Carmel-by-the-Sea: Fairy Tale Houses Walking Tour
Walking Tour
Walking Tour
40 mins
0.8mi
About the Tour
About the Tour
One of the most frequent questions we hear from visitors to Carmel-by-the-Sea is, “Where are the Fairy Tale Houses?” This walking tour will address this question, as we will lead you on a walk that will take you by eleven of the more famous fairy tale style cottages in Carmel. You will learn the history behind these homes and their builder, Hugh Comstock.
Our walking tour is less than one mile, will take under one hour. It will begin at the Getaway Inn located at the northeast corner of Junipero Street and Ocean Avenue near the Carmel Plaza and end at Devendorf Park across from the Carmel Plaza. This tour does have some steep hills so please take this into consideration.
If you have arrived in Carmel by bus, your bus undoubtedly is parked at Carmel Plaza. If you came by car, look for parking as close as possible to the Carmel Plaza. Note that most of these parking spaces have a two hour limit. There is longer term free parking outside the downtown area but be sure to check the signs.
Before we begin the tour, please note that the Carmel Visitors Center is located on the second level of the Carmel Plaza. They can help answer any questions you may have about your visit to Carmel and also have a flyer with pictures of the Fairy Tale Houses. If you are looking for a restroom, they are located on the third level of Carmel Plaza. In need of cash, the ATM is located on the second level. Desire a cup of coffee, this may be found on the first level at Carmel Coffee & Cocoa Bar.
Please note: Gretel is currently undergoing renovation, so unfortunately for the time being, the view of both Hansel and Gretel is blocked by fencing.
Please use extreme caution when crossing any of the streets in Carmel, especially Junipero Street. Make sure that any approaching cars see you and come to a full stop before you cross any streets on this tour. If you would like a physical map of this tour with pictures of the houses you will be seeing, please download or print out this PDF.
Tour Producer
Tour Producer
Lynn Momboisse
Hi! My name is Lynn and I am a native of California and have resided in Northern California for most of my life. For many years I lived in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea where I co-authored the book Historic Homes and Inns of Carmel-by-the-Sea. My love of history and passion for discovering the beauty of the Golden State has led me to create a fun little blog titled "Adventures of a Home Town Tourist" where I recount many of my walking tours and hiking adventures throughout the world. I currently live in the majestic Sierra Foothills and will be exploring and writing about my adventures throughout this gorgeous country. And now I'll be able to further share my travels with you through the power of the new VoiceMap tour app. I can't wait for you to join me. Happy Adventures!
How VoiceMap Works
How VoiceMap Works
Focus on your surroundings, not the screen
Follow a route with turn-by-turn-directions
Listen as many times as you like
Take virtual tours anywhere
Buy for less on voicemap.me and sync
Use VoiceMap offline
Map
Major Landmarks
Major Landmarks
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Carmel Plaza
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Bruno's Market & Deli Carmel
Directions to Starting Point
Directions to Starting Point
The starting point is The Getaway hotel sign at the northeast corner of Junipero and Ocean Avenue. If you arrived by bus at the Carmel Plaza you will be near the southwest corner of Junipero and Ocean Avenue directly across from Devendorf Park. Carefully cross Ocean Avenue to Devendorf Park and then turn right and cross Junipero Street. You will be in front of the blue and white "The Getaway" hotel sign where you will start your tour.
If you don’t mind paying for parking you may park in the underground parking garage at the Carmel Plaza. The parking garage is open from 7 am to 10 pm, the cost currently is $5 per hour maxing out at $30 per day. The entrance is located between Ocean Ave. and 7th Ave on Mission Street on the west side of the plaza.
Tips
Tips
Places to stop along the way
Bruno's Market, Devendorf Park, Carmel Plaza
Best time of day
Daytime hours.
Precautions
The homes that you will be viewing are privately owned so please respect their privacy and stay behind fences and close to street.
