Perched high on the cliff faces of the Santa Lucia Range on California’s Central Coast, Highway 1 snakes its way north. With dizzying drops, hairpin turns, wild untamed wilderness, and remote beaches, this section of California, and the road that drives through it, is truly a spectacle, and driving Big Sur is the best way to see it!
Known as Big Sur, this area is a collection of parks and wilderness areas that together preserve a massive section of California’s Central Coast. You will not find cities here. With just a smattering of villages and isolated homes, you will be hard pressed to even get cell service, but that’s half the fun!
Easily the best coastal drive in the United States, Highway 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, is one of the must do road trips in the country. If you haven’t driven this incredible road, you need to get yourself to California and do it!
At Top Down Lifestyle, we love road trips, and this is one of the absolute best. Whether you only have a day to get through Big Sur, or if you want to spend an entire week exploring this remote coastline, Big Sur will not disappoint.
In this article, we have created an itinerary for a 1 day drive through Big Sur. No doubt, if you follow this itinerary to the letter, you will be busy from sun up to sun down! The great thing is you will not be disappointed, and each destination has even better views than the last!
This itinerary could easily be stretched into multiple days, and for the leisurely traveller who is looking for a more relaxing trip, that might be preferable. Whatever your personal preference, this itinerary can be adapted to fit your dream trip!
For more info on hiking in Big Sur, check out our list of the best Big Sur hikes!
Getting To Big Sur:
Located on the remote coast of Central California, Big Sur is not the most accessible destination. You will definitely need a vehicle for yourself, so whether you drive yours or rent a car is up to you.
For those living in California, getting to Big Sur is just a matter of driving! From Los Angeles, Big Sur is about 4 hours north. Take highway 101 north along the coast until San Luis Obispo and then turn onto highway 1. Then follow highway 1 to the coast!
From the Bay Area, either take highway 101 south to highway 156 and then to highway 1, or take highway 17 from San Jose to Santa Cruz, and then get onto highway 1 going south to Monterey.
The real question is if you are flying to California, what is the best way to access Big Sur. To answer this, we first have to answer a question: do you want to access Big Sur from the north or the south?
Big Sur is a great road trip destination, but be sure to save as much money as you can!
From the North:
If accessing Big Sur from the north, the closest major airports are San Francisco, San Jose, or Oakland. Of those three, San Jose is the closest, but will still be about and hour and a half away.
If you are willing to spend a little more on a ticket to get closer, Monterey Regional Airport will drop you in Monterey, just north of Big Sur. Monterey and the surrounding towns make for a fantastic base camp to explore the entire area, so this would be a great choice if you can find a decent flight.
From the South:
To the south of Big Sur, Los Angeles is the closest major city. LA has one of the busiest airports in the country, and you won’t have any trouble getting a flight there, but it is over 4 hours away, and you’ll have to deal with the craziness of Los Angles and LA traffic.
To get a bit closer, there are a couple of different options. North of Los Angeles along the coast is the city of Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara has a local airport with limited arrivals, but if you could get a cheap ticket, it would be way less crazy than LAX.
The closest airport to the southern end of Big Sur is in San Luis Obispo. While this is a small local airport, there are flights that will take you here, and if you can, this is the place to fly to. From San Luis Obispo, Big Sur is about an hours drive away, much closer than Los Angeles or Santa Barbara.
Where To Stay:
The question of where to stay is a complicated one for visiting Big Sur because it really depends on what you want to do and where you are coming from.
Staying North of Big Sur:
If you want to stay somewhere to the north of Big Sur, the city of Monterey or one of the surrounding towns is the best option. With a fun downtown, tons of surrounding wineries, and the legendary golf courses of Pebble Beach, Monterey is a really cool place to spend time.
Monterey is no more than 15 minutes away from Big Sur, so it gives you very easy access! Beyond Big Sur, there are tons of other things to do here. Go on a whale watching cruise, or take a kayaking tour in either Monterey Harbor or the nearby Elkhorn Slough (I’ve done both, the wildlife viewing in both is amazing!).
Staying South of Big Sur:
If you want to stay somewhere south of Big Sur, there are a few more options and places to choose from. If you want to stay in a city, the college town of San Luis Obispo is the closest city. While it’s not a big city, SLO is a fun college town with a great downtown and tons of good restaurants and lodging options!
