Monterey Regional Airport

One of the many advantages of living in Monterey is being able to use the ultra-convenient Monterey Regional Airport (www.montereyairport.com). Its small size means you can get in and out quickly, but it's big enough to have a decent selection of flights, various dining options, taxi service, and most of the major rental car companies. 


If you check in for your flight online, then you can go straight through security about 20-30 minutes before your flight leaves. And when I say straight through, I mean straight through. At most, there might be three or four people ahead of you.  Get yourself ready before you enter the queue, because after the ID check, you can step right up to the scanning area. The TSA people are super helpful and friendly (getting a posting in Monterey is probably a pretty good gig, TSA-wise, so how could someone be grumpy?) and once you're through you'll have time to put your belt and shoes back on and gather your stuff without feeling rushed to get out of the way for the onslaught of people behind you. 

Ever had an early morning flight at 6am at a major airport? Set the alarm for 3am and force yourself to get out of bed, dress, finish last-minute packing, and rush to get to the airport by 4:30 at the latest so that you have time to make your flight? In Monterey, even if you're the type who likes to give yourself plenty of extra time "just in case" you can leave the house at a still early but much more reasonable 5am, park, check bags, and make your flight.

For a recent trip, our flight to LA was scheduled to depart at 6:10pm. We left the house around 5p, drove to the airport, parked in the long-term parking, and still had time for a glass of wine in the bar upstairs before proceeding to security. (That's with online check-in and no checked baggage, of course). On the return, our flight landed at 9:25, and by 9:45 we were home.  How can you beat that?

Speaking of the bar, the bar/restaurant is located upstairs, with large windows overlooking the runway. On a nice day (which is almost every day in Monterey), you can sit outside on the deck and enjoy the weather while watching the action. Even if you stay inside, every seat has a great view. Bar snacks and a full menu are available. In fact, it's a nice place to go for lunch or dinner, even if you're not flying. 

There's also a small snack bar in the main terminal if you want a quick bite, and a cafe with bar in the gate area (past security). 

For most destinations, you'll probably have to connect through LA, San Francisco, or Phoenix, but there are direct flights to Las Vegas and Denver as well.  I've found that for more distant destinations, it generally doesn't add much to the ticket price to go from MRY versus SJC or SFO.

If the flight times or prices leaving out of Monterey don't work out, there's always San Jose and San Francisco airports which are within an hour or two, depending on traffic. But I always try to book out of Monterey when I can because it's just a much easier experience.