Some compare 2 1/2-square-mile Pacific Grove -- the locals call it “PG” -- to Carmel as it was 20 years ago. Plenty of tourists wind their way through here on oceanfront trails and dining excursions, but the town remains quaint and peaceful -- amazing considering that Monterey is a stone’s throw away (a quarter of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is actually in Pacific Grove). While Monterey is comparatively congested and cosmopolitan, Pacific Grove is sprinkled with historic homes, flowers, butterflies fluttering about, and deer meandering fearlessly from yard to yard.

Pacific Grove is widely known as “Butterfly Town, USA,” a reference to the thousands of monarchs that migrate here from November to February, traveling from as far away as Alaska. Many settle in the Monarch Grove sanctuary, a eucalyptus stand on Grove Acre Avenue off Lighthouse Avenue.

Lighthouse Avenue is the Grove’s principal thoroughfare, running from Monterey to the lighthouse at the point of the peninsula. Lighthouse Avenue is bisected by Forest Avenue, which runs from Highway 1 (where it’s called Holman Hwy., or Hwy. 68) to Lover’s Point, an extension of land that sticks out into the bay in the middle of Pacific Grove. Pacific Grove, however, is best strolled, so park the car, don walking shoes, and spend the day meandering around George Washington Park and the waterfront around the point.