Every August, something remarkable happens on the Monterey Peninsula. The cypress-lined streets of Carmel fill with the rumble of supercharged engines, the lawns of Pebble Beach become outdoor museums, and car lovers from every corner of the world descend on our little stretch of California coastline. Monterey Car Week 2026 runs August 7–16, and this year’s edition is something genuinely special: the 75th anniversary of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the crown jewel of a 10-day festival that draws more than 100,000 visitors and generates roughly $130 million in economic impact for the region. Whether you’ve attended dozens of times or you’re planning your first visit, this guide covers everything you need to know.
What Is Monterey Car Week?
Monterey Car Week is not one event — it’s 35 or more overlapping events spread across 10 days and a dozen venues from Carmel to Laguna Seca to Pebble Beach. At its core are four anchors: the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, The Quail motorcycle and automotive gathering, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and five major collector car auctions running simultaneously. Around those anchors swirl concours on city streets, hillclimbs, tours, cocktail parties, and impromptu gatherings of Ferraris and Bugattis parked casually outside coffee shops in Carmel village.
For locals, Car Week has a particular texture. The village gets busy — very busy — but it also crackles with a kind of infectious enthusiasm that’s hard to replicate anywhere else. You’ll stand on Ocean Avenue watching a 1930s Duesenberg roll past, and the person next to you will turn out to be the car’s restorer, the granddaughter of its original owner, or both. That intimacy, that density of knowledge and passion, is what makes Monterey Car Week unlike any other automotive gathering in the world.
The Main Event: The 75th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance 2026 takes place on Sunday, August 16, on the 18th Fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links — one of the most beautiful settings in American sport. This year’s milestone carries extra weight in every direction.
The featured marque is Ferrari, with a focus on NART (North American Racing Team) competition cars and the extraordinary coachwork of Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale — one of Italy’s most poetic coachbuilders, whose fluid lines defined a generation of Italian automotive art. If you love Italian cars, this is your year.
New competitive classes for 2026 include Early American Speedsters, Classic Streamliners, Japanese Motorsports: The Rising Sun at Le Mans, and Pebble Beach Road Racing Greats. Each class tells a story; collectively, they map the full sweep of automotive history across more than a century.
The undisputed showstopper of the weekend will be the American debut of the Sunbeam 1000HP — the first land vehicle to break 200 miles per hour, restored at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in the UK. The Sunbeam will make its American appearance on the 18th Fairway, and if you know anything about the history of speed records, you’ll understand why this is a genuine once-in-a-generation moment.
There’s also a farewell to acknowledge. Sandra Button, who has chaired the Pebble Beach Concours for 40 years, is stepping down after this event. The 75th is her farewell, and the automotive world owes her an enormous debt. Her vision and rigor transformed the Concours into the global benchmark it is today.
Tickets: General Admission is $495 (rising to $650 after August 1 — buy early). The show opens at 10 a.m.; awards are typically presented in the afternoon.
The Full Car Week 2026 Schedule
Here’s how the week unfolds, day by day:
August 8–9 (Fri–Sat): The Pre-Reunion and Corkscrew Hillclimb kick things off at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The hillclimb is a cult favorite — vintage cars attacking the famous Corkscrew, with small crowds and an old-school racing atmosphere that feels miles away from the glamour of Sunday’s lawn show.
August 11 (Mon): Concours on the Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Carmel — free. One of the best Car Week experiences for locals. Ocean Ave closes to traffic and fills with stunning automobiles, displayed informally with their owners right there to talk to you about them.
August 12 (Tue): The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion opens at Laguna Seca (runs through Aug 15). Gooding Christie’s auction begins at Pebble Beach. Astons on the Avenue brings an elegant gathering of Aston Martins to Carmel — free to watch.
August 13 (Wed): Tour d’Elegance morning — the Concours entrants drive a 60-mile public road route, and free roadside viewing is available along the course; this is a wonderful way to see the cars in motion without a ticket. RM Sotheby’s, Bonhams, and Broad Arrow auctions begin. Concours Carmel also runs this day.
August 14 (Thu): The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley — the most exclusive single-day event of the week. Auctions continue across all five houses.
August 15 (Fri): Concorso Italiano at Bayonet Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside. Final day of the Motorsports Reunion.
August 16 (Sun): The 75th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The whole week builds to this.
Beyond the Concours: Events Worth Your Time
Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (Aug 12–15, Laguna Seca): This is Car Week for the racing purists. Vintage and historic race cars from across eras actually compete on circuit — no static displays, real speed, real noise, real tire smoke. The 2026 theme is Japanese motorsports, and IROC (International Race of Champions) makes a welcome return. Multi-day tickets available; weekend passes are the best value.
The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering (Aug 14, Quail Lodge, Carmel Valley): Intimate, curated, and outrageously expensive — tickets start at around $3,355 — The Quail is the event most Car Week regulars consider the true insider’s gathering. Display classes for 2026 include Ferrari F40 (marking the model’s anniversary), Lamborghini Diablo, Legacy of Japanese GTs, and a Route 66 centenary celebration. The grounds are beautiful, the food is excellent, and the cars are extraordinary. If you can swing a ticket, it’s worth every penny.
Concorso Italiano (Aug 15, Bayonet Black Horse Golf Course, Seaside): The celebration of Italian automotive and lifestyle culture that’s become a Car Week institution. General admission is $250. Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, Vespa — all of Italy seems to show up. The atmosphere is relaxed, the crowd is passionate, and the cars are absolutely gorgeous.
