Things to do with kids in Monterey

Things to do with kids in Monterey

1. Do

   Dennis the Menace Park

   A giant kids' park that includes a full sized train, numerous bridges, ducks and geese you can feed and paddle boat rentals. One of the better free municipal parks in Northern California.

   Wed-Mon (closed Tue)

2. Do

   Golden State Theatre

   This refurbished theatre offers diverse, family-friendly shows centering around the themes of classic cinema and musical theater. It's worth a trip just to see the ornate interior of the theater.

3. See

   Larkin House

   Two-story mud adobe brick home built during Monterey’s Mexican period by Thomas O. Larkin. Accessible by tour only.

   Tours on Thu-Sat at 2PM·$10/adult, children free

4. See

   Monterey Bay Aquarium

   This large aquarium specializes in exhibiting local sea life in typical local habitat displays and has many spectacular exhibits. It is particularly known for its Kelp Forest exhibit, three stories high, filled with several varieties of giant kelp and a wide variety of marine animal species, and also for its million-gallon Open Sea exhibit with large blue fin and yellowfin tunas, mahi-mahis, sharks (including an occasional Great White Shark as a very temporary visitor, before being released back to the ocean), ocean sunfish (mola-molas) and sea turtles. The best exhibits include a large tank of silver sardines that swim around and around above one's head, and one of rescued sea otters deemed unreturnable to the wild and therefore kept at the aquarium. (The aquarium has rescued and released back to the wild over 500 sea otters.) Quite expensive, but for a good cause (the aquarium is privately funded, and much of the money goes for conservation research), and most visitors will consider a visit well worth the charge.

   9AM or 10AM to 5PM or 6PM, depending on time of year and day of week·$65/adult, $50/youth and seniors, $45/child

5. Eat

   Rosine's

   A downtown, family-friendly classic serving up wonderful portions of comfort food. Famous for its spectacular cakes - make sure you have someone to share with!

6. See

   Stevenson House

   An 1840s adobe where famous author Robert Louis Stevenson resided in late 1879. Today the house is filled with artifacts from the author's life as well as local artwork. Accessible by tour only.

   Tours on Thu-Sat at 10AM·$10/adult, children free

7. See Not mapped

   Seals at the wharves

   There are two piers and a breakwater that provide excellent viewing of sea lions. Monterey's original "Fisherman's Wharf" generally has a handful of sea lions lounging about, and occasionally, harbor seals on the beach next to the pier. Larger groups of sea lions can generally be found at the more industrial wharf ("Municipal Wharf #2") a short walk to the east from Fisherman's Wharf. Wharf #2 has a small fishing industry warehouse still in operation, so numerous sea lions have made it their home. Towards Cannery Row from Fisherman's Wharf, near the Coast Guard station (reached by driving on Del Monte west from Fisherman's Wharf, through the traffic tunnel and taking the first exit and then the first right turn), there is a large breakwater that is generally occupied by a huge number of sea lions, piled on the breakwater's rocks. One can walk part way down that breakwater on its paved portion and view the sea lions from only a few feet away through a steel fence at the end of that paved portion. Additionally, sea otters can often be seen in the bay, and harbor seals can often be seen at Hopkins Beach, just west of the Hopkins Marine Station (part of Stanford University) that is just west of the Aquarium, or in the calm waters next to Fisherman's Wharf, particularly resting on the tops of rocks that are just above the ocean level (sea lions can jump from the water up to places like the top of the breakwater, harbor seals can't).

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Monterey (CC BY-SA 4.0).