Five years of marriage! Oh how grateful I am for Jonathan, for five years together, and the opportunity to celebrate this milestone just the two of us in such a beautiful place. We looked at a variety of places to visit when planning this trip (check out our past anniversary trip to Big Cedar here!), and ultimately settled on Carmel by the Sea. The best part (aside from 3 fun and uninterrupted days) – we saved over $3K on travel expenses! Read to the end to see how our flights, lodging, and rental car were essentially free!

WHERE WE STAYED: CARMEL VALLEY RANCH

A beautiful retreat about 15-20 minutes from the main part of Carmel by the Sea, CVR exceeded all our expectations. At check-in they greeted us with a glass of wine, and upon finding out we were celebrating our anniversary, they upgraded our room with a full bottle included! Pique hospitality! The property spans over 500 acres, including plenty of family-friendly options for activities, hiking trails, tennis and pickleball courts, multiple pools, and complimentary nightly s’mores, we could have never left and been totally happy. But with so many options for what to do in Carmel by the Sea, I think we would have been sad to miss out 🙂

A delightful surprise was walking out of our room to a gang of wild turkeys and herd of deer (including a 6-point buck) 2 of the 3 mornings!

WHERE TO EAT IN CARMEL CALIFORNIA

Earthbound Farm Stand (about 10-15 minutes from town) – we ate outside and then walked the garden and grounds. The flowers!!! Oh myyyy. Earthbound was super casual, easy to grab and go!

Valley Kitchen (Carmel Valley Ranch) – wonderful special occasion meal!

Cultura Comidas y Bebidas (in town) – Jonathan tried the Crickets 🤪

Mission Ranch Restaurant (15 minutes from town) – a beautiful view of sheep grazing the pasture during breakfast!

Treehouse Cafè – incredible. Loved the yellow chicken curry and the clam chowder is A MUST!!!! SO good!

Katy’s Place – this was our last meal before flying out and perhaps our favorite! I thoroughly enjoyed the sourdough bread, Denver omelet, and pancakes (which are HUGE – just get 1 and share!)

WHAT TO DO CARMEL BY THE SEA:

Spa at Carmel Valley Ranch – we wished there was a sauna, but enjoyed a glass of champagne after our massages and just relaxed in their beautiful sitting area. Also spent a good bit at the hot tub that afternoon, ordering lunch from the pool bar. The chicken sandwich was a huge hit.

Shopped in town. I was rather underwhelmed by the shopping on Ocean Avenue as it was largely big-ticket items like jewelry and art galleries. We spent a few hours browsing around Faherty, Anthropologie (the store is HUGE!), Athleta, Whittakers Gifts (where we bought a beautiful hand-painted ornament of Mission Ranch!), Heaven Children’s Boutique, and Robertson Antiques. I stayed busy appreciating the architecture and beautiful details around town in the flowers, tiles, archways, and alleys.

Drive down Highway 1 to Big Sur – There are numerous spots along the way that are breathtaking. (Our first stop was Carmelite Monestary – a quick visit around the gardens!) Watching the waves hit the rocks at the various pull-offs never got old. And of course the homes along the ocean will leave you stunned. You HAVE to do this drive!

HOW WE TRAVELED FOR “FREE”:

No joke – California is expensive. And it is highly unlikely we would have taken this nice of a trip if we hadn’t been able to pay for it with credit card points! In 2022, we signed up for a Chase Sapphire card and y’all!!!! The perks!!! While this was our largest point-spend to date (we’ve done a few flights here and there), all-in-all, we redeemed just over 250K with quite a bit still leftover. Here’s what it would have cost us had we paid in cash:

Flights for 2: $536 = 42,936 points

Resort lodging for 3 nights: $2,322 = 185,824 points (not including the complimentary upgrade to a nicer suite!)

Rental car for 3 days: $295 = 23,648 points

Flights, lodging, car cost vs. points redeemed: $3,153 = 252,408

We did pay for a hotel resort fee of $232.05 that was not covered by points.

HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE POINTS ON THE CHASE SAPPHIRE CARD?

There are a variety of ways to stock up on points with the Chase Sapphire, but here are the highlights:

3 points/$1 on dining, streaming, and online groceries

2 points/$1 on travel purchases

1 point/$1 on all other purchases

Also included: 10% anniversary points boost from your annual spend of that year.

We do pay an annual $99 fee to maintain the card. My biggest regret is not opening the card sooner. I would have LOVED to put our wedding expenses on our card and put points earned towards a more luxurious honeymoon! We are thankful to have it now and have used it when going through renovations so of course it’s never too late 🙂

If you qualify, you can earn up to 125,000 bonus points just for opening your account! Would love for you to try it out here!

We loved our visit to Carmel by the Sea! September was a beautiful time of year to visit, enjoyed the hospitality at Carmel Valley Ranch, and would still have plenty of places to explore and things to do had we stayed another couple days. Would definitely recommend for a special getaway!