To celebrate my last year in my twenties (!!), I planned a road trip down the California coast with my parents. While some people may think it odd to celebrate their 29th birthday with their parents, I was excited to have them join.
My Mom and I have been wanting to see Big Sur for a while now, and felt that this was a perfect time to finally do it. Therefore, this itinerary is centered around exploring and hiking the beautiful coastline of Big Sur.
Overview
- Day 1: Arrive in San Francisco
- Day 2: Driving down to Carmel
- Day 3: Point Lobos, McWay Falls, and La Ventana
- Day 4: Pfeiffer Beach and Limekiln State Park
- Day 5: Driving to L.A.
- Day 6: Santa Monica, Huntington Beach, and back to NYC
Day 1: San Francisco
We arrived early into SFO, so that we could have the whole day to hit the highlights of San Francisco. Once we reached the city and dropped our bags off at the hotel, we hit the ground running and had dim sum at Yank Sing. We made reservations, knowing how crowded it can get, and thank goodness we did! Even for a weekday, it was packed.
Our bellies full of soup dumps and baos, we took a car over to Blazing Saddles to rent bikes. They offer guided tours in addition to bike rentals, but since we were short on time, we decided to go it alone. From the rental office we made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Tip: the wind definitely makes the trek a lot more difficult.
We just cruised over the bridge and didn’t stop too much. There were a lot of people walking/biking making it a little difficult to negotiate the bikes through the crowds, but it was still a fun ride. After crossing, we rode into Sausalito. A charming city, that we wished we had more time to walk around and explore. In Sausalito, there is a ferry that will take you back to San Francisco. Blazing Saddles provides the tickets, and you are only charged if you use them. The ferry trip is pretty quick and takes you past Alcatraz. Tip: on my parent’s last trip they did a tour of Alcatraz, and they really enjoyed it.
From the pier, we biked past fisherman’s wharf, to Trader Joe’s to get some snacks for the road. Then finally made it back to the rental office to drop off our bikes. The hills in San Francisco are no joke!
After leaving Blazing Saddles, we walked over to Lombard Street. Famous for it’s hairpin turns and landscaping, it was busy with people either driving or walking it. The houses and the gardens that line the street are beautiful and so well manicured.
After all the biking/walking, we worked up quite an appetite. From Lombard Street we walked over to North Beach in search for pizza. At first, we ended up at Tony’s, but being that it was a Friday night it was super busy, and the wait was longer than we could stand. After strolling through the nearby streets we stumbled upon Golden Boy Pizza. Doesn’t look like much from the outside, but a line out the door is usually a good sign. They serve focaccia style pizza by the slice, and man was it delicious. There isn’t much seating inside this “hole-in-the-wall,” so we took our slices to go and headed back to our hotel. Tip: we enjoyed every slice we got, but the white clam was really amazing. After a long day of traveling and exploring, we were all exhausted, but my Mom and I took a quick stroll through Chinatown before turning in.
Day 2: Half Moon Bay, Monterey, and 17 mile Drive
There were a few stops we wanted to make on our way down, so we had to get on the road early to fit it all in. With the time difference, it was easy to be up and ready to go. Once we picked up the car, we grabbed our luggage, stopped at a bakery in the Mission District, and got on the road.
Our first stop was Mavericks and Half Moon Bay. As you now know what big surf fans my Mom and I are, we had to stop and see the famous big wave spot known as Mavericks. Being that it was summertime, there were no waves to be seen, but it was still cool enough for us to stop and take a quick walk out to the beach.
From Half Moon Bay/Mavericks, our next stop was Moss Landing. When I was doing research for this trip, a lot of people had suggested Moss Landing as a good place to spot otters. The tip worked out because we saw several otters just chilling in the marina. I think I could have stayed there for hours just watching them; so adorable!
After snapping way too many pics, we kept driving south towards Monterey/Carmel. A quick stop for lunch was all we had time for before starting the 17 mile drive. To access this private drive, there is $10.50 entrance fee, but as my Dad is a huge golf fan we knew we had to visit Pebble Beach. There are a ton of scenic view points to pull off and take photos, including the famous Lone Cypress. Probably one of the most photographed trees in the States, and it is pretty majestic. Honestly, the coastline here is just so beautiful and dramatic that you have to fight the urge to stop every 5 minutes.
