The Backroads: Monterey's Best Driving Roads

If you drive one road on the Peninsula, drive this one.

17-Mile Drive winds through Pebble Beach and the Del Monte Forest with the ocean on your shoulder most of the way, past the Lone Cypress and the golf links everyone films. It is a private toll road, so there's a per-car gate fee, often refundable with a qualifying restaurant purchase inside the gates. During Car Week, drive it early in the morning before the crowds and the Concours traffic build. Enter through the Pacific Grove (Country Club) gate, the Highway 1 gate, the Morse Drive gate, or the Carmel gate.

Turn inland and the crowds vanish.

Carmel Valley Road runs east off Highway 1 into oak hills and vineyards, and it is the calmest good drive of the week. It doubles as a shortcut: take Laureles Grade over to it and you can reach Carmel from the east without ever touching the Highway 1 gridlock. Wine tasting rooms and a slower pace wait at the far end if you want to make an afternoon of it.

Not scenic-famous, but these are the roads that actually beat the traffic.

South of Carmel the coast opens up and the road becomes the destination.

Head south on Highway 1 past Carmel and you get Bixby Bridge, the cliffs, and the run the Tour d'Elegance itself uses. It is the most beautiful stretch on the Peninsula and the most exposed, so go early, mind the coastal fog, and gas up first because stations are sparse and pricey once you're out there.