South of town the land turns wild at Point Lobos, the granite-and-cypress headland often called the crown jewel of California's state parks, where sea otters raft in the kelp and the surf breaks white against the rocks. Monterey Bay itself is a drowned submarine canyon — deep, cold, and astonishingly rich with life — which is why the old Hovden cannery at the end of the Row was reborn in 1984 as a place to look at the sea instead of empty it. The same water that built the canneries now draws people to watch whales and otters in it.
People were here long before any of that. The Costanoan, or Ohlone, lived on Monterey Bay for thousands of years before the first ship arrived. A Spanish expedition under Sebastián Vizcaíno sailed in in 1602 and named the harbor for the Count of Monte Rey; the name stuck, though no one came back to settle for another 168 years. Then on June 3, 1770, Gaspar de Portolá and Father Junípero Serra came ashore and founded the presidio and mission that became the town — the mission itself moving south to neighboring Carmel the following year.
Why People Visit Monterey
Monterey rewards visitors who want the original California — the first capital, a town of 18th-century adobes, and a deep, wild bay. People come for the Path of History and Cannery Row, for Point Lobos and the marine sanctuary, and for an easy, scenic stretch of Central Coast where Spanish-colonial heritage and a famous waterfront sit side by side.
