San Carlos Beach Park(Reeside Beach)

Located near the western end of Cannery Row, San Carlos Beach - also known as Reeside Beach and Breakwater Beach - is a popular beach with light brown sand. This popular beach is situated below a blufftop grassy park called San Carlos Beach Park. As an interesting fact, the beach is named after the San Carlos Canning Company, which was present near this beach and burned down in 1956. There is a manmade rocky embankment behind the beach. The beach also has some old concrete structures and rock formations. While San Carlos Beach does not have lifeguards or any other amenities, the park above the beach has restrooms, picnic areas, and benches. In addition, a coin-operated shower is also present near the beach. You can find this shower in the restroom of the parking lot for the nearby Coast Guard Pier. Getting to San Carlos Beach is easy - the beach is located near the intersection of Reeside Avenue and Cannery Row, and paid street parking spaces are available near the beach. We recommend visiting this beach early as these spaces are often quickly occupied by visitors.

The water near San Carlos Beach is home to many marine mammals including seals, migrating grey whales (between December and April), otters, and a large colony of sea lions. There are many scuba diving equipment rental shops near San Carlos Beach. If you are planning to fish in the water near San Carlos Beach, it is important to note that spearfishing is prohibited here. If you like tidepooling, tidepools are present along the beach shoreline and are home to many creatures including sea urchins and hermit crabs. The grassy park above the beach offers a great picnic spot and marvelous Instagram-worthy views of the Pacific Ocean. The Monterey Peninsula Recreational Trail also passes near San Carlos Beach Park and offers spectacular views of the Monterey shoreline.

San Carlos Beach offers many fun activities including beachcombing, sunbathing, fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling, boating, kayaking, canoeing, paddleboarding, tidepooling, bodysurfing, boogie boarding, biking, kitesurfing, windsurfing, jet-skiing, and surf skiing. The water near San Carlos Beach is calm and shallow, making it ideal for all kinds of swimmers. However, we recommend being careful while going into the water here as it can have unpredictable rip currents and is also known to be cold. San Carlos Beach is a popular diving spot - scuba divers often dive into the water near this beach in order to explore the rocky patch reefs and thick kelp forests present here. These thick kelp forests are home to many different types of fish including blackeye gobies and sand dabs, and on rare occasions, you can also find halibut and turbot. The water here is also home to marine invertebrates including bryozoans, nudibranchs, sea nettles, and octopuses. A large underwater bed of medium anemones is present near the western part of the beach (just offshore Reeside Avenue) which is known as the Metridium Fields. Another popular diving site near the eastern end of San Carlos Beach has remains of a pre-World War Two-era wooden barge which forms an interesting artificial reef. 

San Carlos Beach is located near the iconic Cannery Row street, which was once the center of the local seafood processing and packaging industry. Cannery Row has many shops, galleries, restaurants, and hotels. In addition, this area also has some interesting historic buildings. Cannery Row was featured in Bob Dylan’s song "Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands." Cannery Row is also well-known for being the setting of renowned author John Steinbeck’s novels Sweet Thursday and Cannery Row, which was also adapted into a movie in 1982 starring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger.

There are many attractions near San Carlos Beach. Monterey Bay Aquarium is a famous local attraction that has exhibits that feature more than 600 species of marine animals including a wide variety of fish, mollusk, birds, and invertebrates. The aquarium has a 1,200,000 US-gallon large exhibit known as Open Sea, which has one of the world’s largest single-paned windows. Monterey State Historic Park is a part of the United States National Register of Historic Places. The state park includes 17 buildings that are a part of the Old Town Monterey Historic District and have an immense historical value. These buildings include the Custom House which is the oldest public building in California, the Colton Hall where the constitution of California was drafted in 1849, the Old Whaling Station which has a walkway made of whale bones, and the Stevenson House and the Sherman Quarters, which were the homes of the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson and American general William Tecumseh Sherman respectively. If you are looking for another attraction near San Carlos Beach, San Carlos Cathedral is a United States National Historic Landmark that was built in the 18th century and is one of the oldest cathedrals in the United States which is still in use. In addition, the cathedral is also one of the oldest stone buildings in California. The cathedral also displays unique Spanish Colonial architecture with Moorish influences.

If you get hungry, there are many great restaurants near San Carlos Beach. Whaling Station Steakhouse offers fantastic steaks and gourmet dishes. In addition, the restaurant also hosts live music performances. Monterey’s Fish House is a very popular renowned restaurant that serves amazing seafood, steaks, and excellent pasta dishes including its famous Sicilian Holiday Pasta. In addition, this restaurant has been praised by many reputed publications including Lonely Planet, Fodor’s Travel, and the MICHELIN Guide. As an interesting fact, this restaurant was also featured in the TV show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, which is hosted by renowned television presenter and restaurateur Guy Fieri. If you are looking for another good and affordable restaurant near San Carlos Beach, the modestly priced El Cantaro is a vegan Mexican restaurant that serves excellent burritos and enchiladas.

If you are looking for a hotel near San Carlos Beach, there are many great options nearby. The 4-Star Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa offers many amenities including two restaurants, a lounge bar with regular live music, an exercise room, a rooftop sundeck, complimentary car service, a bike loaner facility, and shoeshine service. A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star Best Western Plus Victorian Inn, which was built in the early 20th century and has architectural influences from the Victorian era. The hotel offers many amenities including complimentary breakfast and an afternoon wine reception. If you are looking for another good and affordable hotel near San Carlos Beach, the modestly priced 2-Star Monterey Bay Lodge offers many amenities including a pool, a children’s splash fountain, a hot tub, and a garden courtyard.