
| |  | Monterey to Morro Bay123 Miles (198 kilometers)6 hoursAll year Along this coastline, central California preserves its natural beauty and remembers its roots. The drive starts in historic Monterey, visits the art colony of Carmel, and threads through Big Sur, where mountain ridges plunge into the Pacific in one of the planets most dramatic encounters between land and sea. Farther south, the landscape mellows to oakstudded hills as the road passes Hearst Castle on its way to Morro Bay. |  | Join Route 1 in Monterey (Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce +1 408 649 1770. Closed weekends). The town served as Californias capital under Spanish, Mexican, and American flags, and by the early 1900s boasted an important sardine industry. Surviving sites include the Royal Presidio Chapel, Monterey State Historic Park, Custom House, Casa Soberanes, Larkin House, and other adobe buildings, as well as touristy Fishermans Wharf and Cannery Row, home of the celebrated Monterey Bay Aquarium. 
|  | Drive 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) south on Route 1 to CarmelbytheSea (Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce +1 408 649 1770. Closed weekends), an upscale village of quaint cottages, restaurants, inns, shops, and art galleries fronted by a broad beach fringed with Monterey pines. Among the highlights are Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo, second of the California missions, founded by Padre Junipero Serra in 1770; Tor House, the 1919 home of poet Robinson Jeffers; and milelong Carmel River State Beach, with its pelicans and kingfishers. |  | From Carmel drive 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) south to Point Lobos State Reserve (+1 408 624 4909. Admission fee), a 456acre (186 hectare) park encompassing coves, headlands, meadows, tide pools, and the nations first undersea ecological reserve, covering 750 acres (185 hectares), with kelp forests 80 feet (25 meters) high. Trails lead past gnarled Monterey cypresses, which grow naturally only here and on the 17Mile Drive (27 kilometers). The parks 250 species of birds and mammals include blacktailed deer, gray foxes, sea otters, and sea lions. From December through April, migrating gray whales pass by. | | 
|  | After driving through Carmel Highlands, where impressive houses perch on granite cliffs above the sea, you reach the start of Big Sur, which extends 90 miles (145 kilometers) south to San Simeon. On this fabled coastline, redwood groves reach skyward, the Santa Lucia Range plunges into the sea, and waves are beaten to froth on ragged rocks. Its a place of elemental power that can make human affairs seem inconsequential. Route 1, opened in 1937, climbs as high as 1000 feet (305 meters) above the sea. One of the few easytoreach beaches is at Garrapata State Park (+1 408 667 2315), about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) south of Carmel Highlands. From Soberanes Point watch for sea otters, which are protected along the entire coast. 
En route to Bixby Creek Bridge, 7 miles (11 kilometers) farther, you can choose to leave Route 1 and drive the 12mile (19kilometer) Old Coast Road, which climbs through remote forests and canyons and offers silent ocean views before ending at Andrew Molera State Park. The unpaved road is torturous&173; and impassable when it rains. |  | Muchphotographed Bixby Creek Bridge is a singlespan concrete arch more than 260 feet (79 meters) high and 700 feet (213 meters) long. Park at turnouts near either end to gawk or take pictures. Ahead, the highway passes Hurricane Point, a place of big winds and big views, and the mouth of the Little Sur River. Looking inland, youll see 3,710foothigh (1,132meter) Pico Blanco, distinguishable by its lime deposits. Toward the sea, sand dunes soon appear, rolling toward the 1889 Point Sur Light Station (+1 408 625 4419. Tours SaturdaySunday; admission fee), a state historic park. In 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) you reach 4,800acre (1,944 hectare) Andrew Molera State Park (+1 408 667 2315. Admission fee), whose broad beach, oak and redwood forests, and stretch of the Big Sur River are accessible only by foot. |  | Pass through the settlement of Big Sur, which offers food and lodging, and head for Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (+1 408 667 2315. Admission fee), where the Big Sur River runs through 800 acres (324 hectares) of redwoods, maples, sycamores, bay laurel, and ferns. Then go 1.5 miles (3.6 kilometers) south and turn right on the 2mile (3.2 kilometer) road down Sycamore Canyon to the white sands of Pfeiffer Beach, where the surf roars through arched rocks. 
Nearly 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) farther on the highway you come to Nepenthe (+1 408 667 2345), an indooroutdoor restaurant perched 800 feet (244 meter) above the sea and famous for its jawdropping view of mountains and coast. About half a mile (.8 kilometer) south, on the left, look for the Henry Miller Memorial Library (+1 408 667 2574), perched among towering redwoods. It displays books and memorabilia of the novelist who spent 18 years in Big Sur. Also stop 8 miles (12.8 kilometers) farther at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (+1 408 667 2315. Admission fee), whose terrain ranges from 3,000foot (915meter) ridges to an underwater preserve. Do walk the short trail along the seaside bluff to see McWay Falls pour 80 feet (24 meters) into a picturesque cove. Ahead of you lies the southern stretch of Big Sur, wild and lonely. The road clings to a precipitous coastline, and the only settlements in the next 35 miles (56 kilometers) are Lucia, Pacific Valley, Gorda, and Ragged Point. From here onward, the landscape settles down to hills and pastureland. Youll spy the Piedras Blancas Light Station on a point supposedly named in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodr’guez Cabrillo for its white rocks (so tinted by bird droppings). |  | After a spell away from the Pacific, the road reaches the town of San Simeon, a staging area for the 5mile (8kilometer) bus ride to Hearst Castle (Tours only; reservations 800 444 4445. Admission fee), begun in 1919 by newspaperman William Randolph Hearst. Perched in the Santa Lucia Range, the 127acre (51.4hectare) estate looks as if a piece of Europe had wafted to the Wild West. The 115room main house and guesthouses mix classical and Mediterranean Revival styles, using European architectural elements, antiques, and artwork collected by Hearst. Continue about 7 miles (11 kilometers) to Cambria, an arty town nestled against hills where Monterey pines thrive in porous soil of decomposed sandstone. On the ocean side of the highway, at Moonstone Beach, look for moonstones and California jade. Drive on 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) to the microscopic colony of Harmony (population 18), where you can watch artists at work. Ahead on Estero Bay, small Cayucos dates from the coastal schooner era of the 1860s; the pier has good fishing for rockfish and perch, plus views of pelicans and cormorants. 
|  | The end of your route is Morro Bay (Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce +1 805 772 4467), easily identified by its landmark Morro Rock. A turbanshaped, extinct volcanic cone perhaps 50 million years old, it is 576 feet (201 meters) and linked to the mainland by a 2,000foot (610meter) sandbar. Peregrine falcons live here. To learn about local wildlife, visit the Morro Bay State Park Museum of Natural History (+1 805 772 2694. Admission fee). Around Morro Bay youll also see great blue herons and, from October to March, monarch butterflies in eucalyptus trees. Like you, theyre passing through. |
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