Tips for Bicycling Monterey County, for Tourists and Locals

Bicycling is one of the best ways to get to know Monterey County. That’s why so many tourists/visitors, as well as local residents, make use of https://bikemonterey.org.

Biking allows experiencing the world in an up close and personal way, so you can see and know the local areas better. Although walking is great for that reason too, when time is limited, bicycling allows covering more ground. And when the help of a motor vehicle makes sense, often a bike-and-ride option is a “just right” transportation solution.

Bicycling Monterey’s

 20-section Tips for Bicycling Monterey County guide

is chock-full of helpful information.

The Tips guide is useful to visitors and locals, from children and teens to elders and all ages in-between. Its 20 sections include bike maps and where to bike; bike rentals and other local bike shops; a riding skills, safety, and bike laws section covering over 30 topics; bike security tips (including a unique list—local places where you can easily keep an eye on your bike); and yes, 14 additional sections.

Among popular features of the 20-section Tips guide is the section devoted to John Steinbeck’s hometown—the Monterey County seat and the county’s largest city, Salinas. Get a taste of why via this two-minute audio, one of several Bicycling Monterey audios produced since 2009.

Elsewhere on the bikemonterey.org website, there are tips about many other local cities, including Carmel, Pebble Beach, and Seaside, as well as Castroville and other North County communities and Greenfield and other South County communities.

With more than 550 posts and pages on the Bicycling Monterey website, there’s a wide range of inspiration and information. That’s as varied as local regulations about biking on sidewalks to taking a bicycle on Monterey-Salinas Transit buses and shuttles to tips for dog-lovers who bike to camping tips to our Open Streets —Ciclovía Salinas to our annual Celebration of Cycling—Sea Otter Classic, and so much more.

Bicycling Monterey resources include a calendar of bike-related activities, events, and meetings, a 32-section directory of Monterey County’s main bicycling resources / bike community leaders, Monterey County’s Spanish-English bilingual bike shops, a Spanish-language bicycling resources compilation referred to by people worldwide, and even a smattering of bicycling resources in other languages.

See international visitors from China, France, Germany, Holland, and Italy biking in Monterey County. Read why these Australians and other tourists—and local residents too—find the Bicycling Monterey website valuable.

And if you find the Bicycling Monterey website or other Bicycling Monterey projects of value, please support this award-winning public service. Click here for ways to give, plus FAQs.

The thousands of original photos on this site show the diversity of people who ride bicycles in Monterey County. Get an overview by watching Bicycling Monterey’s videos.

One of Bicycling Monterey’s most popular projects, HER Helmet Thursdays, is the subject of one those videos. The video shows a sampling of the hundreds of HER Helmet Thursdays participating businesses and organizations in Monterey County. Year-round, HER Helmet Thursdays spots provide 10-50% discounts to males and females who bike. These Hotels, Educational and Entertainment spots, Restaurants, and related places, such as wineries, include many award-winning spots. By encouraging bicycling, all HER Helmet Thursdays spots— see a list in the 11-page HER Helmet Thursdays – Quick Reference Guide—are helping to make Monterey County one of the most bike-friendly places in America. Better yet, at the same time, they are helping HER / Mother Earth by reducing carbon emissions.

Maybe you’re an ecotourist, or local, who likes to reduce your carbon footprint as part of caring for this beautiful Earth we share. Or perhaps you’re a beach lover who appreciates that bicycling helps reduce oil runoff, brake dust, and other contaminants that flow into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

For those and so many more reasons—not least of all, the joy of the ride, and seeing the world anew https://bikeleague.org/whyiride-seeing-the-world-anew/—consider making bicycling one of your first transportation choices in Monterey County.