If you visited the town known as Carmel-by-the-Sea years ago, you're likely to be of the school that criticizes its present-day commercialization. Carmel began as an artists' colony that attracted such luminaries as Robinson Jeffers, Sinclair Lewis, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ansel Adams, William Rose Benet, and Mary Austin. It was a nonconformist enclave where residents resisted assigned street numbers and lighting (they carried lanterns, which they considered more romantic).Today, Carmel may not be the bohemian artists' village of seasoned travelers' memories, but it's still an adorable (albeit touristy) town that knows how to celebrate its surroundings. Vibrant wildflower gardens flourish along each residential street, cypress trees reach up from white sandy beaches, and at the end of each day, tourists disappear and the town -- for a second -- feels undiscovered.It's still intimate enough that there's no need for street numbers. Carmel's inns, restaurants, boutiques, and art galleries all identify their locations only by cross streets. A few hints such as Saks Fifth Avenue, convertible roadsters cruising through town, intolerable traffic, and lofty B&B rates indicate you're not in Kansas anymore, but rather a well-preserved upscale tourist haven.If you're interested in saving money, I recommend staying in Pacific Grove, only a few miles away, which has better rates, and you can daytrip into Carmel.