Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds, located on the Monterey Peninsula in Pacific Grove, Calif., offers groups a rare combination of nature and conference space. Its 107 acres of ecologically diverse beachfront land provides an ideal playground for team building activities in between meeting at its lodge-like facilities. Here are five ways to get attendees outside and explore the area while staying here.
Asilomar Walking Tours
Groups don’t have to leave the grounds to find ways to be active. The four, self-guided walking tours—Julia Morgan Architecture, Living Dunes, Coast Trail and Forest Walk—highlight various aspects of the park for attendees to explore. The tours will offer attendees a new perspective of the park’s natural and cultural history, while immersing them in nature.
Adventures by the Sea
Adventures by the Sea offers a slew of teambuilding activities, from kayak, bike and hiking tours to scavenger hunts. Groups can also participate in Beach Olympics for up to 400 who want to compete in beach volleyball, coconut bocce and even sandcastle-building contests.
Whale Watching
A trip to the Monterey peninsula isn’t complete without an excursion on the water. Princess Monterey Whale Watching specializes in natural history, biology of marine wildlife and conservation, offering year-round Monterey Bay whale-watching tours with experienced marine biologists. The 2.5- to three-hour cruises take attendees out to see one of the 66,000-pound whales that frequent the area’s coastline.
Wine Tasting
Monterey Wine Country is home to approximately 95 vintners and growers for groups to do tastings and tours. A Taste of Monterey offers several wine-tasting excursions for groups to explore the area’s wine scene. It also hosts group events in its 4,000-sf Ocean View Venue, where attendees can sample local wines and peruse the onsite winemaking and viticulture exhibits.
CSR Activities
Groups of up to 100 attendees can help end hunger by volunteering with Ag Against Hunger. After a commercial harvest, a large amount of produce is left in the fields and left to be tilled back into the soil. Groups can help harvest that produce to help supply local food banks. Up to 30 attendees can also work with the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History – LiMPETS program to monitor algae and invertebrates in the area tide pools and beach environments using research-based monitoring. Volunteers will work together using tools and methods used by field scientists and then help analyze the data.
