Ten Days, One Two-Lane Peninsula
Car Week is not a car show. It is roughly ten days of auctions, club gatherings, vintage racing and concours spread across Monterey, Carmel, Seaside, Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach, ending on the 18th fairway. The peninsula does not grow to meet it: the same two-lane roads, the same hotel stock, and one airport four miles from Carmel. That is why the flying is worth settling before the tickets. Pilot-founded, simply exceptional.
What the Week Actually Looks Like
Pebble Beach has published its own 2027 dates. Most of the rest of the week has not.
The Pebble Beach auctions run 11 to 14 August 2027, the Tour d’Elegance is Thursday 12 August, RetroAuto and the Concours Village are open 12 to 15 August, and the Motoring Classic arrives across 2 to 11 August. Concours Sunday is 15 August, the 76th running.
The rest of the week has not released 2027 dates. The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, The Quail, Concorso Italiano in Seaside, Motorlux and the Little Car Show on Lighthouse Avenue all sit inside the same block in a normal year, with the Reunion mid-week and The Quail on the Friday. We will date them here when their organisers do.
One change worth knowing now. From 2028 the Concours moves a week earlier, to the second Sunday in August (13 August 2028) because school start dates have crept forward. Other organisers may move with it and are not obliged to, so any calendar set to third-Sunday-always needs editing.
The Parking Is the Hard Part
In 2024 Monterey Regional took 675 private arrivals across Car Week against 225 to 250 in a normal week, and 246 of those aircraft parked at the field for some part of it. The figures come from the general manager of Monterey Fuel Co., which owns both FBOs on the field. The airport’s own count for 2023 was over 160 parked, against around 140 the year before.
The gap between 675 and 246 is the part worth understanding. Most arrivals drop their passengers and reposition, which is standard fractional practice. The number that decides your trip is not how many aircraft come to Monterey. It is how many stay, and whether yours is one of them.
Monterey Regional requires prior permission for transient parking by large and turbine multi-engine aircraft. That is a year-round rule, not a Car Week measure. There is no FAA slot programme here and no reservation lottery. There is a finite apron, a telephone number, and an answer that depends on when you call. Salinas Municipal, twenty minutes inland, is the pressure valve. Aircraft repositioning empty after drop-off is also where empty leg pricing comes from, and Car Week generates a lot of it.
Where to Stay, and When the Rooms Really Go
Inside the gates there is The Lodge at Pebble Beach, The Inn at Spanish Bay and Casa Palmero. Off the peninsula proper, Bernardus Lodge & Spa sits fifteen minutes inland in Carmel Valley, and L’Auberge Carmel is twenty rooms in the middle of Carmel-by-the-Sea.
For a downtown base within walking distance of the auction floor, the Monterey Plaza is on Cannery Row. Car Week rooms commit close to a year ahead, minimum-night rules appear across the whole peninsula, and rates move onto a scale of their own.
If the plan is still fluid, book the room first and the aircraft second; the aircraft is the easier of the two to move. One thing to confirm before a golf-and-cars trip is sold as a package: the Links at Spanish Bay closed in March 2026 for a Gil Hanse renovation and is due to reopen in spring 2027.
Where to Eat in the Busiest Week of the Year
Monterey County’s two Michelin-starred rooms sit three blocks apart in Carmel. Aubergine, inside L’Auberge Carmel, holds two stars; Chez Noir holds one. The 2026 California guide added two Bib Gourmands within reach: Yafa in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Maligne on Broadway in Seaside.
The local half of the list is what makes the week survivable. El Charrito on Calle Principal makes its tortillas on site and opens at half past seven, which matters when the gates open at nine. Michael’s Grill & Taqueria on Forest Avenue and the Red House Cafe on Lighthouse are Pacific Grove rooms that do not reprice for August.
Book the table when you book the aircraft. Carmel dining rooms are small on purpose, and Car Week weekends go months out.
The Car Arrives Before You Do
If a car is entered, it is usually on a transporter a week before you are in the air, and enclosed transport for this week books earlier than the hotel rooms do. That sequencing is the thing to plan around. The transport date is fixed early and hard; the flight is the flexible end of the trip. Settle the truck first and let us build the flying around the date it gives you.
It is also worth knowing where you land. Motorlux is held on the Monterey Jet Center ramp on the Wednesday, so the FBO is itself a Car Week venue that evening. That is an arrival worth timing deliberately rather than discovering on the day.
Outside the August block, the peninsula is a different and much easier trip. Our Monterey and Carmel page covers it year round, and the US Open at Pebble Beach returns in June 2027: the other week the same small airport fills.
THE AIRPORTS PEAK USES
MRY: Monterey Regional is the primary. Main runway 7,175 ft, Class C with the tower staffed 0600 to 2100, no curfew, noise abatement 2300 to 0700. Prior permission is required for transient parking by large and turbine multi-engine aircraft. Four miles from Carmel, minutes from Pebble Beach and Cannery Row. FBOs are Monterey Jet Center and Del Monte Aviation.
The airport says its replacement passenger terminal opens in summer 2027, which would make August 2027 the first Car Week run out of the new building.
SNS: Salinas Municipal runs 6,004 ft, towered Class D, with an ILS to runway 31 and no customs. Twenty minutes inland, and the field that has room when Monterey does not.
SJC: San Jose Mineta is seventy-five to ninety minutes north, with twin long runways and customs handled on arrival. Monterey holds Port of Entry designation but has no CBP staffing, so an international arrival clears at San Jose first.
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Car Week Charter Questions, Answered
When is Monterey Car Week 2027?
The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is Sunday 15 August 2027, the 76th running, and the week builds toward it. Pebble Beach has published its own dates: auctions 11 to 14 August, the Tour d’Elegance on 12 August, RetroAuto and the Concours Village 12 to 15 August. The other organisers have not released 2027 dates yet.
Which airport do private jets use for Monterey Car Week?
Monterey Regional (MRY) is four miles from Carmel and minutes from Pebble Beach, and it is the default. Salinas Municipal (SNS) is twenty minutes inland and is often the better answer during Car Week itself. San Jose Mineta (SJC) is seventy-five to ninety minutes north and handles customs on arrival.
Can I park a jet at Monterey Regional during Car Week?
Sometimes, and it depends when you ask. Monterey Regional requires prior permission for transient parking by large and turbine multi-engine aircraft year round, and in 2024 246 aircraft parked at the field across the week. There is no slot programme and no lottery. There is a finite apron. Many arrivals drop passengers and reposition instead, which is normal practice and often the cheaper answer.
How far ahead should I book a charter for Monterey Car Week?
Earlier than you would for a normal week, and the constraint is ground handling rather than aircraft. Tickets to the 2027 Concours become available in late 2026, and the people who charter tend to commit around then. If a car is going on a transporter, that date is the one everything else should be built around.
What size aircraft makes sense for Monterey?
Monterey Regional’s 7,175 ft runway takes light, midsize and super-midsize jets comfortably, and larger aircraft with the usual performance planning. The real question is not the airplane. It is whether it stays on the field or repositions after drop-off, and we price both so you can see which is cheaper for your dates.
Can Peak arrange a departure on Concours Sunday evening?
Yes, and it is the busiest departure window of the year on the peninsula. Monterey has no curfew, and noise abatement procedures run 2300 to 0700. We build in the road time from Pebble Beach, which on that evening is the part people underestimate.
