A day on the Big Sur Road

We returned to Monterey for a post Christmas visit, we pretty much did the same itinerary as last year: https://www.justadventure.uk/post/monterey-bay-in-winter but with the addition of heading down the Big Sur road.

This is a classic California road trip. The whole stretch has been closed since 2023 and was due to reopen in March/April 2026 and before I got a chance to write this blog the road reopened early! I would say hurry, get out there before the next landslide but in real life I am a sustainable tourism consultant and just wrote this piece: https://www.justtourism.co.uk/post/highway-1-through-big-sur-is-back 

It is the 1st January and a overcast cool day in Monterey, the road won’t be too busy in low season will it?

We set off after breakfast with a side trip to Laguna Seca racetrack as our guests love motorsport. I genuinely thought this was a local race track not some world famous track in many a racing game! So we spent some time exploring the track and teh famous corkscrew. This became unexpected highlight of the day. 

Our first stop was due to be Point Lobos State Park, but alas the car park was full and cars were lined along the road. So we pushed on to our first pull in at Garrapata, the pull in was pretty much empty (perhaps we’d skipped ahead of the ‘bubble) so we spent some time wandering the cliff top trails and enjoying the views. We were on the back end of some big storms so the waves were crashing and a deep blue colour. 

From here we carried on the Bixby Bridge, the oldest bridge on the road and apparently one of the most photographed. We took the obligatory photos and continued on, shortly after we found the Littel Sur Bridge that was actually more impressive than Bixby, bit alas the pull in was full so we had to carry on.

As we rounded the corner we found a viewpoint with lots of places and amazing views up and down the Big Sur coastline. The weather was closing in so we carried on to the next stop. We’d planned to drive as far south as McWay Falls, on the expectation that the falls would be thundering due to the rain we’d had but as the road rose out of Big Sur village the fog and mist rolled in as did the rain so we made the decision to turn back and have some lunch in Big Sur village. The Pfieffer Sur State Park is here but we missed the turning point and were all pretty hungry. So we stopped in Big Sur village for a tailgate picnic, only to be told we were on private land and to move on. All packed back up and at the first pull in we ate our picnic in the rain.

As with the California central coast, the weather can turn in an instant. We were cold and wet so took the slow drive back to Monterey. Bypassing the planned stop at Carmel as it was even too wet for us Brits to hit the beach±

We will return to this road as it is now reopened, and I will take my own advice and try and do it slowly! And hopefully see those azure blue waters this coastline is so famous for!