San Francisco, Monterey and Carmel 2008

When planing your next trip though wine country I would highly recommend heading North of San Francisco to the Nappa Vally where the good life can be easily defined. Monterey can best be described as the pink Zinfandel of wine country or by comparing it to similar cities such as Daytona or Myrtle Beach. The main attractions are the Fisherman's Wharf and The Monterey Aquarium which are only exciting when there is not much else to do. Carmel has a higher end clientele and the much better shopping however, you can expect to pay more for what you buy because the stores are locally owned and not franchised. You will need to bring your Gucci and Armani with you because you wont find them here.

Although Monterey and Carmel are very much different and only four miles apart they are also, highly over rated and have little to do with tasting the good life. The atmosphere is very casual and the architecture is not worth photographing unless your visiting one of the better wineries which are few and far between.   

My overall impression is not very positive and It's quite surprising that either town could have ever been associated with the prestige of wine country. When browsing for reading material about Carmel or Monterey, pay close attention to what your reading because the words used can be very misleading.On a scale of 1-10, I give both towns a dismal rating of 5.