Seaside (California)

Seaside is a city in Monterey County in the Central Coast region of California. It is on the coast of the Monterey Bay, just north of the city of Monterey. Formerly the site of the Fort Ord military base, Seaside now has a PGA Tour-hosting golf course and the California State University of Monterey Bay. It is a good home base from which to see all the towns on Monterey Bay.

Sand City, a three-square-mile town with a population of around 300, is surrounded by Seaside on three sides. A former sand manufacturing area, it has become an artist's colony, and its industrial buildings now house an array of galleries.

Get in
Most visitors get to Seaside by driving. It is located directly on coastal Route 1. Visitors coming from Route 101 South can take Route 68 west to Route 1 North; visitors coming from Route 101 North can take Route 156 west toward the Monterey Peninsula. Route 156 merges with Route 1 South and leads directly to Seaside.

Visitors can also take Amtrak's Coast Starlight to Salinas, and then take Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) Route 20 to the Edgewater Transit Exchange, at the Edgewater Shopping Plaza in Sand City, across the street from Seaside.

Get around
Seaside is a small town and can easily be seen on foot. Many people use bicycles to get around and they can be rented from vendors near the beach in Monterey. For car drivers, traffic jams are rare, and parking spots are plentiful.

Bus service from Monterey-Salinas Transit gives access to Seaside and nearby towns, such as Monterey and Pacific Grove.

See
Seaside Beach and Sand City beach are great places to watch the sun set.



Do
Seaside Beach is a popular spot for kite-flying, while Sand City beach is known for its parasailers.



Go next
Nearby cities include Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel. Big Sur is about 45 minutes south on Route 1.


 * - Neighboring Seaside to the southwest, Monterey was founded in 1770 and served as the capital of Alta California under both Spain and Mexico, was a bustling fishing port until the 1950s, and is now a major tourist destination. Attractions include a pier filled with seafood restaurants, a world-class aquarium, a harbor that is home to an enormous number of seabirds, sea lions, sea otters, seals, and other marine life, the historic Cannery Row, and opportunities for whale watching, kayaking, or other excursions into Monterey Bay.
 * - Pacific Grove is a beautiful town that is home to the oldest continually operated lighthouse on the West Coast, and more Victorian homes per capita than anywhere else in America. It is also the northern gateway of the scenic 17-Mile Drive. The town's rocky coastline is filled with tide pools that are easy to explore, seals, sea otters and sea lions are commonly seen in the waters, and adding to its bounty of natural riches, in the winter thousands of monarch butterflies gather in a grove at the town's center.
 * - Located seven miles to the north, Marina is a small city that offers a handful of hotels and restaurants, but may be more interesting to travelers for the nature opportunities around the town. The Marina Dunes Natural Preserve protects the largest sand dunes on the Central Coast, while the Fort Ord National Monument offers 15,000 acres of countryside and 86 miles of hiking trails on a former army base that was declared a national monument in 2012.
 * - Carmel is a beautiful oceanside town that is home to the historic Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, several large beaches, excellent restaurants and an abundance of upscale lodging. It borders the iconic Pebble Beach golf course and is the entry point to the 17-Mile Drive and its dramatic ocean views.