To get a little closer, SLO is a bit of a drive, the sleepy coastal towns of Morro Bay and Cayucos give a totally different vibe. You won’t find much going on in either, but both provide easy access to Big Sur, and if you’re looking for a quiet, relaxing trip, they could be a good option!
Staying in Big Sur:
One of the great experiences in California is to spend a night, or multiple nights, in Big Sur proper. There are a number of ways to do this, and each person will choose something different.
If you want to camp, there are some incredible places to camp that either overlook the ocean or are nestled in the Redwood forests. Kirk Creek Campground directly overlooks the ocean, and Plaskett Creek Campground is in the trees just away from the coastline.
For a more wooded experience, Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground and Riverside Campground and Cabins are both nestled in the cool Redwood forests.
If sleeping indoors on a bed is more your thing, there are some really awesome lodges as well. Lucia Lodge has rooms perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and the fried fish at the restaurant is world class! Also consider the Big Sur Lodge and Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn.
Always follow basic trail etiquette when on trail!
Length:
As it is written, we have this itinerary planned for a single day drive through Big Sur from north to south. If while reading this itinerary you think this all sounds overwhelming or too much for one day, it would be very easy to split it into multiple days, choosing a couple things to do each day. There is enough here for a 4+ day trip if you only wanted to do one or two short hikes each day, or if you included other activities in the Monterey or San Luis Obispo areas.
The Itinerary:
Stop 1: Point Lobos State Natural Reserve
Starting our day off, the first stop will be Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. With amazing wildlife viewing including otters, sea lions, seals, and if you get lucky whales, this is a true gem on the California coast.
We highly recommend hiking theCypress Grove Trail via the South Shore Trail. This short and mostly flat trail follows the coastline of Point Lobos. You will hike past tidepools, secluded coves, and along high cliffs. The wildlife viewing is great, so always be paying attention to the water!
The South Shore Trail comes in at just 2.5 miles, but for a longer extension, a great addition to this hike is to continue north towards the Cypress Grove Trail. This short loop, taking you to Point Lobos itself, is a great addition, and takes you into a beautiful grove of Cypress Trees!
Stop 2: Garrapata State Park
Continuing south from Point Lobos, the next point of interest you definitely should not miss is a short loop hike at Garrapata State Park. The hike to Soberanes Point and Whale Peak comes in at just 1.8 miles, but the views are definitely worth it for such a short hike!
The hike is a loop, and you will be treated to cliff top views up and down the rugged Big Sur Coast. The “summit” of Whale Peak will give you even more great views from a wide open vantage point.
The parking area for this hike is right along the side of the road, so it is not a major detour to get to the trail. This can be a positive because you don’t waste time driving into a park, but it can get busy, so expect a busy parking area on weekend afternoons!
There are also some longer hikes at Garrapata if you are looking for a challenge!
Stop 3: Andrew Molera State Park
One of my go to hikes in Big Sur, the Creamery Meadows Trail is a great easy walk through the woods that gets you to an amazing secluded beach! If you’re looking for a nice spot for a picnic lunch, this might be it!
From the parking area, which is just off Highway 1, the trail follows and then quickly crosses the Big Sur River. This usually requires a wade through bracingly cold water, but at some times of year there is a small bridge over the river. The water is generally not more than knee high, so unless you are there the day after a storm, it should be crossable for most people!
After the adventure of the river crossing, the hike to the beach is a nice flat walk through the coastal forest. The beach is about 1 mile from the parking lot, so expect about 20-30 minutes when factoring in the river crossing. The beach is beautiful, and there likely won’t be a ton of people there! Be careful of dangerous tides and currents if you go in the water, but you probably won’t considering it’ll be freezing cold!
Stop 4: Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
After your excursion to the beach, the next stop on the trip is at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. This will be a little bit different from the other stops so far, as now you will find yourself a few miles inland standing beneath towering Redwoods and in deep, steep sided valleys.
If you did not eat a picnic lunch on the beach at Molera State Park, this is a good spot to find lunch. Close to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, there are a few different restaurants to choose from, something rare in Big Sur! Grab a fresh lunch made with local ingredients at The Big Sur Roadhouse. Get a pizza or something light at The Big Sur Bakery, or sit outside on the deck at the Fernwood Tavern.
After lunch, there are a few different trails that you should take a look at in Pfeiffer Big Sur. To work off your lunch, you might want to check out the Buzzards Roost Trail. This one includes a pretty steep climb, but you will be rewarded with huge views looking out to the ocean and inland at the rugged peaks of the Santa Lucia Mountains.
