Experiencing The Concours d’Elegance Pebble Beach For Free

Classic Cars Are On Diplay In Monterey During This High-End Event

The Concours d’Elegance in Pebble Beach, CA – home of the famous golf course along the ocean that’s host to the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pro-Am – is one of the most prestigious events on the annual automotive calendar.

Pristine cars from all over the country roll in for it, which is a series of activities featuring cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars (and more) in a stylish event that’s high-end and exclusive (GA tickets are $375 for the main event), all accented – like a strawberry on the side of a glass – by fine wines and champagne.

But here’s how to experience Concours d’Elegance for free. I know because I stumbled into it one year when I was in Monterey to visit friends. The 2016 Concourse is Aug. 19-21, with the main show taking place on Sunday on Pebble Beach Golf Course.

As I was diving up Highway 101 with Luau Larry, we kept passing groups of expensive cars: Bentleys, Cobras, Corvettes and other classics. It suddenly dawned on me that we were driving right into the Concours!

Fortunately, we had a place to stay right in Monterey Bay – actually on Monterey Bay, as were on a friend’s sailboat.  And this is my biggest tip if you want to go to this thing: get your hotel reservations well in advance. We later talked to someone who tried for three months and the closest room he found was 50 miles up the coast.

Upon arriving at the dock, we could not help but notice the parking lot was filled with classic cars. We then walked up Alvarado Street to find some Happy Hour cocktails but were diverted in route, for every parking lot in town was filled with treasured vehicles – ‘3os roadsters, T-birds, 60s and 70s muscle cars and a personal favorite, ’57 Chevys.

The lobby of the Portola Hotel had two rare 30s cars in the lobby and a conference room had been converted into a showroom.

We quickly discovered that classic cars were on display all over town.

And all this was free!

This is how you can be a part of the Concours without actually being at it – by being around it.

Sure, it’s not the Concours on the golf course, but it’s close enough, it’s free and it put us in contact with classic car owners and enthusiasts. Plus, you can go and have drinks in the clubhouse or the Inn at Spanish Bay. Close enough.

We did what you can do, and that is to experience the event as it spilled out into the neighboring communities.

Then we went out to celebrate with drinks.