Our friends bought us a private tour - Enjoy Carmel by Carmel Food Tours. We would highly recommend…read moreCarmel Food Tours - we thought they did a great job. They were super responsive when we wanted to book our tour with just a few days notice - so mad props for their fast, friendly service in getting us booked so quickly!! Our guide was friendly and very knowledgeable about Carmel, and provided an overview about the area and was very willing to answer any questions we had. We enjoyed chatting with her throughout the 4 hour experience. We enjoyed tastes from 5-6 different locations throughout the downtown Carmel area. We were definitely provided a lot of variety and everything was delicious - from doughnuts and coffee and nuts to French onion soup and sushi. We had the opportunity at one of the locations (Toro) to have an interactive experience, spending time speaking with the general manager learning the background about the restaurant. We also had a special sake tasting featuring three different sakes. It was a very unique experience and the sushi was also extremely fresh and delicious. Overall, it was a good experience and we were able to enjoy a nice variety of food that local restaurants provide. Important tips for future tour goers: 1. Don't eat before going on a food tour. We thankfully didn't eat -otherwise, we would not have been able to enjoy the food tour to its fullest. 2. Don't book any reservations to restaurants that same day. We were still stuffed by the time it was time to go to dinner - and that was more than 5 hours later!

This was such an amazing experience! I learned so much about Carmel. Our tour guide Bonnie was…read moregreat! All the food and wine stops were exquisite! Lives this and will definitely do this again!

Evan is an excellent communicator, very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the Salinas Valley…read moreagriculture scene. If that is your interest, he is the man to go with. I, however, went for a specific purpose - to learn more about how artichokes are grown so I could grow mine better here in San Jose. Therefore a lot of the information while interesting, was superfluous to my purpose. I hope the information that I got on artichokes will help me in my garden, but I won't know for sure until next year. Watch for the update... Thanks Evan.

Excellent tour! Evan was extremely knowledgeable about the area and gave us great info along the…read moreway. We did his Monterey Peninsula tour one day and his Big Sur tour another day. We made several stops along the way to go outside and view and take pictures. Breathtaking views! Nice new van, clean, modern. Safe driving; we felt very safe driving with Evan; he was an excellent driver. He picked us up at our hotel in Carmel-by-the-sea. He was very warm, friendly, and professional. I highly recommend this tour. I give it a 10 out of 10!

Spent the afternoon with Steve, the owner of Kombi Tours Monterey. The 69 VW Bus was a fun way to…read morego around Monterey and Carmel. An absolute blast! Steve was wonderful guide and just a great person to converse with on our tour of two wineries and a brewery. He shared knowledge of not only the places we visited, but of other local favorites and attractions. Lenora the owner of Big Sur and Marissa at Corral Wine Company were great hosts. The wines were delicious and distinctive for this region. We finished at Dust Bowl Brewery down at the Wharf, and this was another great place. We look forward to visiting again and strongly recommend this service to others!

Steve was an amazing guide. This was the perfect ending to our annual girls trip. Would give more…read morethen 5 stars. The charcuterie board from Little Luna was wonderfully delicious. We toured Kori wines and Puma Road, both offered a variety for each of our palate. A must for locals and visitors alike. Looking forward to our next trip. Thank you Steve and Kombi Tours for making our trip so memorable.

By far a must do while in Carmel! The wine walk is such a good deal! My bf and I purchased one wine…read morewalk passport and shared it throughout the night. It is $65 for 9 tasting passes. You can share the passport among friends and don't have to use them all in one day. You have 15 participating tasting rooms to choose from, all were really welcoming to us. I did have some trouble locating it because it seems the info on their website is outdated. You have to go to the visitor center located in the Carmel Plaza shopping center. I've uploaded a few photos to help you locate. All in all great experience! Highly recommend.

We stumbled upon this recently when visiting Carmel by the Sea. Carmel now has very interesting…read morequality wine tasting rooms that are popping up around the downtown. My wife and I were very impressed. We have been coming to Carmel for years and it had become a bit ho-hum. But these tasting rooms are bringing in an all new audience of travelers starting up in Napa and wine tasting all along the California coast. We met people from all over the world and all ages. Groups of stylish young women, rather than shopping for t shirts were wine tasting. Many of the tasting rooms offer some small food or cheese plates. Some only offer wines available at their tasting room or in local restaurants. The service and hospitality were excellent. We highly recommend it as a way to enjoy your next trip to the area.

Casey & Monterey Bay Food Tours are great! Being from the area, I often find myself going to the…read moresame places to eat. This tour showcased local restaurants and their specialties. All of the food and wine/beer we tried were delicious! Walking from place to place was perfect to get some fresh air and a little exercise in in between meals. I cannot wait to go on another tour with Casey and her team in the near future. Thank you for bringing this to Monterey!!

