Monterey Travel Forum

We're thinking of including the Monterey Blues Festival in a June trip to California, as we're big blues fans. Is it worth taking 3 days out of our trip, or should we avoid the area at this busy time!

If you are fans,and you're in the area, you should go. Chances for something like that don't always present themselves again. Gary

Don't let the crowds keep you away from Monterey! Every weekend here is busy in the summer, and the Blues Fest is barely a blip on the radar for the local tourism industry (compared to the 140,000 who show up for Laguna Seca's Bike Week, the Monterey Jazz Festival's 40,000 in attendance, and who knows how many people show up for antique car shows, considered the area's busiest weekend). Monterey can absorb a lot of visitors...last year I didn't even notice the Jazz Fest. Plus new hotels will be opening just in time for summer, so I can't imagine it would be too difficult to get a room. If you like Jazz, why not come? This is one of he West Coast's biggest jazz festivals.

Joe

The Blues Festival is great. There is food, lots of vendors and even if you don't purchase tickets to the Main Stage, there is plenty of music provided by great talent in the free shows throught the fairgrounds. The price of local hotels does increase dramatically for this event, although it does not yield as large large crowd as other events hosted in Monterey. If you stay in a nearby city, be prepared to pay for parking, and to deal with traffic. Monterey is a great place to visit, if you don't want to spend all your time at the Blues Festival there's always the Aquarium, Cannery Row and the scenic drive. Always worth the trip.

The Blues Festival is great. There is food, lots of vendors and even if you don't purchase tickets to the Main Stage, there is plenty of music provided by great talent in the free shows throught the fairgrounds. The price of local hotels does increase dramatically for this event, although it does not yield as large large crowd as other events hosted in Monterey. If you stay in a nearby city, be prepared to pay for parking, and to deal with traffic. Monterey is a great place to visit, if you don't want to spend all your time at the Blues Festival there's always the Aquarium, Cannery Row and the scenic drive. Always worth the trip.