Where is point lobos

We came back around 2 pm and found plenty of parking available inside the park. Vehicles over 20 feet are allowed to enter the Reserve on slow days.

On the weekends, holidays, and during the summer, trailers or motorhomes towing vehicles are not allowed. Yes, you can walk into Point Lobos State Reserve. Parking is available in designated areas on the side of Highway 1, and you can walk in from there. There will be a good walk from the entrance to the highlights of the park. Bikes are allowed on the paved roads in Point Lobos. Bikes are not allowed on the trails in the Reserve.

There are a number of awesome Point Lobos hiking trails. Most of the trails in the reserve are pretty easy and family-friendly. If you are looking for a more challenging hike, check out the Point Lobos Loop Trail. The entire loop is 5 miles long. The Point Lobos hike is a network of well-maintained hiking trails in Point Lobos. This trail is a great way to see the reserve as a whole and not just bits and pieces if you were to bounce around from trail to trail.

You can start the loop anywhere in the park where you can find parking. The parking lot near Bird Island or the first parking lot are good places to find parking. The Point Lobos Loop Trail is made up of a network of other hikes in the park. China Cove is an emerald green cove surrounded by sandy beaches and rock wall.

We found the best viewpoint of the cove is at Pelican Point. At Pelicans Point there was another park volunteer with a telescope letting us get a closer look at Bird Island. While hiking on the trail, keep an eye out for sea lions, otters, and pelicans. It is a great trail for the ocean and coastal views.

The trail is kid and stroller friendly and there are bathrooms along the trail as well. The highlight of this trail is the walk out to Sea Lion Point. When we visited, rangers had spotting scopes set up so we could see the sea lions and otters out in the ocean.

There was also a whale out that day as well. We loved visiting with the rangers about the wildlife in the area and learning more about the ecosystem in Point Lobos State Park. This is a great spot to bring your own compact binoculars if you have them. This is an easy hike that everyone in your group will enjoy while exploring Point Lobos State Reserve.

Use your spotting scope and tripod to see sea otters resting on their backs eating abalone on their stomachs! Visit the one room museum at the Whalers Cottage with the ancient diving outfit, used for abalone gathering!

Check out the black and whites of the ship wrecks where your relatives arrived! AL-the-squid Maryland 1, contributions. Pt Lobos is great - both above the water and underneath!

I can't begin to describe the beautiful rocky scenery - a couple weeks ago we saw whales, seals, sea lions, otters and deer within a 2-hour hike! As far as diving, you have to make reservations on their website. If you can stand the 55 degree water, you'll see some great kelp! Absolutely wonderful park. The Cypress Grove Trail is especially beautiful. Most of the trails are about a mile so you can cover a lot of the park in a short amount of time.

Shelley Carmel, CA 13 contributions. Too crowded, too much trash, too many dangerous drivers. This place used to be pretty but since it's 1 on social media it's not worth it anymore.

It's simply overrun. The parking lot fills up by , the cars are parked along Highway 1, which people use as a trash bin and outdoor toilet, Disgusting and dangerous. Drivers stop dead in the middle of the Highway or U-turn without warning. Children dart across the road and the cops are always giving tickets for parking on the no-parking side of the road Don't miss this beautiful spot! Happened upon a write up on this in a travel guide. I had never heard of it, despite having been to the area before.

What a well-kept secret! I wish we would have left more time. We were probably there about 3 hours. Very easy paths to walk - even for a 2 year old.

Loved seeing baby and adult seals. Didn't spot any otters - or whales. Binoculars would have been a lot of fun to have! We first stopped at Cannery Point, had lunch tables and walked those trals, ending at the Whalers Cabin where the kids enjoyed a quick history and loved seeing old real whale bones and harpoons.

Lots of great climbing trees around too; plan on taking your time! It was across from the cabin that we wathced a large amount of seals for awhile saw them in other places but they were a little further away.

There were many other area's we didn't get to because of time; I would go back to this area just to go here again!

