Monterey Car Week 2026
A ten-day peninsula calendar (August 7–16) of racing, auctions, free street shows, and the 75th Pebble Beach Concours — not one festival ticket.
- Aug 7–2026 (day: 16)
- Monterey County (multiple venues)
Monterey, CA - mixed
The short version
See Monterey lists Monterey Car Week as ten days from Friday, August 7 through Sunday, August 16, 2026 — a county-wide stack of separately ticketed shows, auctions, and track days, plus a long free-and-cheap undercard. The week ends on the 18th fairway at the 75th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. For Eastward Drive readers, 2026 is unusually pointed: WeatherTech Raceway’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion features Japanese motorsport as its marque theme, with a first-time JDM display weekend layered onto race days.
Background
What people call “Car Week” grew up around the Pebble Beach Concours (first held in 1950) and the historic races at Laguna Seca. There is still no single wristband. The useful mental model is a peninsula full of overlapping parties that share lodging, traffic, and fog — not a gated festival with one schedule.
Verified details
- Official Car Week window (See Monterey): August 7–16, 2026.
- Kickoff: free evening show along Alvarado Street, downtown Monterey, Friday, August 7.
- Monterey Pre-Reunion & Corkscrew Hillclimb: August 8–9 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
- Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion: August 12–15 at Laguna Seca (Japanese motorsport featured marque).
- The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering: Friday, August 14, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., The Quail, Carmel.
- Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance: Thursday, August 13.
- 75th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance: Sunday, August 16, Pebble Beach Golf Links (gates listed from 5:30 a.m. on See Monterey’s Day 10 guide).
- Concours Village & RetroAuto (free spectator access per See Monterey): roughly August 13–16 near Stevenson and Forest Lake Road.
Planning tips
- Build around two or three anchors, not the whole map. A clean Eastward-leaning stack is Reunion Friday–Saturday at Laguna Seca, optional Quail Friday in Carmel Valley, and Concours Sunday — then fill gaps with free midweek viewing.
- Wednesday, August 12 is one of the best free days on See Monterey’s guide: Astons on the Avenue in Carmel, The Little Car Show on Pacific Grove’s Lighthouse Avenue, and public viewing of the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic arrival.
- Thursday’s Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance puts Concours entrants on public coastal roads early — scout a viewing spot before 7:00 a.m. traffic locks the route.
- Friday spectators can watch Porsche’s Werks Reunion at Monterey Pines without a paid ticket; Saturday’s Concours d’Lemons on the Seaside City Hall lawn is the week’s irreverent free palate cleanser before Concorso and exotics fill Seaside.
- Book lodging in Monterey, Carmel, or Seaside before you buy the expensive lawn tickets. Peninsula inventory and rideshare pricing move first; See Monterey also asks visitors to use designated parking and expect heavy traffic all week.
- Concours, Quail, auction credentials, and Reunion tickets do not cross-honor. Confirm each organizer’s site the week you travel — schedules shuffle even after the published day guides.