Planning a Trip

Getting There -- The region's most convenient runway, at the Monterey Peninsula Airport (tel. 831/648-7000; www.montereyairport.com), is 3 miles east of Monterey on Highway 68. American Eagle, Northwest, United, and US Airways run daily flights in and out of Monterey. Many nearby hotels offer free airport shuttle service. If you take a taxi, it will cost about $14 to $20 to get to a peninsula hotel. Several national car-rental companies have airport locations, including Dollar (tel. 800/800-3665; www.dollar.com) and Hertz (tel. 800/654-3131; www.hertz.com).

Visitor Information -- The Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau (tel. 877/666-8373; www.seemonterey.com) has two visitor centers: one in the lobby of the Maritime Museum at Custom House Plaza near Fisherman's Wharf, the other at Lake El Estero on Camino El Estero. Both locations, open daily, offer good maps and free pamphlets and publications, including an excellent visitors' guide and the magazine Coast Weekly. Two other good sources for Monterey information are the Monterey Peninsula On-Line Guide at www.monterey.com and Monterey-Carmel.com (www.monterey-carmel.com).

Getting Around -- The free Waterfront Area Visitor Express (WAVE) trolley takes passengers to and from the aquarium and other waterfront attractions from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It departs the downtown parking garages at Tyler Street and Del Monte Avenue every 10 to 12 minutes between 10am to 7pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 8pm Saturday to Sunday. Other WAVE stops include many hotels and motels in Monterey and Pacific Grove. For further information, call Monterey Salinas Transit at tel. 831/899-2555 (www.mst.org).