The Big Sur International Marathon finishes in Carmel-by-the-Sea on the last Sunday of April, after a point-to-point course that runs the length of closed Highway 1 from the Big Sur coast. April in Monterey is not a season built around any single event: this is not whale season, and it is not wildflower season on the waterfront itself. What it does offer is shelter. The Peninsula's spring weather swings between clear morning sun and marine fog within the same day, and Cannery Row's main draw, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, is almost entirely indoors, which makes it one of the more forgiving options on a day when the legs and the weather both need managing. Monterey sits a short drive or taxi ride from Carmel along Highway 1 and Del Monte Avenue.
Cannery Row and the Waterfront
Cannery Row takes its name from the sardine canneries that lined this stretch of Monterey's waterfront until the fishery collapsed in the 1950s, later fixed in the popular imagination by John Steinbeck's novel of the same name. The canneries themselves are gone, converted into shops, restaurants and the aquarium building, but the row still reads as an industrial waterfront rather than a purpose-built tourist strip.
The Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail runs along the water here: a flat, paved multi-use path with no meaningful gradient, which makes it a reasonable stretch-the-legs option before or after the aquarium if standing in one place for a couple of hours doesn't appeal. The Monterey Bay Aquarium itself is the main indoor anchor. It sits directly on the water at the end of Cannery Row, and its exhibits, built around the bay's own kelp forest and open-ocean ecosystem, run year-round, so nothing about visiting in April specifically diminishes the experience. Walk-up admission is not guaranteed on a busy weekend, so check current pricing and whether timed tickets are required before travelling.
For food, Alvarado Street Brewery in Monterey is a straightforward, casual option for a post-marathon appetite, close enough to Cannery Row to fold into the same outing without a separate trip.
Getting Back
Return to Carmel by the same taxi or rideshare route. There is no fixed public transport timetable to plan around on the Peninsula, so the return leg is flexible: leave when the legs, or the aquarium's closing time, decide it.