Review of shorebird 55 (Let me begin by saying that this review was submitted to At the Dunes…read morerental agency but never posted on their site.) Pros: *excellent beach access * lovely ocean view Cons: *furniture, towels, sheets in generally rundown condition *master bedroom has 1 bedside table and 1 lamp. I ended bringing in a small corroded outdoor iron table and moving a lamp from the second bedroom. * one floor lamp in the entire living room. Generally poor lighting. *Peeling paint in bathroom *mold in bathroom corners *uncomfortable living room furniture-outdoor wicker, way past it's comfort usage. No support. *unwashed sheets in second bedroom, unwashed towel in master bath. ( the rental agency was very responsive about this) In this time of Covid, these discoveries made our stay uncomfortable. Was this place really sanitized before our arrival? My point here is that a rental at the beach, for $400+/ night, should be comfortable in all aspects. This was not. For a total of $1800 for four nights, I would have expected much more.

Is this someone's negected bequest? Pajaro Dunes Shorebirds #115 review (through VRBO)…read more We love Pajaro Dunes and have fond memories of our friends' lovely condo. This one in comparison--meh! Would definitely not stay there again. The property was clean enough but not stocked with minimal kitchen staples (like flour, cooking oil, aluminum foil). With VRBO you expect better. The patio furniture was so torn, cracked and ripped, our adult daughter had a huge blood blister after sitting on a green plastic chair. (See photos) This is not acceptable. Nor is the master bathroom door where you had to close the door completely in order to use the toilet. It was so cramped--and I'm only 5'1. Do not stay here if you are used to comfort, cooking, or a patio where you can sit out and see the sky. For $2000 for three nights, we expected a lot more than Shorebird #115.

Best of Dunes properties do not disappoint! In September, my husband and I hosted a group of…read morefriends for their first trip to Pajaro Dunes. 84 Puffin was a perfect fit for our group of six couples, everyone with their own private room in comfortable King Beds. We then enjoyed our annual Family Vacation in 59 Avocet. This spacious home is perfect with the most incredible views of the Pajaro shoreline and Monterey Bay. 84 Puffin and 59 Avocet are both incredibly clean and well appointed. They offer plenty of bedrooms with cozy beds. The kitchens have everything you could possibly need and each house offers a variety of beach supplies! Thank you Stacey for all of your help in coordinating each of these vacations. Looking forward to our next visit in 2026!

Best of Dunes has been setting me up with houses for a decade. Stacey is phenomenal. Always so…read moreresponsive, friendly, and helpful. They always go out of their way to make things perfect.

I love Pajaro Dunes! Beautiful location! Love hosting work events here. Pajaro Dunes team is great…read morewith communication and helping with room preparation.

What a great place to chill. We're from chicago and needed 5nights away from the city and the 95…read moredegree august weather. Perfect. A constant 65 and if you need some heat just drive up to San Jose for a warm up. It was 80 up there. Or drive over to Gilroy. Accommodations could not have been better. Our unit S4 was nice in the living areas and the bathrooms were awesome, in particular the shower. Couldn't have asked for a better vacation. I'll be back.

Local Bay Area Getaway!…read more I recently found out about this spot during my friend's bachelor party. It's a very secluded neighborhood with a security gate for entrance. The unit they rented was had 4 spacious room. Upon entering, the first thing I noticed were these huge windows overlooking the Salinas River State Beach. I could not believe the view. The window view literally felt like I was staring at a Computer Screen Saver off a 8 feet x 4 feet monitor. It was amazing. It was September, so the weather was a good 55 at the lowest and 77 at the highest with a constant sea breeze air hitting my face. The best part of this place is getting up to the sounds of the waves gently crashing to the shore. I definitely have to come back and share this place with the fam. I know they'll love they'll love this little escape as much as I did.

I just wanted to amend my original review. My father passed away a few weeks ago not long after I…read morewrote my original review. Sadly, I'm not certain that we'll be coming back to Monterey Dunes (it might be a little hard to come without him)- but I'll never forget the family memories we built here on our family vacation every year. It's a great place to come for a relaxing and bonding time. I've added a picture of him and me at the beach from around 1994 (my aunt is in it too). I have great memories of coming here! Please read my original review to see what my family found so great about it.

