How Much Does a Carmel & Big Sur Trip Cost? Our 5-Day Breakdown

Carmel-by-the-Sea and Big Sur are two destinations that can look pretty expensive when you’re planning a trip to California’s Central Coast. Between the beautiful hotels, restaurants, rental cars, and everything there is to see and do, I was curious to see how much we would actually spend.

After our 5-night trip, I totaled everything up—and I was actually pretty happy with the result.

For two people, we spent $2,911.82 in cash, plus 29,000 British Airways Avios for our flights.

Here’s exactly where our money went.

Planning your own Carmel & Big Sur trip? I also put together our 5-Day Carmel & Big Sur Itinerary, including where we stayed, where we ate, the hikes we did, and everything we saw along the way.

Our Total Cost for 5 Nights

Expense	Cost
Hotel – 5 nights	$1,902.43
Flights for 2	$22.50 + 29,000 Avios
Turo rental car – 5 days	$223.00
Gas	$68.00
Eating out – 2 people	$520.00
Gifts	$29.39
Refuge Spa – 2 people	$134.00
17-Mile Drive	$12.50
Total cash spent	$2,911.82 + 29,000 Avios

That works out to about $1,455.91 per person for the entire 5-night trip, not including the value of the Avios we used.

That’s approximately $582 per night for two people, or $291 per person per night.

Hotel: $1,902.43

Our hotel was by far our biggest expense, making up about 65% of our total cash spending.

We stayed at Coachman’s Inn, a Four Sisters Inn, in Carmel-by-the-Sea for five nights. Our total came to $1,902.43, or about $380 per night.

The location was one of our favorite things about the hotel. We were right in Carmel-by-the-Sea, which meant we could park the car when we got back from exploring and walk around town rather than having to drive everywhere.

Another thing that helped make the hotel cost feel more reasonable was everything that was included with our stay. Breakfast was included every morning, and parking was included, so we didn’t have to worry about adding a daily parking fee to the cost of the trip.

For a five-night stay in Carmel, I felt like the location and included amenities made the hotel worth the splurge.

Flights for Two: $22.50 + 29,000 British Airways Avios

This was probably our best travel hack of the trip.

For two people, we paid just $22.50 out of pocket plus 29,000 British Airways Avios for our flights.

We transferred Capital One points to British Airways to book the flights, which made our airfare incredibly inexpensive compared with paying cash.

I always like including points in our trip cost breakdowns because while they aren’t technically “free,” they can make a huge difference in how much we actually spend out of pocket.

For this trip, our cash cost for flights was basically negligible.

Turo Rental Car: $223

We rented a car through Turo for the entire five days for $223.

Having a car was definitely worth it for this trip. Carmel and Big Sur are the kind of destinations where having your own car makes it so much easier to explore at your own pace.

We spent most of our time driving along the coast, stopping at scenic overlooks, hiking, and exploring different areas around Carmel and Big Sur.

At about $44.60 per day, I thought the rental was very reasonable.

Gas: $68

We spent just $68 on gas for the entire trip.

Considering how much driving we did – including exploring Big Sur and the surrounding area, I was pleasantly surprised by how low this ended up being.

Eating Out: $520

We spent $520 total on eating out for the two of us.

Breakfast was included with our hotel, so we didn’t have to spend money on breakfast each morning, which definitely helped keep our food costs down.

We also didn’t drink alcohol on this trip. We stuck with mocktails, so we weren’t paying the typical restaurant markup for cocktails, wine, or other alcoholic drinks.

For two people over five nights, $520 came out to about $104 per day for both of us, or roughly $52 per person per day.

For Carmel and Big Sur, I was pretty happy with that number!

If you want to see exactly where we ate and what we ordered, I included all of that in our 5-Day Carmel & Big Sur Itinerary rather than repeating it here.

Refuge Spa: $134

We also treated ourselves to a spa experience at Refuge for the two of us, which cost $134 total.

I actually think this was one of the more memorable parts of the trip, especially because most of our other activities were completely free.

17-Mile Drive: $12.50

One expense that is easy to forget when planning a Carmel trip is the 17-Mile Drive entrance fee.

We paid $12.50 to enter.

Other than that, most of our sightseeing didn’t really cost us anything. We spent a lot of our time hiking, exploring, and stopping at scenic viewpoints—which is one of the best things about this area.

Gifts: $29.39

Our souvenir budget was extremely reasonable.

We spent $29.39 on gifts, and most of that was on Christmas ornaments.

We didn’t do much shopping on this trip, which helped keep our overall spending down.

What We Didn’t Spend Money On

One of the reasons we were able to keep this trip relatively affordable was that we didn’t feel like we needed to constantly spend money on activities.

A lot of what we wanted to do in Carmel and Big Sur was free.

We spent most of our time hiking, exploring Big Sur, driving along the coast, stopping at scenic overlooks, and exploring Carmel-by-the-Sea.

We also didn’t have any parking expenses because our hotel included parking.

And as I mentioned above, we didn’t drink alcohol during this trip – we stuck with mocktails instead.

This is one of the things I loved most about Carmel and Big Sur: the scenery really is the activity. You don’t need to book an expensive tour every day to have an amazing trip.

How Our Spending Broke Down

The hotel was easily our biggest expense, accounting for about 65% of our cash spending.

After that, our biggest category was eating out at about 18%.

The rest of our spending was relatively small:

Hotel: 65%
Eating out: 18%
Turo: 8%
Refuge Spa: 5%
Gas: 2%
Gifts: 1%
17-Mile Drive: less than 1%
Flights: $22.50 out of pocket + 29,000 Avios

So while the hotel definitely wasn’t cheap, we were able to keep almost everything else pretty reasonable.

Was Carmel & Big Sur Worth the Cost?

Absolutely.

For two people, we spent $2,911.82 in cash plus 29,000 Avios for five nights, and I think we got a lot out of the trip for what we spent.

Our biggest splurge was the hotel, but we were able to offset some of the cost by using points for our flights, choosing a reasonably priced Turo, taking advantage of our hotel’s included breakfast and parking, and spending most of our days hiking and sightseeing.

We also didn’t feel like we were sacrificing anything by keeping our activity budget low. Some of our favorite parts of the trip were simply driving Highway 1, hiking, exploring Big Sur, and stopping at scenic viewpoints.

If you’re planning a Carmel and Big Sur trip, I’d put the majority of your budget toward your accommodations and transportation and leave room for plenty of free activities. You can have an incredible trip without spending hundreds of dollars every day on tours and attractions.

Our Final Carmel & Big Sur Trip Cost

For five nights in Carmel and Big Sur, our final total was:

$2,911.82 + 29,000 British Airways Avios for two people

That’s:

$1,455.91 per person

or approximately:

$582 per night for two people

For us, that felt like a pretty great price for a five-night California getaway—and one of those trips where the memories were worth far more than what we spent.

Want to see exactly how we spent those five days? Check out our 5-Day Carmel & Big Sur Itinerary for our day-by-day itinerary, restaurants, hikes, and favorite stops from the trip.