You'll be walking up and down hills on this tour. The hills you will be climbing on Torres and on Sixth Avenue are short but they are quite steep. Carmel’s streets are narrow and there are no sidewalks. Walk as close to the side of the street as possible, pay very close attention when you cross the street, and watch for uneven ground when walking. When you come to the corner, make sure that any cars coming your way see you and have stopped. Also watch out for low hanging tree limbs. Just be mindful of your surroundings as you enjoy your tour of the Fairy Tale Houses of Carmel by the Sea.
When using VoiceMap with ear buds, it is not necessary that you have your phone out of your bag. But we have found that having your phone in front of you during these tours helps visitors stay on track. In map mode, there will be a blue dot on the map showing your location at all times. If you venture off the course you may use the blue dot to assist you getting back on the tour path. The blue dot will show your position in relation to the tour as well as upcoming stops that will trigger related audio content.
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We loved this tour! Golden hour photos and adorable homes.
Thank you so much for your kind comments. We so appreciate it when visitors let us know that they enjoy our tours. Happy Adventures, Lynn!
Do not miss the is tour. My wife and I loved it and want to love in one of these cottages now.
Loved it!
This was perhaps the worst tour we have ever used. We only could get the preview version to work and therefore it stopped after the first three stops. Could not ever find where to put in our code. Never could make the app work. A complete waste of $12 for two people. Never take any tour on this site again
We're sorry you had trouble finding the correct place to enter the codes. It sounds as if you bought the tour through a reseller like Tripadvisor, and we do include detailed instructions with your ticket, including where to enter the code. (In the app, you select Tour Codes from the menu, then you select Enter Codes.)
We have a support line and we're available by email at [email protected] If only you'd tried to get in touch before giving up on the tour!
Great narration and easy-to-follow directions!
This was lovely! Thank you for creating something beautiful.
Thank you for your kind comment. I truly enjoyed putting these together.
Once we both got it going it was very good and very informative
Thank you for your kind comment. So glad you enjoyed the tour.
This was our very first ‘tour’ and enjoyed it and the commentary very much. GPS was off a bit at times causing some minor backtracking, but we learned a lot and had fun!
Thank you for taking our tour and leaving a comment. We greatly appreciate it. Due to the tree coverage in this area GPS sometimes can be a bit off. Glad you were able to overcome this. Thank you again!
Very interesting information about our favorite little town. I do wish there was even more info given though. So quaint!
Thank you so much for taking the tour and taking the time to leave a comment. It is greatly appreciated. You may find out quite a bit about Carmel in my blog www.carmelbytheseaca.blogspot.com - Happy Adventures! Lynn
Lynn was great! We had so much fun on this tour!
Thank you so much for taking the tour and taking the time to post a comment!!! Happy Adventures!
The directions were not great and this tour serves better as a car tour tour. many of the roads do not have sidewalks and the streets are already so small. so not great with kids or if youre pregnant.
Thank you for taking the time to write a review. I appreciate your feedback. Please let me know which directions were not great, this will help me improve the tour experience. And yes there are no sidewalks in this area and there are hills, I mentioned that in the written description of this tour. Happy Adventures!
Thank you for the fairy tale house tour in Carmel by the Sea. It was definitely worth it. We enjoyed learning details about these quaint and beautiful buildings.
Thank you for taking the time to write a review. We are so glad that you enjoyed the tour and the lovely Village of Carmel-by-the-Sea.
This was an incredible and interesting tour! Highly recommend.
So glad you enjoyed the tour. And thank you for taking the time to leave feedback. We greatly appreciate this. Happy adventures!
Great information, directions and ease of use. Will look for these wherever we go.
Thank you for your kind words. Happy Adventures!
This was very well done. Thanks! I would like a picture for every stop, though, since I listened to the whole thing at home before heading to Carmel.
So glad you enjoyed the tour. It is such a joy to produce these audio walking tours. Though we do not have pictures on each stop, we do have companion written tours that do have pictures. They can be found at www.carmelbytheseaca.blogspot.com. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy adventures.