My Dad definitely “fan girled” over the golf course. Looks like we will have to plan a trip back so that he and my Mom can play a round. When we finished the drive, we stopped at a grocery store to buy some meats, cheese, grapes, and drinks to go with the baguette we purchased at the bakery that morning. A quiet night in the hotel felt great after a long day of driving.
Day 3: Point Lobos, McWay Falls, and Birthday Dinner
The first stop of the day was Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. The park is right outside of Carmel-By-The-Sea and opens at 8 am. There is a $10 entrance fee and you can either drive in or if the parking lot is full you can park outside of the park and walk in. Tip: on the weekends the parking lot fills up quickly so it’s best to get an early start. There are a lot of different hikes and activities available at the reserve so, if you are limited on time like we were, be sure to do some research into which trails interest you the most. A great site I used was Point Lobos Foundation. It has great recommendations on which trails depending on how much time you have, as well as give details on guided walks. Based on their suggestion, we started with the Cypress Grove trail. A short hike ~ 1 mile in length will take you around to coastline to see wildlife like seals, birds, and possibly otters, and flora like the Monterey Cypress trees that the area is known for. In fact, the only areas that these amazing trees are found are at Point Lobos and Pebble Beach.
From the pics you can see there is a lot of marine fog, and in the summer this is pretty typical. Thankfully the sun does burn off a lot of it as the day goes on, but even with the fog you can’t deny how beautiful this coastline is. We did another short hike that took us along more of the coast, and I could probably post hundreds of photos of it. Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is definitely a must stop on the way down to Big Sur.
From Point Lobos, we headed south to Big Sur. Before we reached McWay Falls, we stopped to do another short hike at Partington Cove trail. While this may be only 1.5 miles roundtrip, it is steep, but at the end you are rewarded with beautiful coves and coastal views. From the trailhead, which you can find on Google Maps, you start down the dirt trail. You will cross a bridge, go through an old tunnel, and from there you will see the cove. We did scramble out over the rocks a bit to get away from the crowd, and just sat awhile to take it all in before making the climb back to the car.
Once we returned to the car we were pretty hungry, so we back tracked to Big Sur Deli. We ordered sandwiches at the counter and sat at the Taphouse to get our energy back. There aren’t a ton of low key options in Big Sur, so most people driving through will hit up Big Sur Deli/Taphouse, as well as the Big Sur Bakery that is next door. Once we fueled up, we made our way to famous McWay Falls.
Sadly, there is no longer beach or ocean access at McWay Falls due to landslides and erosion, but you can still take the short walk to see the 80-foot waterfall on the Overlook Trail. Tip: be sure to check California Parks website to see if there are any trail closures beforehand. It is a popular stop for tourists, so you will have to squeeze in the crowd to get a good shot but it really is worth it. Water from the McWay creek dramatically drops from the cliffs into the Pacific Ocean, with panoramic views of the rugged coastline and redwood trees.
After McWay Falls, we didn’t have enough time to go back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at The Sur House. Being the low maintenance fam we are, we all just changed and freshened up our hair/makeup in the car before heading up to the restaurant. The Sur House is main restaurant for the Ventana Resort. If you want to splurge the resort does look amazing, and they also offer glamping tents (2 guests max hence why we didn’t stay here) that are fully set up for the “camping” experience. On our next trip back we definitely plan on staying a couple of nights enjoying the personal fire pits, s’mores, and the outdoors. The main reason we decided on the Sur House for my birthday dinner was for the amazing view. We made the reservation at 7pm hoping to catch the sunset and so glad we did! Though the fog had rolled back in, making it hard to see the ocean, it felt as though you were dining above the clouds. And the sunset was breathtaking.
Overall the whole experience was worth the splurge. We all thoroughly enjoyed our 3 course meals. Each course was so balanced in flavor and portion, and was just absolutely delicious. For any foodies, I have pics of each of the courses that I will post on our Instagram.
Day 4: Limekiln State Park and Pfeiffer Beach
After a day full of hiking and getting back late from birthday dinner celebrations, we all decided to have a leisurely morning. Which for us meant not leaving the hotel until 9 am. While we loved the spacious room at our hotel, it wasn’t ideal that it was about 35 minutes north of Big Sur. And since our destination, Limekiln State Park, is pretty far south it was over an hour drive from our hotel. But we just listened to the playlist I made for the trip and enjoyed the drive. We also pulled off Highway 1 a couple of times to take pics.
