Carmel Plaza — Attraction in Carmel-by-the-Sea

High-end/luxury shopping center in downtown Carmel. Worth stopping by for gift shopping or a fancier dinner out, however nothing here could be described as super affordable. Lately a few more restaurants in the mid-tier price range (still somewhat pricey but not necessarily too expensive for a nice date night or something like that) have opened up, which is a nice change.

One of the main attractions for out-of-towners, can get pretty crowded when several busses drop off tour groups for lunch or shopping—typically mid-day—all at once, so if you'd prefer to avoid the crowds your best bet is probably morning or evening. Events are also held within the courtyard throughout the year, but especially around the holidays.

Known for being extremely dog-friendly so feel free to bring your...

This used to be such a charming and inviting place. They removed the beautiful olive trees and plants that were suited to the climate and replaced them with maples, flax, and other plants that don’t do well in the climate.

There used to be a fountain that the native Brewers blackbirds loved to frequent. It was so enjoyable to order a coffee and watch them frolic.

We were there today and there were boxes of poison set out in the planters. No more fountain; only a rectangular drinking fountain for dogs was present. There was a sad single Brewers blackbird, probably the sole survivor of the kill off of his flock from the poison.

A lot of the unique stores are gone, with lots of closed stores. It was sad to see as we used to love to visit this nice little plaza on every...

Carmel Plaza is a unique outdoor shopping center. They have three levels with high end retail shops, wine tasting, restaurants, various types of stores including Links Club sports bar & entertainment center where you can play simulator golf or practice golf. Latest update, we attended Party at the Plaza on 5/30/25 and my wife and I had a great time! We bought VIP tickets so we got to enter 25 minutes early. There were really good food to try from multiple restaurants as well as various wines to try. The VIP Lounge was nice and had a really huge Chacuteri to eat and it was very good. It got pretty crowded, and it was hard at times to walk around. There was live music and also a Mariachi band, and both...