Beach condo located right by the beach. The owners provided all the kitchen and beach essentials we…read moremay need. The kitchen had a glass top cooking range, oven & microwave, every type of cooking ware. They also had extra storage that had things that maybe useful for the beach such as boogie boards, beach chairs. The only thing that the condo did not have was central air. We opened our sliding door and windows to let the air flow through.

I came here with my boyfriend's family for a one week getaway. It was a nice break from the outside…read moreworld, especially since the house was right by the place we were staying at! It was a 3 minute walk to the beach which is amazing. The house itself was wonderful and had amazing views. The neighbors and staff were very nice as well, which made the environment more welcoming. It was nice knowing that there are carts to haul your stuff to your place or car because the uphill climb is a bit tougher if you have to make multiple trips to your car. They also have pickleball, basketball, and tennis courts. I loved that they had a storage for the recreational area where you can borrow equipment. They also had a ping pong table which we loved. overall, I would definitely come back!

This is a great vacation rental company to go through if you are planning a trip to the Monterey…read morePeninsula for either the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the 2010 US Open or any of the races at Laguna Seca. They rent out condos at the Monterey Dunes Colony near Moss Landing. If you can book #210, its got its own hot tub and sleeps 9 people! The prices are reasonable because many of the 4 bedroom units sleep 8 to 9 people. I take a yearly trip with some friends to the Pro-Am every year to watch our friend PGA golfer Parker McLachlin play in the tournament. Every time I go there I am amazed by the views and its proximity to everything in downtown Monterey and in Carmel. In the winter months there are few people around so you can have the place virtually to yourselves. Parking is never a problem and they offer a pool, saunas, communal hot tub, volleyball court, basketball court, and tennis courts as well!

Do not ever do business with this company. He has a horrible reputation in the area and stole…read moremoney from his clients. He has no morals or scrupples and will cheat you if he gets a chance. Since the amounts are so small he knows that you cannot get the money back through the court system so he will especially cheat you if you are out of state. DO NOT SEND HIM ANY MONEY from another client Take a second look at Monterey Dunes, we were given the keys to a home (#194) when I went to the Moss Landing building to pick up my keys. (this was instructed by the papers sent to me via mail). The lady passed the keys over to me and then took them back and put a sticky note on the papers that said to dial 500 at the gate and it would be opened by her. All went as planned but getting into the room early evening and looking around it struck me that this was a "bait and switch" home. The one I ordered on line was much more clean and modern. I left a message Friday night but no one called me back. I called two more times on Saturday morning long after opening hours. I then received a call back about 10:30 that morning in which I was told to get out of the 194 place because another family was moving in that afternoon. That was a surprise, i was then told to move to #260 where the keys were on the table and the place was unlocked. I was never told to go to this address, much less told that the keys were on the table and the place was unlocked. I had even mentions that I only needed two car passes for parking, as there were 3 given to me. She said that was OK, keep all of them for now. We proceeded to Monterey Dunes and after entering the gate, I said to my daugher driving that the lady had never told me the number of the house we were to occupy. My daughter told me the number was on the car hanger for parking, which was #194. Ok, I thought everything was fine until I noticed the home was not the same I saw in the pictures. It was dirty, had ants in the kitchen, the funiture was old, ripped, stained and the high ceilings were full of cobwebs and spiders, which made the first night miserable. When I was told to move the next morning, our plans were shot, it was my daughters bachorlette party and we were planning to have breakfast in Carmel but spent the the whole morning moving, I had my neice with me from Norway with her 5 month old son. Do you know how hard it is to move a baby and 5 adults to a new place?????? It took us all morning. The lady offered to give us the money back from the first night, I have not have any confirmation on this except she told me over the phone and also told my neice from Norway the same thing. That was Sunday morning, I have yet to hear from her, the office manager about anything. Beware of this company, if I do not get my money back from the fiasco, I will post this on every site I can, no one should have to go through this for 1,248 dollars for two nights. Mary B

our ground floor River View room in the boathouse was wonderful: Very well designed and appointed…read moreto make the most of the setting. We really appreciated the two arm, chairs and table in front of the big picture window looking out at the slough, with binoculars right on the table, and the electric fireplace to make it cozy and warm. We enjoyed watching the birds and the sunset with an aperitif in our room before going out for dinner. And the shared kitchen in the main lodge was similarly very well appointed, with an electric kettle so I could make coffee in my aero press in the morning. Would definitely stay again if I wanted to stay in Moss Landing. I found the touchless hosting off-putting because it felt very corporate, but everything worked smoothly once we arrived.

