Have you been to Big Sur? A recent survey found that the spectacular route through Big Sur on California Highway 1 was the most popular road trip search in the world, and that’s not surprising to me, since we make it nearly every year.
According to Zutobi driving guides, 7.5 million people around the globe searched for Big Sur online last year, with the second most popular road trip search — Route 66 — coming in at 6.4 million.
What is surprising is how many people have lived their entire lives in California and never been there, even though it takes less than seven hours’ drive to get there from Southern California. In fact, sometimes it seems like Europeans flock there as much as Californians, coming from thousands of miles away and across the seas to visit this unique setting, where the coastal redwoods and the Santa Lucia Mountains meet the sea.
It’s a mere 130 miles from the start of Highway 1 in Big Sur country in Carmel to the north down to San Luis Obispo in the south, but the journey takes three hours nonstop because of the winding, mountainous roads that have you slowing constantly to catch the breathtaking ocean views. But we have ocean views everywhere in California. Why is Big Sur special?
Named originally by the Spaniards, the area known as Big Sur is tauntingly remote and inaccessible, even though it’s on the California coast between the busy cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles.
It took years to carve Highway 1 out of this wilderness, between the redwood-clad coastal mountains and the sea. Begun in the 1920s, the magnificent road finally opened in 1937, but it remains a wild adventure to go there. Nearly every year, there’s some sort of landslide, rockslide or road collapse that seems like the wilderness is calling it back.
The earliest American homesteaders had to be a self-sufficient lot, since you could only get to town by riding for days on horseback. Eventually, a road was built wide enough to carry horses and carts, which made it simpler to get provisions in and out.
In the early days, ships would stop to load lumber and lime and disgorge supplies, though none do so today, as the coast is part of a protected conservation zone.
Part of the region’s charm is its very inaccessibility. Not many people want to settle in a place with so few roads and so little modern civilization. However, the area has been home to many writers, poets, artists and dreamers over the years. Author Henry Miller moved there in 1944 and later deeded his house to become a library and it’s now open to the public, with events and a sculpture garden. Robinson Jeffers wrote poetry here.
Some people believe magnetic poles of the earth cross here, creating a magical space. And certainly it’s been a haven for some unique places, such as Esalen, an institute with workshops where visitors can take a hot tub bath overlooking the ocean. At first glance, Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn is a seemingly ramshackle guesthouse and restaurant that was built during the 1930s by Norwegian and English immigrants, but its offbeat charm means it is now constantly booked up, despite its less-than-glamorous accommodations. I have friends who spent their honeymoon there.
One aspect that keeps many people away is the high prices: Getting a dose of Big Sur doesn’t come cheap. The area is known for its high-end accommodations, such as Ventana and the Post Ranch. Even the “budget” lodgings run around $200 a night. The only truly affordable place here is the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, where one can rent a campsite for a song, compared to anywhere else, and people must snatch summer reservations the moment they become available.
There’s no night life here and few restaurants. People go hiking, tubing on the Big Sur river, enjoy the small handful of Pacific Ocean beaches (which are not swimmable) and then sit around the fire pit, or turn in early.
State parks worth visiting include Andrew Molera, which does have a beach, Point Lobos with its oceanview trails featuring otters and sea lions, Pfeiffer Big Sur, Garrapata, Limekiln and the small but perfect Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, where a short walk takes you to the most iconic image of Big Sur — a waterfall dropping into the sea. Try to keep them apart — half the area is named Pfeiffer after one of the pioneering families.
People on a budget — or who can’t get reservations — can stay in San Simeon on the southern end of the highway, which has a selection of affordable motels. Seaside, a town adjacent to Monterey, offers more budget-friendly options on the north end of the road. For those who planned a quick trip down Highway 101 or the I-5, it’s worth the detour. You just might fall in love.
“To those of us who lived there, it was never Big Sur, it was simply The Coast, as if it were the only coast in the world,” wrote Rosalind Sharpe Wall, the child of early pioneers who wrote “A Wild Coast and Lonely” about the history of the area.
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