Pebble Beach, Carmel & Monterey car service

Pebble Beach: golf, resorts and the coastline

Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill and The Links at Spanish Bay draw golfers well outside the Bay Area, and Pebble Beach Golf Links in particular carries enough history — U.S. Opens dating back to 1972 and the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am each February, pairing PGA Tour pros with celebrities on the same fairways — that tee times often run through resort-guest access rather than a walk-on booking. Spyglass Hill, carved through Del Monte Forest with ocean views on its opening holes, and The Links at Spanish Bay, a links-style course with its own sunset bagpiper tradition, round out the three courses most visiting golfers are booking a car for. Travelers who can't get a tee time on the marquee courses often play Del Monte Golf Course instead — the oldest golf course still operating west of the Mississippi and a more accessible, less expensive round, but still a drive from most Bay Area starting points. A round on any of them usually means an early tee time, a golf bag or two per player, and a return trip that shouldn't feel rushed after eighteen holes.

Resort stays at The Lodge at Pebble Beach, The Inn at Spanish Bay or Casa Palmero add another layer on top of the golf logistics. The Lodge sits directly on the 18th green and dates back to 1919, with a valet and porte-cochère that a curbside rideshare drop-off doesn't integrate with the way a chauffeur service does. The Inn at Spanish Bay adds its own bagpiper ceremony at sunset and sits closer to the Links at Spanish Bay's first tee. Casa Palmero is the smallest and most private of the three, a Mediterranean-style boutique property tucked beside the clubhouse — check-in there is by design low-key, which is exactly where a driver who already knows the entrance saves you from circling a gated compound looking for the right door.

17-Mile Drive and the wait during your round

17-Mile Drive threads through the same gated Del Monte Forest as the golf courses and resorts, entered through toll gates at Pacific Grove, Highway 1 near Carmel, and the Country Club gate — a fee most visitors pay per vehicle, though resort guests typically have it waived. Stillwater Cove, a small protected inlet along the drive near The Lodge, is a common stop for a short walk or a look at the kelp beds before continuing on. Both fit naturally before or after a round, since the car is already routed through the same gates.

A question we hear often: can a chauffeur wait through a full round rather than dropping and leaving? Yes — on hourly booking, the same driver waits at the clubhouse and is ready when you finish, clubs loaded before you've changed shoes. Every SFDRIVEN chauffeur is licensed and insured (TCP 38075), which matters more here than on a short city ride, since a gated resort typically expects a known, vetted driver rather than an app-matched one waiting at the entrance.

• Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, The Links at Spanish Bay
• The Lodge at Pebble Beach, The Inn at Spanish Bay, Casa Palmero
• 17-Mile Drive entrances and Stillwater Cove

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Door to door, no parking hunt.

Carmel car service from SFDRIVEN is built around one basic fact about the village: parking is scarce and the streets aren't laid out the way most towns' are, so a driver who already knows Ocean Avenue, Dolores Street and the courtyards tucked behind them saves real time over circling for a spot. Carmel-by-the-Sea sits about five minutes from Pebble Beach and ten from Monterey, which makes it a natural half-day stop paired with either — galleries and boutiques along Ocean Avenue, the Carmel Mission Basilica, or a walk on Carmel Beach, where leashed and unleashed dogs are both welcome. A question we get often: is it worth booking a car just for Carmel on its own? Most guests pair it with a Pebble Beach round or a Monterey stop rather than booking Carmel alone, and every SFDRIVEN chauffeur is licensed and insured, so the same driver covers the whole loop door to door instead of handing off between separate bookings.

More info at sfdriven.com's Carmel-by-the-Sea car service page →

• Carmel Mission, Ocean Avenue, Carmel Beach
• Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cannery Row, Old Fisherman's Wharf
• Pacific Grove and Point Lobos State Natural Reserve

Monterey

Aquarium visits, the Wharf, and everything between.

Monterey car service covers a wider stretch of coastline than Carmel or Pebble Beach alone — Cannery Row, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Old Fisherman's Wharf, and, a short drive further, Pacific Grove and Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. It's also the route that sees the sharpest seasonal spike: during Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and Monterey Car Week each August, hotel rooms and ground transportation both book out weeks in advance. A question we get constantly during that stretch is how early to reserve — the answer is as soon as your dates are fixed, not the week of. Outside Car Week, Monterey Regional Airport (MRY) is worth considering for the return leg if your onward flight connects through it, cutting the drive back to San Francisco entirely. Every SFDRIVEN chauffeur is licensed and insured (TCP 38075) and assigned to your trip in advance, not matched at the last minute the way a rideshare would be.

More info at sfdriven.com's Monterey car service page →

A two-and-a-half-hour drive, handled door to door

The trip down Highway 1 is part of the trip — SFDRIVEN drivers know the stretch, the timing around Sunday traffic back into the city, and how to build in a stop without losing a tee time. Golf bags and extra luggage are never a problem.

What's included

• Golf bag and extra luggage capacity
• Return-trip scheduling built around your itinerary
• Coordination with tee times and dinner reservations
• One driver for the full round trip

Getting there: SFO, SJC, OAK and Monterey Regional

Most trips start at SFO, though SJC and OAK both work if they're closer to your first stop — the drive time difference is minor once you're past the Bay Area. Travelers flying private can be picked up directly at a Bay Area FBO. For the return leg, Monterey Regional Airport (MRY) is an option worth considering if your onward flight connects through it, cutting the drive back to the city entirely.

Timing a golf day right

A golf day usually has more moving parts than a straight transfer: an early pickup for a morning tee time, clubs and bags for a foursome, a wait during the round if you've booked hourly, and a relaxed ride to dinner or back to the hotel afterward. Tell us the tee time and we build the schedule backward from it, rather than the other way around.