Big Sur Coast Highway, CA-1

Driving

by Plot Along: Pacific

California State Route 1 along the Big Sur coast, from Point Lobos State Reserve in the north to the Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery at San Simeon in the south. About 92 miles. The road follows a remote stretch of the Santa Lucia Mountains where they meet the Pacific in steep cliffs and pocket coves, with no inland alternate within an hour's drive.

The highway opened in 1937 after eighteen years of construction by convict labor and CCC crews. It is designated an All-American Road and a California Scenic Highway. The roadbed crosses several spandrel-arch bridges built in the 1930s. Bixby Creek Bridge is the most photographed.

Closures from winter storms and slides are common; check Caltrans for current conditions. The route is exposed to high winds and fog much of the year.

Learn more: california.com

Carmel Mission
Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Río Carmelo, founded 1771 by Junípero Serra. The second California mission, it was Serra's headquarters and burial site. Active parish; small museum.
Whalers Cabin Museum, Point Lobos
1850s redwood cabin in Point Lobos State Reserve, built by Chinese fishermen and later occupied by Portuguese whalers. Free museum on the natural and human history of the reserve.
Bird Island, Point Lobos
Offshore islet in Point Lobos visible from the Bird Island Trail. A major nesting site for Brandt's cormorants and Western gulls, loudest in late spring.
Granite Canyon Bridge
1932 concrete-arch span and the southernmost of the historic Big Sur bridges before Bixby.
Rocky Creek Bridge
1932 spandrel-arch bridge, the smaller sibling just north of Bixby. Same engineer (F. W. Panhorst), same look in miniature.
Bixby Creek Bridge
1932 reinforced-concrete arch, 714 ft long and 280 ft above the creek. The most photographed bridge on CA-1 and one of the tallest single-span concrete arch bridges in the world.
Hurricane Point
Exposed promontory just south of Bixby, the windiest spot on this stretch and the best pullout to look back at the bridge.
Point Sur Lighthouse
1889 stone light station perched atop a 361-ft volcanic rock connected to the mainland by a sandbar. Guided weekend tours of the lighthouse and the keepers' quarters.
Pfeiffer Falls
60-ft fern-lined waterfall in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. A short hike from the trailhead, about 0.7 mi round-trip.
Julia Pfeiffer Burns / McWay Falls
80-ft waterfall plunging directly onto a sand cove, one of the most photographed scenes on the California coast. Viewable from a short paved overlook trail above; the beach itself is closed.
Esalen Institute
1962 retreat center on a hot-spring bluff over the Pacific, the birthplace of the human-potential movement. Public night baths are bookable in advance.
Breaker Point
Cliff-top pullout on the southern Big Sur coast, the last big ocean view before the road descends to San Simeon.
Piedras Blancas Light Station
1875 lighthouse station on a rocky white-rock point (the name means "white rocks" in Spanish). The conical tower lost its upper third in a 1949 earthquake.
Piedras Blancas Elephant Seals
Year-round elephant seal rookery. Thousands haul out on the beach with boardwalk viewing right off CA-1. Peak births and pupping run December to February.

Carmel Mission

Whalers Cabin Museum, Point Lobos

Bird Island, Point Lobos

Granite Canyon Bridge

Rocky Creek Bridge

Bixby Creek Bridge

Hurricane Point

Point Sur Lighthouse

Pfeiffer Falls

Julia Pfeiffer Burns / McWay Falls

Esalen Institute

Breaker Point

Piedras Blancas Light Station

Piedras Blancas Elephant Seals