Sonja was a great tour guide! Shared lots of history of the city. We enjoyed ourselves.read more

So glad we booked this excursion for my friends birthday. The tour is 2-3 hours depending on how…read morebig your group is. This was my first time in Carmel-by-the-sea so it was nice to get a little history about this cute seaside town. Our guide Rusti was awesome and so personal. She was sweet, kind and knowledgeable. The tour works with numerous restaurants and shops and they pick 5 locations to take you as well as little hidden gems throughout the town. Our stops...rating are based off what was provided and if I would visit again. 1. Patisserie Boissierre- coming back for the French onion soup! 5/5. 2. Carmel Cafe 2.5/5 pastries and quiche 3. Carmel Honey company 4/5- if you like quality honey, you will get it. 4. Toro sushi-best California rolls I ever tasted 5/5 5. Dutch door donut 4/5- if you want a sweet treat, then yes. Warm donuts. I had the brown butter and it was delicious With tax, the tour is about $150 per person. I would book this tour again if I had some first timer friends coming into town. Now when I visit Carmel, I know exactly where to go

I'll be the first to say that this tour was amazing! Had such a great time and it was a one of a…read morekind experience! 10 gold stars! Will be recommending this to everyone and will do it again! Our tour guide Bonnie was fantastic!

It was an ok tour. Tim is definitely knowledgable and passionate about this area. Five stars for…read morethat. There is so much history in Monterey and it was cool to hear it from a local historian. Honestly, for the free short version, you can walk and read all the posted info signs yourself. They are all along Cannery Row! Tim however provides more detail and props to help paint the picture. Thanks Tim for the info! My family and I were happy to learn something new! We purchased a groupon and it was an excellent deal. The souvenir that comes with the tour is an original wrapper from a sardine company and you also get a large business card.

I'm a Groupon addict and so when I saw a deal for Monterey Walking Tours you would think that I…read morewould skim right passed it since I've lived in Monterey on and off for over 30 years. But no not me, I read the fine print and it says you can ask to do a tour of Monterey's Old Japantown aka "Nihon-Machi"... this piqued my interest in so many levels it wasn't funny. I grabbed my sister who was born in Japan and speaks Spanish and Portuguese but not so much in the Japanese department and we frolicked alongside Tim-san after meeting up in front of the JACL Hall next to the Monterey Tennis Center. One look and I realized that I had met Tim-san before at a JACL pancake breakfast where Tim-san was educating us about the small exhibit/mini museum they recently created in the basement of the JACL Hall. I also purchased his book which is packed with photos and stories about the local Japanese many of them whom I've met over the years living in this community. Tim-san is full of knowledge and is passionate about what he does. I read about most of the information he shared but he added a lot of new facts that I didn't know about like how the young Japanese men would play baseball (next to the tennis courts) and some of them would learn Italian before English. Even though I slept only a few hours the night before I didn't yawn once and both of us were so into it we asked a bunch of questions and he was totally engaging during the whole walking tour. When he started talking about Pop Ernest and his brilliant "new" abalone recipe that helped market abalone worldwide which also helped keep the abalone fishing industry alive for a while longer my sister and I started drooling and all we could think about was a freshly pounded abalone, dipped in egg wash and rolled in crackers (I'd personally use gluten free panko) and then pan fried in olive oil with a hint of salt and pepper. I highly recommend a Historic Monterey Walking Tour led by Tim Thomas to anyone, visitors and locals alike. I couldn't figure out why he'd carry a shoulder pack during our walk but when he started busting out vintage scuba diving glasses worn by the divers we got excited and trigger happy. He also carried some other interesting facts and photos he's picked up over the years but I won't ruin the surprises for you so go find out firsthand. Check out his website to see what other types of tours he offers. There is a lot to learn from Tim-san and we are so grateful for our mini morning educational walking adventure today. Arigatogozaimashita!

Had an absolutely delightful time on Rohana's Art Tour! My husband and I enjoyed this as part of…read morehis 60th birthday celebration in Carmel. Rohana exposed us to a variety of galleries with very interesting and beautiful art mediums. Her knowledge of art and the local artists made it a very special experience. My husband and I walked away with a much greater appreciation of the vibrancy of the Carmel art scene!

I have been to Carmel many times And always enjoyed it. A tour with Rohana simply made it even…read morebetter: - She is very knowledgeable and chose a variety of galleries for us to experience - She is local and we were warmly welcomed by the gallery directors or artists; we were very lucky to speak to two artists during the tour, who walked us through how they usually creat art work and their work was influenced by the environment - The tour is very family friendly, we had a 4 years old artists and her grandparents who are also art lovers. I enjoyed my interactions with them too - Additionally, Rohana gave me some recommendations on places to go after the tour - Last but not least, I truly enjoyed my conversation about art, history and the world today with Rohana, who is compassionate and open-minded