For less adventurous folks who want something laid back after lunch, combine the Big Sur Nature Trail and Liewald Flat for a flat hike through the forest. The Big Sur Nature Trail is under a mile, so combining the two trails will not be an overly difficult undertaking!
Stop 5: Pfeiffer Beach
After exploring the inland forests of Pfeiffer Big Sur, it’s time to return to the coast at Pfeiffer Beach. This one is a little out of the way, and it requires a little bit of adventure to get there!
From Highway 1, you’ll need to take a right onto a narrow one lane road that heads to the coast. This road really isn’t marked, so it might be a good idea to pull it up on your phone at lunch if you have wifi.
You’ll drive for a few miles down a narrow road dropping down towards the ocean. The road is rough at times, and with two way traffic on a one way road, take it slow!
The payoff for making the journey is one of the most beautiful, and most secluded beaches on the Central Coast! With jagged rock formations all around, this is a truly beautiful beach!
Be aware, if you try to get to this beach during the rainy months of the year, a section of road near the beach may be flooded. When I tried to make this drive in February of 2018, we had to turn back with the ocean nearly in sight. Big Sur is a wild and rugged environment, so you need to be ready to deal with mother nature!
Stop 6: Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
The final park on our itinerary for the day, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park has a pair of awesome short trails that you can’t miss if you’re visiting Big Sur!
The first trail that you should stop at is the Partington Cove Trail. This short 1 mile trail descends down the cliffs toward a small cove set in the violent coast line. While the hike is only a mile round trip, it does descend about 350 feet down to the coast, so you’ll have a nice little climb back to your car!
The second stop at Julia Pfeiffer Burns is the iconic Overlook Trail to McWay Falls. If there is one single view that truly represents Big Sur, it has to be the overlook of McWay Falls as it drops off a coastal cliff and cascades down to the beach right into the ocean. The Overlook Trail is an easy hike, and it can be done in 10 or 15 minutes, but you really can’t miss this view!
Stop 7: Dinner at the Lucia Lodge
After a full day of exploring, hiking, and exhilarating driving, you’ll be ready to sit down and enjoy a view, a drink, and a nice meal! One of the can’t miss stops in Big Sur to me is the stunning Lucia Lodge. Situated on a cliff top hundreds of feet above the Pacific waters below, the lodge provides a gift shop, lodging, and a restaurant.
The restaurant has an indoor dining room with huge windows looking over the Pacific with views down the coast. If you can, get a table by the windows and enjoy the views with your dinner! The lodge also has an awesome outdoor patio where guests can eat, and if it’s a nice day out, you should definitely eat outside!
Get the fish and chips, you won’t recommend it!
Heading Home:
After an awesome dinner, finish up your day by taking a sunset drive as you watch the sphere of the sun slowly change color and drop below the waters of the Pacific. This is one of my favorite places in the world to watch a sunset, and because there are viewpoints situated on cliffs looking west over the ocean seemingly everywhere, you’ll always be able to find a truly incredible place to watch!
If you are staying to the north of Big Sur, turn around and head back north. You’ll have a bit of a drive, but in a place like this, who cares? If you’re heading south, continue on through the rugged southern reaches of Big Sur to wherever your final destination is!
Always be sure to follow the 7 Leave No Trace Principles when in the outdoors!
Logistics:
While our itinerary has you stopping in a number of state parks, you will only need to pay for one fee. Where you stop first, you will have to purchase a state parks parking pass. This pass is good for one day, and at last check costs $10.
It would be pretty brutal to have to spend $10 at every park you stop at, but fortunately the pass at one park is good at every other state park in California for that day! If you’re spending multiple days in Big Sur, you’ll need a pass each day, but if you’re only spending one day, you’ll just have to buy it once, just don’t lose it!
Planning a road trip through Big Sur? We’ve got all the planning tips you need!
One of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in the world, Big Sur is one of the can’t miss destinations in not only California, but the entire United States!
We think this itinerary hits most of the highlights of Big Sur, and will provide you with a busy day in which you will see all of what Big Sur has to offer! While there are certainly dozens of other great hikes and other things to do, we recognize you can’t do them all in one day. This would be a great intro to Big Sur, and then you can come back time and time again to see everything in Big Sur!
allyfoust
June 17, 2021Love Big Sur!