We recently went to Carmel for my birthday and we had the best time. I wanted to do a Travel Diary about our trip and our experience! ❤
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Where We Stayed
We stayed at Coachman’s Inn on San Carlos between 7th and 8th in Carmel, California. (I noticed that a lot of the addresses in Carmel were more of a general intersection than a specific address). I love Coachman’s Inn because it has the cute charm that you’ll love in Carmel, and it’s within walking distance to everything.
This is the second time we’ve stayed at Coachman’s Inn and each time it’s been wonderful. Parking is kind of tight — you’ll get a parking pass to keep in your dash during your stay which is nice. Once we check in, we just walk everywhere so we don’t have to worry about getting our spot back.
Our room was cute with all the standard hotel room things. We had a king size bed and were near an outdoor seating area which we ate the hotel’s complementary breakfast at one morning. There is no air conditioning in these rooms which is fine because the weather in Carmel is always cool and perfect. We would open our windows at night to let the nice breeze in.
The outdoor seating areas throughout the hotel are so sweet and quaint. I loved having an area to sit out and enjoy the morning.
Where We Ate
My favorite place we ate was La Bicyclette, a cozy little french/italian restaurant which was located conveniently near our hotel. We ordered an assortment of bread as an appetizer which was warm and soft. It came with a pat of butter and an oil for dipping.
I ordered the Champignon pizza for lunch which had portabella mushrooms, mozzarella, thyme, and carmelized onion puree. The pizza was seasoned so well and it was even better with their homemade rosemary, olive oil and chili oil mixture.
We also had an amazing breakfast at Katy’s Place; I had the eggs benedict. We had margarita pizza and eggplant parm at Vesuvio. I had a grilled, roasted vegetable sandwich at Demetra Cafe which was delicious.
What We Did
My favorite thing to do in Carmel is explore the cute town and go to the beach!
Portabella has a nice portabella mushroom burger and french fries on their lunch menu. Right next door is the Cottage of Sweets which has a variety of candy and fudge; the store is pretty tiny though so I prefer to go when there aren’t tons of people inside.
We saw a lot of interesting street art and got to experience the scenic ocean views during our trip. I was so glad I’d brought my backpack instead of a purse on our trip. It was nice to be hands-free and be able to do other things with my hands.
I loved to get out and explore each day since everything was close by. There are a lot of art galleries and random shops. I bought a sweatshirt that says “Carmel” from one of those tourist stores, a cute little coin purse from Fine Art Turkish Gallery, and a wood carving of California from the Carmel Bay Company during our trip.
The beach is so nice in the morning; there are hardly any people and it is so cool and crisp. I love the cool, white sand — it’s perfect! I wore my Pura Vida bracelets and my Fitbit ChargeHR to track all my steps from exploring the town.
One day we walked to the mission in Carmel Mission Basilica. It was closed for a wedding so we couldn’t go inside, but it was cool to see. My FitBit said I got 19,000+ steps that day 🙂
Our trip was really relaxed and perfect — the best birthday vacation! ❤
