If you'd rather see it with a tour guide, try Monterey Walking Tours.īetween the shopping area and the Monterey Plaza, you'll find the last remnants of Cannery's Row's bygone days, crumbling buildings and castoff equipment from the old canning plants.Īs romantic as Cannery Row days seem, the plain truth is that Monterey sardines were so oily that they were never very popular as food. Most people can do it without any issues, but you know your abilities best.Ĭannery Row is one of the top things to do in Monterey. The walk is flat and about half a mile one way.If all you want to do is shop, eat and take photos to prove you were there, you may not enjoy checking out the area's more historical sights.You also must see it if you liked John Steinbeck's book.

If you love history, Cannery Row is a don't-miss sight.

You're probably going to walk from Cannery Row to Fisherman's Wharf (or vice versa) and you'd might as well see something interesting along the way.

You can also continue to Fisherman's Wharf from the end of this walk. It takes an hour or two if you don't get sidetracked, longer if you stop to shop or have a meal. This walking tour takes you into some interesting corners of the fabled district. Instead of doing that, take a little time to explore some of the area's more fascinating sights and hidden corners.

But you're the kind of person who wants to know more. So many people visit Cannery Row the easy (but dull) way. Today, tourists pack the streets like those tiny fish once crowded into cans. The sardine population declined due to natural cycles and overfishing, and by the 1950s, most of the canneries closed. Author John Steinbeck captured that era in a book written in 1945. In the early twentieth century, plentiful sardines in the Monterey Bay and a shutdown in East Coast fishing (due to worries about German submarines) propelled Monterey into a sardine-catching and -canning frenzy. Later, Japanese fishermen came to fish for salmon, and by the time of the famed 'cannery row' John Steinbeck wrote about, Sicilian immigrants had taken over as the area's primary fishermen. The Monterey fishing industry began in the mid-1800s when Chinese fishing families arrived. Monterey's Cannery Row is one of the town's top-rated sights, a charming area with a touch of yesterday, located on the Monterey waterfront.

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