We stayed in the newer section in the High Seas room on the second floor in April. Fantastic view…read more I chose this room because the bed was lower than the other rooms. You didn't need a step stool to get into the bed and we are older. That being said, I still managed to trip on the steps to the tub when I got out of bed during the night to check a text as I had to charge my phone and iPad using an outlet by the tub. Bruised knees. Could have been worse. The outlet by my side of the bed was unusable. Every plug fell out of it. The other side of bed has a desk and a charging port but we had more devices than ports. We didn't use the tub as it would be dangerous getting in and out for folks our age. I washed my hair in the sink. There is no free standing shower except for the hand held shower head in the tub. The bed was quite comfortable. Bathroom small but functional. Toilet quite low and no grab bar. There was a closet but just one wire hanger. Enjoyed sitting by window and using provided binoculars to watch wildlife. We drove a few miles to Castroville to get breakfast items for our two mornings there. They just provide Svenhard's packaged sweet rolls and there weren't enough of them. For the premium price of these rooms, it would have been nice to have more of a continental breakfast, fruit, yogurt, granola, better sweet rolls. There is no on site manager. Coffee and tea in room which was nice. We could walk to the Elkhorn Slough tours. (Tip: Try to sit on left side of boat.) I brought a nightlight which was helpful. Walking trails within walking distance. Very nice fireplace. Would stay here again but would come better prepared. In summary, convenient location to the slough and views are what this inn offers.

Hidden gem tucked away unexpectedly!…read more Parking situation is small but then again, no one knows about it so a win-win for all. Came here horseback riding and only saw a few guys out fishing. Unsure why ppl keep saying it's a dog beach when the parks department says otherwise. "DOGS are not permitted on the beach or dunes." Maybe take another look - https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=572.

Free beach! It's a California State Parks Beach but there is no entry fee. Very small parking area…read more Very rough road to get in. But very few people there, mostly people fishing. It's a wide open, sandy beach. You can see south to Monterey and north to Santa Cruz.

River Failure Due to…read moreits "prime location" along the Pacific Flyway, this area (±367-acres) was founded in 1973 to preserve the wetlands for migrating flocks. The Good: *±1.25-mile loop trail that's fairly flat and easy to walk on. *Lots of protected species in the area so a good place for bird watchers. *Beach access *Bike rack at the foot of the beach access trail (which is very soft sand) *And speaking of the parking lot, it's not large but probably plenty big enough for this park. Oh, and it's free! My favorite price. :) The Meh: *Hunting in certain parts of the park, so be aware where you are located. *Not the most exciting beach. I mean yes, it's still a beach, but there are much more scenic ones around. But if you live close-by then it's probably just fine. *No restrooms The Ugly: *Have to drive in on a dirt road that I'd imagine gets pretty muddy during the winter. So if you don't have an AWD, and it's rained lately, then maybe best to skip out on visiting. Conclusion: Cool place for bird watchers, but not much else.

Wow, we came here to see the beach near Monterey. This amazed us since the beach trail is a direct…read morepath through the marsh lands. You get a great view of all the shore birds where fresh water meets salt water. There are fields of brush and rabbits run through freely. Unfortunately, there are no bathrooms and entrance is blocked so you must walk from parking lot to beach. Still, it's worth to see part of the lettuce fields as you come in and then the sand dunes at the end. Get there early and you can see the fishermen try their luck with shore fishing. A must for bird watchers and nature enthusiasts.

The booking process was smooth and check-in was easy. I liked the privacy of the cottages and the…read moreconvenience of full kitchen. The location was great! It was a quick walk to the beach. If you stay here, check out the restaurant Fishwife just up the road. My favorite part of the trip was the deer grazing on the lawn at dusk.

Enjoyed our private cottage retreat, their continental breakfast & afternoon snacks, hot tub,…read moremorning local newspaper daily at your front doorstep, fireplace, location (close to the beach) & friendly family business/service. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is the bed pillows were very uncomfortable and even caused a neck pain and headache. Therefore, I highly recommend staying here, just be sure to bring your own pillows. Also, we discovered they have a large well maintained grassy area with sitting areas to relax or play behind some of the cottages for everyone to enjoy. We also, love supporting family owned businesses too!! This is a great place to support.