Big Sur Coast Drive, San Simeon to Monterey

NOTE: You currently (2024) can't do this entire drive because the road is closed for repair around Gamboa Point, about halfway along. You can't make it to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park from San Simeon.

This is my second post about this drive, described if you are heading north. If heading south from Monterey, check out a different entry. 
The drive on Highway 1 along the Big Sur Coastline is an iconic California adventure. The drive itself is not as difficult as rumor has it, and is definitely worth the beautiful day it will give you! The actual driving is two hours, but with stops along the way it takes about five to six hours. This stretch of highway is between Elephant Seal Viewing Point in San Simeon in the south, and Garrapata State Park in Monterey in the north. If you start from the north, the lookouts will be on your side of the road, but it's still nice from the south. Come in August-March to avoid foggy summer days that will make your photos look drab.
If it's a foggy morning, as is very common in California, wait for the fog to clear so that you can get beautiful light for the sights on your drive.
You can stop at as many pulloffs as you'd like. During the beginning of your drive, you will probably still have cell phone reception, but eventually it will fall off so you will have to pull off at viewing points without knowing what to expect.
It costs $10 to park at the various beaches and parks along the way, and you only have to pay once. Keep your receipt and use it at any of the paid parking lots you will visit in the day. The only one that doesn't count is Limekiln State Park, since it charges separately. 
Your first stop on the drive is Elephant Seal Viewing Point. This is definitely worth it. Depending on the time of year, there will be big aggressive male elephant seals, harems of mommy seals, or baby seals. You can watch them from the wooden boardwalk, very close up! It is fascinating. 
Ragged Point Inn is a great place to stop and grab a snack. Here you will find a lovely garden with a cypress tree forest over the sea. There are flowers and a round sculpture that frames the coast view. Use the indoor restrooms to avoid the disgusting outdoor ones. They have several eating areas (open 8am-8pm), a coffee shop, and a gift shop. My banana bread wasn't very fresh but my Tea Pigs lemongrass tea was amazing. They have live music in summer, Sat and Sun 1-4pm. 
Treebones Resort has food at Wild Coast Restaurant, a sushi restaurant open for lunch and dinner, with views of the sea.
You can walk down 100 steps to beautiful Sand Dollar Beach, with its clean sand, happy surfers, giant rock formations, and cliffs of dark green granite. The parking lot has restrooms, and you pay $10 by the honor system. If you already paid for another parking lot on this drive, you can just show that receipt on your dash. This beach is beautiful at sunset. It is 42 minutes into the drive. 
You pass some meadows that are covered in poppies, vibrant purple ice plant, and yellow flowers in late April and May. Pacific Valley Bluff Trailhead provides a walk through the poppies, past cows, to two overlooks where you can see rocks jutting out of the ocean, periodically swooshed with sea spray. Watch out for muddy spots along the path, and don't let any grasses with ticks touch your skin.
Mill Creek Picnic Area is next, on a rugged beach where a creek meets the ocean. Mill Creek Trail leads through redwood forest with views of the ocean.
Limekiln State Park is currently closed due to a landslide (2023). The beach there was one of my favorite stops, leaving magical memories. To stop there costs $10, paid to the ranger at the gate (this is a private ranger station so your receipt from parking at other stations does not count). The hike to the falls has lovely moss-covered rocks and forest. The beach is even more wonderful. From the parking lot, we walked through forest, on a footbridge over a crystal clear stream, then under a giant concrete overpass to the beach. Strewn on the sand, beside the river, are sparkling white rocks. We dipped our toes in the river, sat on the smooth rocks, peered up at the huge bridge, and listened to the ocean. It was a wonderful stop! There are clean restrooms at this stop.
You pass some fantastic cliff faces covered abundantly in fluffy pampas grass. We stopped at a stunning overlook next, Big Creek Cove Vista Point (you can tell it by its row of square rocks outlining the dirt parking lot), with views of a bridge similar to Bixby Bridge, called Big Creek Bridge. Bright plants framed each photo and I was in heaven! Travelers from Europe, mostly Germany, sat on the sandstone rocks at the overlook, eating picnics.
 Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, specifically McWay Cove (photo above), is one you have seen on many postcards, with a cove of bright turquoise water, a promontary with cypress trees, and a thin waterfall falling onto the beach. The path is in disrepair so you can't continue far along it, and you can't go down to the beach. If you choose to stop here, know that it is a tourist trap. It is packed with visitors clamoring to stand at the far end of the path where it has been barricaded for repair, trying to get a glimpse of the waterfall. It costs $10 cash by the honor system (I only had a $20 bill and felt a bit gypped when I left it in the envelope in the metal box at the front gate). There is a traffic jam at the gate while everyone fills out their envelopes. You park in a parking lot full of people frantically looking for a spot. Do not walk on the path at the end of the parking lot. This just leads to Highway 1, a waste of time. Instead, walk back to the front gate and take the stairs which lead to the pedestrian tunnel which takes you to the viewing point for McWay Cove. You can also just park along the highway, but it will be on the mountain side of the road, if you want to avoid the parking lot. There are many much nicer, secluded trails, beaches, and overlooks to stop at, that will leave you feeling happier. 
There are more amazing overlooks and trails to stop at as you continue on your drive. Partington Cove Trail, Boronda Trailhead, Coast Big Sur (a coffee shop in a water tank, open Friday to Monday), and Grimes Point Overlook (which looks down on a beach), to name a few.
Nepenthe is a great place to stop for a meal (they open at 11:30am), 30 minutes from the end of your drive. The restaurant at the top is often full, and expensive, but you can eat at the lower patio which has stunning views of the ocean and many tables with sun umbrellas. It's a blissful spot! You order at the counter, which also saves you an hour of waiting for wait service. They have smoothies, salads, and sandwiches.
You now reach open meadows over the sea. Big Sur Bakery is open most days for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but closed on Tuesdays all day, and closed at dinnertime on Sunday and Monday. 
The geography is quite varied on this drive. You now drive through redwood forest, past some cabins-in-the-woods style hotels with cafes, and campgrounds, such as Big Sur River Inn (with a cafe with a patio over the river, open 8am-9pm), Big Sur Campground and Cabins, Glen Oaks Big Sur (expensive hotel with cafe), Big Sur Roadhouse (a restaurant open 8am-2:30pm) and more. You can buy gas in this part of town. This is the tiny town of Big Sur, which even has an elementary school, Captain Cooper School, with only 49 students. 
Andrew Molera is a good spot to stop for clean restrooms, 20 minutes from the end of your drive. The ranger at the gate won't charge you the entry fee if you let him know you are just stopping for the restrooms for less than fifteen minutes. But you have probably already paid for one of the earlier parking lots, and you can use your ticket for this one as well. 
You will drive past Point Sur Naval Facility, where there is a lighthouse on a big volcanic rock. This secret (the public thought it was for oceanographic research) site was built during the cold war to detect Russian submarines. Long-range acoustic listening was tested at the lighthouse. This station detected the location of a wrecked Soviet submarine, quite an intelligence coup. You can tour the light station on Wednesdays and weekends. 
Another lovely place to pull off is after Little Sur River Viewpoint, where you can stand by a fence and look back at Little Sur River Beach and its creamy blue-green lagoon. This is about 16 minutes from the end of your drive.
One of the last stops you'll probably do is Castle Rock Viewpoint, ten minutes from the end of your drive, to see the famous marvel of engineering, Bixby Bridge. It will hopefully be afternoon by now so the sun will be in the right spot for photos.
You are now in Carmel/Monterey! Carmel River State Beach is 25 minutes away. And Cannery Row, ten minutes further, is a good place to have dinner in Monterey, at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

Directions

The drive on Highway 1 along the Big Sur Coastline is 78 miles long. It is winding in some parts but not bad. The actual driving is two hours, but with stops along the way it takes about five hours. This stretch of highway is between Elephant Seal Viewing Point in San Simeon in the south, and Garrapata State Park in Monterey in the north. If you start from the north, the lookouts will be on your side of the road, but it's still nice from the south. 
You only need to pay the $10 once, to park in any of the paid parking lots along the Big Sur Coastline. Just display your receipt. Some of the parking lots have a ranger at the gate, and some are paid by honor system (such as Julia Pfeiffer State Park)- you rip off the receipt from the envelope. The only parking lot that is private and therefore must be paid extra, is Limekiln State Park.

Click on map for interactive view