Carmel-by-the-Sea

Carmel-by-the-Sea needs 1 day: walking its streets with no house numbers or traffic lights -marked only by name-, lined with art galleries and fairy-tale cottages, in the morning, and visiting Carmel Mission, founded in 1771 and the burial place of Friar Junípero Serra, in the afternoon. June-September brings the Monterey Peninsula's most stable weather. It's expensive, one of California's priciest towns per square foot. It bans neon signs, fast-food chains, and even high heels over 5 cm without a municipal permit under a 1963 ordinance, and actor Clint Eastwood served as its mayor between 1986 and 1988.