The Five Auction Houses
One of the defining features of Monterey Car Week is the auction ecosystem — five major houses running simultaneously, collectively offering hundreds of collector cars across a few days. The combined sales regularly exceed $300 million.
RM Sotheby’s (Monterey Conference Center, Aug 13–14): The perennial market leader at Monterey. The highlight consignment for 2026 is the Ray & Bonnie Kinney Collection, featuring a stunning Duesenberg Model J, a Talbot-Lago, and a Stutz DV-32 — pre-war American and European exotica at its finest.
Gooding & Christie’s (Pebble Beach, Aug 12–13): The pairing of Gooding’s curatorial eye with Christie’s brand muscle has produced one of the most anticipated new partnerships in the auction world. Expect carefully selected, blue-chip consignments in a beautiful outdoor setting.
Broad Arrow (Quail Lodge, Aug 13–14): The youngest of the Monterey auction houses, Broad Arrow has quickly built a reputation for strong modern and recent collectibles alongside its vintage offerings — a good hunting ground for buyers priced out of the bigger houses.
Mecum (Hyatt Regency, Aug 13–15): The most accessible of the five, with the highest volume and the widest price range. Mecum’s Monterey sale draws buyers who are serious but not necessarily looking for seven-figure trophy cars.
Bonhams (Laguna Seca, Aug 13): Bonhams has long made its reputation on important single-owner collections and rare European machines. Their Laguna Seca location connects nicely to the racing theme of the Motorsports Reunion happening simultaneously across the pit lane.
Carmel’s Car Week — What Happens in the Village
One of the quieter pleasures of Car Week is simply being in Carmel during the week. The village doesn’t officially host major ticketed events, but it becomes an impromptu show every morning and evening as participants drive through, park along Ocean Avenue, and spill out of restaurants debating horsepower figures and restoration philosophies.
Carmel’s galleries and restaurants embrace the week — many extend hours, and there’s a festive, slightly chaotic energy that’s infectious even if you’re not a car person. Reservations at restaurants from Carmel to Pacific Grove to the Barnyard fill up weeks in advance; book now if you haven’t already.
The official village anchor is Concours on the Avenue (August 11, free), when Ocean Avenue itself becomes a runway for some of the most beautiful automobiles you’ll ever see up close. This is the Car Week event that converts non-enthusiasts — there’s something about standing three feet from a 1937 Bugatti that makes even the most committed art-lover start Googling superchargers.
Car Week for Free
Monterey Car Week has a reputation for expensive tickets, and some of it is deserved — Pebble Beach GA is $495, The Quail starts at $3,355. But there is a genuine free tier that delivers extraordinary experiences:
Concours on the Avenue (Aug 11, Ocean Ave, Carmel): Free, walkable, and one of the best Car Week experiences available at any price. Bring the whole family.
Tour d’Elegance roadside viewing (Aug 13 morning): The Concours entrants drive a 60-mile public road route. The route is publicized in advance; staking out a spot along Pacific Coast Highway or in Carmel Valley gives you a free rolling show of some of the finest automobiles in the world.
Astons on the Avenue (Aug 12, Carmel, free): A gathering of Aston Martins on Carmel’s streets. Free, photogenic, and a lovely morning event before the heavier day’s programming begins.
Beyond the organized free events, simply walking the streets of Carmel during Car Week is its own reward. The parking lots, coffee shop queues, and hotel driveways are full of extraordinary machinery driven by people who genuinely love talking about it.
Practical Guide: Tickets, Hotels, Parking & Tips
Tickets: Buy Pebble Beach Concours tickets before August 1 — GA jumps from $495 to $650 after that date. Concorso Italiano GA is $250. The Quail ($3,355+) often sells out months in advance. Motorsports Reunion multi-day passes offer the best value for racing fans.
Hotels: Carmel, Pebble Beach, and Monterey hotels book out fast, with significant rate premiums during Car Week. If you haven’t already secured lodging, check Carmel Valley and Salinas for more availability. Vacation rentals via Airbnb and Vrbo can offer better value and the ability to cook your own meals during a long week.
Parking: Traffic during Car Week is the primary logistical challenge. Pebble Beach has its own shuttle system from remote parking areas on Concours day. For Laguna Seca, arrive early or use the event shuttles from downtown Monterey. Within Carmel village during Concours on the Avenue (Aug 11), plan to walk — driving is a non-starter.
Timing your visit: If you can only spend one or two days on the Peninsula, the best combination is Tuesday–Wednesday (Astons on the Avenue, Motorsports Reunion begins, Gooding Christie’s opens, Tour d’Elegance on Wednesday morning) or Thursday–Sunday (The Quail, Concorso, and the Concours itself). Weekday events are less crowded and often more accessible.
The weather: Classic Carmel summer — morning fog burning off by midday, mild afternoons in the 60s and low 70s. Bring layers. The 18th Fairway at Pebble Beach can be cool even in August, especially if the fog lingers. A light jacket belongs in your bag every day of Car Week.
The 75th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is a landmark — not just for the cars on the lawn, but for what this event means to the community that hosts it and the region that has welcomed it for three-quarters of a century. Whether you’re a lifelong gearhead or someone who just wants to experience something genuinely extraordinary on the California coast, Monterey Car Week 2026 is the place to be this August. Start planning now — and don’t wait until August 1 to buy your Concours ticket.
