Carmel has been high on my list of places to visit for so long now. I’d heard great things about this quaint ocean town, and how great the restaurants, art galleries, wine tasting and shopping were. We finally got the chance to spend some time here during our epic one-month long Pacific Coast Highway road trip in 2020, and I can’t wait for us to visit again.
We started off our evening by checking into the Cypress Inn, a hotel that was owned by Doris Day, and came highly recommended by a good friend of ours who had spent some time living in Carmel. The hotel makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time, and was both luxurious and relaxing. They gave us a great room with huge shutters that could be opened up to let the fresh air in, and they provide a huge decanter of port sherry in every room to unwind with at night.
After getting our things settled, we walked out into town to grab some food. We stopped at Dametra Cafe, another recommendation from a friend, and were able to snag an awesome outdoor table, perfect for people watching. They have an incredible menu of mediterranean food, along with an extensive wine collection, and some great deals if you purchase bottles, even to go! We decided to split a bunch of appetizers along with a bottle of wine to really get our evening started.
After eating our fill, we decided to spend some time wandering the shopping throughout the town. We even found some cute little shopping areas that reminded me so much of Europe, and I had to snap a photo.
Carmel is also known for the plethora of tasting rooms that can be found up and down the streets of the shopping district. We started off with Manzoni Cellars, and happened to be the only people there, so we really got to take our time enjoying the wine and learning a little more about their history.
While we were sitting outside enjoying some wine, we saw this adorable painting at an art gallery next door. There are so many incredible galleries in the city, and you can find a style for anyone. We enjoyed all the window shopping!
We managed to snag a spot at the Scheid Vineyards Tasting Room RIGHT before it closed for the evening, and I’m so glad that we did. We had never heard of this winery before stopping in. To be honest, we don’t really try much wine outside of Napa, and it’s rare that we step outside of our comfort zone when we’re out tasting. We were able to try some incredible new wines, things we hadn’t had before, and everything was delicious. We ended up joining their wine club, and stopping at their actual winery on our route to Pismo Beach the next day.
Even if you don’t get the chance to visit Scheid in person, I highly recommend checking out their wines online, and joining their wine club. During COVID, they’ve started doing virtual wine tastings, and we’ve had so much fun learning more about their varietals and wine in general through these happy hours.
After the tasting, we headed back to the hotel and stopped at Terry’s Lounge in the lobby for a quick nightcap before turning in.
Normally we would have taken the 1 from Carmel all the way to Pismo, but unfortunately there were some major road closures because of the fires. Instead, we got up bright and early to make a stop at the Bixby Bridge, before turning around and heading down highway 101. The good news, this gave us the chance to stop at the Scheid Winery, and got us to Pismo in great time. Be sure to checkout our full Pacific Coast Highway itinerary here, and let us know in the comments if there are any spots we need to add to our next road trip!