Once we reached Limekiln State Park, we paid the $10 entrance fee and parked. Tip: the $10 fee is good for all state parks for the day. We decided to tackle the Limekiln Creek Falls trail. Though it is only 1.4 miles roundtrip, there are a few tricky parts where you have to cross the creek a few times to reach the base of the falls. There are no bridges, so it was a little bit of an adventure that required scrambling over logs and make shift stone paths through the creek. The trail takes you through beautiful redwood forests and abandoned lime kilns. This was our first time seeing redwood’s up close and while these aren’t the biggest/oldest trees they are still huge.
To get to the waterfall definitely tests your balance and nerve, but the effort was worth it. Tip: the trail to the waterfall is easily missed/not clearly marked so you definitely have to keep an eye for it. Some people even climbed the rocks to reach the small pool at the base of the waterfall, but that was a little more adventure than we signed up for.
We did the return hike, but before we left, we checked out the small beach where the creek empties into the ocean, on the other side of the campgrounds. There were a lot of trailers parked here as well as RVs. We aren’t camping types, but if that is your jam then this would be a great location to do it.
From Limekiln, we started the drive back north to Pfeiffer Beach. The 2 mile long road that leads to the beach is paved, but narrow and windy. From the parking lot, it is just a short walk out to the beach. This beach is a major destination for photographers, because of the Keyhole Rock. A natural rock formation that has a keyhole at the base allowing light rays to stream through. This only happens at certain times of the year and sadly, summer isn’t one. Regardless, the beach is beautiful and has purple hued sand due to a certain type of rocks found in the cliffs above.
From Pfeiffer Beach, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We wanted to check out Carmel-By-The-Sea for our last night, so we made our way into town and to the cozy “European Country” restaurant, La Bicyclette. There was a bit of a wait, but the staff was really accommodating and let us order drinks from the bar while we waited. My Dad and I decided to try their brick oven pizzas, while my Mom had their seafood pasta. Everything tasted amazing!
Day 5: Drive to L.A.
Knowing that we had a long drive ahead of us, we checked out of the hotel early and started out. We did stop to try and get a photo of the insta-famous Bixby Bridge, but with the crowds and construction we weren’t able to get a good angle.
Tip: when we were visiting, there was still a lot of construction on Highway 1 and so on weekdays certain sections of the road go down to one lane. The drive from Big Sur to Santa Monica, where we were staying, is about 6 hours. It didn’t leave us much opportunity to stop along the way and explore. But if you have more time you should definitely stop at Hearst Castle and do a tour. We did pull off in San Simeon to check out the Elephant Seals napping along the beach. Beware there is a strong smell coming off of these guys!
The only other time we stopped was for lunch at In & Out, and from there we just forged on to Santa Monica. We got to our hotel just before 5 pm and had dinner plans with one of my Dad’s good friends who lives in the area.
Day 6: Beach Piers and Surf
We woke up and learned that the US Open of Surfing was running down in Huntington Beach, so we walked to a coffee shop by the hotel, Dogtown Coffee. Their breakfast was delicious and their signature Salty Dog caramel ice coffee is out of this world. A 24 hour cold brew, flavored with caramel, and topped with a salt infused foam is seriously the best coffee I have ever had. While enjoying our breakfast, we even spotted a couple of celebs sipping their morning brew. Tip: while it doesn’t live up to Dogtown, Starbucks now has a salted cold foam cold brew that is pretty good. After breakfast, we strolled down to the beach and to the boardwalk.
Knowing we wouldn’t have time to come back before check out, we packed up and said goodbye to Santa Monica. I couldn’t resist a chance to see the surf competition, so we drove down to Huntington Beach. It was pretty packed, but because the beaches are so much bigger than in Hawaii, there was plenty of room for us to find a spot in the sand and watch. We couldn’t stay too long as we had plans to meet my Dad’s friend for sushi, but before we left we visited the Huntington Beach International Surf Museum where the World’s largest surfboard is displayed.
After lunch, we had just a couple of hours to kill before our flights. So we drove along Highway 1 again and stopped at a couple more beaches/piers. In Hawaii, we don’t really have piers so it was pretty cool to stop at a few as we made our way to the airport.
And while we were sad that the trip was over, Big Sur lived up to all of our expectations. With all the other hikes, plus not having time to explore Southern California, I know this is just the first of many trips to California.