired designers of public buildings and private homes in the United States and abroad.

• Sip wine in tasting rooms at the Bernardus Chateau Julien, Talbott or Galante vineyards in Carmel, or go south to Riverland Vineyard, Smith & Hook/Hahn Estates or Chalone Vineyards.

• Follow the 17-Mile Drive by car. Majestic scenery comes not only from stunning ocean views but its five world-famous golf courses: Cypress Point, the Links at Pebble Beach, the Links at Spanish Bay, Monterey Peninsula Golf Course and Spyglass Hill. Have lunch at the Links at Pebble Beach.

• Take cooking classes at the Culinary Center of Monterey.

• Take in the peninsula’s ambience. Explore the unique and interesting bookstores in Carmel, Monterey and Seaside/Sand City, along with their countless art galleries and specialty stores.

• Plan to play golf. The cost in Monterey goes from the ridiculously expensive to reasonable, and even the least expensive courses offer spectacular views. Sample prices range from $450 on the high end to $70 on the more reasonable side.

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• Take a sunset stroll along the beach at Asilomar or Carmel Beach City Park. Or, hike the trails at beautiful Point Lobos State Reserve.

• For a sense of local lore, follow Monterey's Path of History that winds through downtown. Yellow markers chart a self-guided tour of the city's oldest structures including the Presidio, the Custom House, the First Theater of California and the Cooper-Molera adobe. See places that inspired Robert Louis Stevenson, John Steinbeck and photographer Ansel Adams.

• Take the kids to the Dennis the Menace Playground with a drinking fountain inside a lion's mouth, slides, an operating steam engine and a life-sized hedge maze. Admission is free.

• Hop aboard for the 90-minute tour on the Ghost Trolley of Old Monterey. It will take you past areas of frequent ghost sightings and ghost gardens, old burial grounds, sites of hangings and places of intrigue, murder, swindles and shipwrecks.

• In Salinas, you can visit the National Steinbeck Center which features interactive exhibits that bring the author’s novels, including “Cannery Row,” “Of Mice and Men” and “The Grapes of Wrath,” to life.

• Search out the romantic and picturesque places to dine; they dot the landscape. Consider Old Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey with great views or the quainter atmosphere of Carmel and Pacific Grove. Seafood is featured everywhere.

• Explore Monterey’s Cannery Row, once a thriving sardine-packing center. It is now a tourist center that has retained a bygone-era charm with shops in old cannery buildings, restaurants and galleries.

• Watch a 19th century melodrama at the First Theater of California in Monterey. Built in 1844, it was indeed the state’s first theater and has been presenting 19th century melodramas since the 1930s.

• Drive Highway1 through Big Sur for one of the most beautiful drives you will have in your life.

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For more information, consult Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau at www.montereyinfo.org and the City of Monterey at www.monterey.org

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