Biking 17-Mile Drive – An Unforgettable Ride on the Monterey Peninsula

Biking 17 Mile Drive

Vegan Food Trips

During our Monterey Girls Getaway, we decided to spend the day biking along 17-Mile Drive located north of the city at Pacific Grove. It was one of the best experiences during our visit to California. This incredibly beautiful bike route winds its way around the coastline of the Monterey Peninsula and our total 17-Mile bike ride time was about half a day to leisurely make our way from Monterey to Pebble Beach.

Bike Rentals in Monterey

We started right in the center of Monterey since we were picking up some bike rentals from Adventures by the Sea on Cannery Row. The company supplied us with decent bikes, maps of the route and plenty of great advice. We found out that bike trail in Monterey takes you all the way to Pacific Grove, where you’re on the town roads for a short time until you reach the 17-Mile Drive Gate Entrance off of Sunset Drive. We also discovered, to our delight that if you’re walking or biking the route, you get into 17-Mile Drive for free, bonus!

Biking 17-Mile Drive

A Bike Ride From Monterey to 17-Mile Drive

This bike ride is not for bikers in a hurry, it was difficult to make good time on the route because it’s so darn gorgeous! We continually stopped to take photos, gaze at the spectacular views along the coast and snapping least a million selfies. The start of 17-Mile Drives takes you through great stands of cypress trees where you cycle down an incline until you reach the coast and then it’s just beach, pounding surf, sea lions on rocks, a few multi-million dollar houses and golf greens for the remainder of the ride. Simply spectacular.

Hilton Hotels

Once we got to Pebble Beach, we headed to the Pebble Beach Market to buy some picnic fixings and off we biked to Spanish Bay for lunch on the beach. The day couldn’t get any better. After our picnic we headed back to Monterey, still stopping, still looking at the views, still in awe. What a wonderful way to see the coast, I would bike this route every weekend if I lived near 17-Mile Drive.

17-Mile Drive Biking Tips

  • Take water with you! It gets hot and we didn’t see many spots to easily buy water along the way.
  • Much of the biking on the 17-Mile Route is along the shoulder of the road and not on a separated bike path, cyclists are sharing the road with many cars and drivers who may be more interested in the view than you. If you are a nervous or inexperienced biker you may want to stick to the bike path along Monterey.
  • Most of 17-Mile Drive is very flat but there is an incline at Pacific Grove, so if you have difficulties with hills an e-bike rental might be the way to go.
  • Head out early in the morning to avoid the worse of the car traffic along the route, this way you can enjoy the slightly cooler temperatures before the sun gets too warm.

For an unforgettable experience, bike along 17-Mile Drive and leave your car at home!