Very well-marked, wide trails! Only some handicap and stroller accessable, but all trails we were on were very easy to walk, and we are not in the best shape!

The whole family enjoyed this! There are maps and trail descriptions online. It really is the 1 thing to do in Carmel! We grabbed a calabrese sandwich and a glass bottle coke from Salumeria Luca and headed down the road. We went on a week day in June and it wasn't super crowded at all. We drove through the park and headed straight for China Cove.

There was plenty of parking so we got out, sat at one of the tables, and tucked into half of our giant sandwich while enjoying water views. After we finished, we took the easy hike through to China Cove and Bird Island. China Cove didn't disappoint with seals playing in its crystal blue waters.

There was a lovely bench where we stopped and took in the surround of China Cove in peace. Absolutely stunningly gorgeous, relaxing, and peaceful. We walked on, loving the views of Gibson Beach and imagining what it must be like to have this gorgeous place as your backyard.

On to Bird Island, where we thanked ourselves for bringing binoculars with us so we could watch the seals slide on and off the rocks below. Just amazing. For the record, it was super secluded here, so if you're an outdoorsy type and thinking of the perfect place to propose, yup, look no further. We only ran into 4 other people during our entire time on the China Cove hike.

Driving back, we stopped on Weston Beach, which, while pretty, didn't really intrigue me as much as our other two stops. So back in the car! We drove back up to the parking area at Headland Cove, where again, parking was no problem. We enjoyed the guide station, which features pretty okay restrooms and several skins of the various critters you see in Point Lobos. I will probably never touch a seal in my life so it was interesting to get to feel their hide and marvel OMG, the Headland Cove hike.

Just stunning. The sun finally came out on this portion of our time in the park and we must have stopped a zillion times to take pics. The cypress cove is breathtaking. We did the entire trail and have the most beautiful pictures from our time there.

Again, on the entire lengthy trail, we maybe ran into about 5 other people so it winds up feeling like your own private nature reserve. Just lovely.

I'm sure there are plenty of places here to watch the sunset and just enjoy being in the great outdoors. We went briefly into Big Sur Park where we ate the other half of our sandwich while figuring out in a parking lot we were in the wrong park - haha and then to see McWay Falls at Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park.

Point Lobos and Julia Pfieffer Burns are easily doable in the same day and catching the McWay Falls close to sunset is just absolutely lovely and gives great lights for pictures.

What a great outdoor day! Showing results of 4, Frederik D Tel Aviv, Israel 10 contributions. No, but weekends are busy so arrive early. Parking is limited. Read all replies. Our Big Idea is quite simple: provide ongoing maintenance to trails, keep trails clear of vegetation and poison oak, restore damaged trails, and ensure safe and level ADA compliant trails. Learn more. Whalers Cabin has reopened to the public.

The cabin is open from 9 AM - 5 PM daily when staffing is available. A maximum of 8 visitors is permitted at a time. Masks are required regardless of vaccination status. Did you know Point Lobos has docent-led free public walks almost daily?

You are allowed to eat in the park , but only in the designated areas with picnic tables. This small building, built around by a Chinese fisherman is now a museum where you can find a c ollection of harpoons and other artifacts used over the years to hunt whales that passed through this part of California during the annual migration.

On the outside of the museum, you will also find numerous bones of these large cetaceans. As I have mentioned, one of the most satisfying activities you can do in the park is to walk on one of the many trails that branch off both inside and along the shoreline of Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. For your convenience, I have chosen those that I think are the most interesting and easiest to walk to fully enjoy the natural beauty that surrounds you.

By embarking on this 0. Some of the points of interest include:. The starting point of this trail is from the same parking lot where the Cypress Grove Trail begins. As you can guess from the name of this trail, you will arrive to a section of the coast with a big population of sea lions. By walking down some quite steep and uneven steps, you can go down until you reach a small beach.

However, access to this area is sometimes forbidden to visitors, especially on days with strong winds.