The Pacific Coast Highway

State Route 1 hugs the California coast for around a thousand kilometres, and while the whole road is drivable, the section everyone means runs from Monterey down through Big Sur to Morro Bay, where the Santa Lucia range drops straight into the Pacific and the road is cut into the cliff face a couple of hundred metres above the surf. Along it are the Bixby Creek Bridge, McWay Falls dropping onto a beach, the elephant seal colony at Piedras Blancas where thousands of animals haul out and bellow, and Hearst Castle on its hilltop, a newspaper magnate's collection of European interiors assembled into one house. North of San Francisco the road continues quieter through Point Reyes and Mendocino.

What you actually see

• Bixby Creek Bridge - the concrete arch that defines the Big Sur coast.
• McWay Falls - a waterfall dropping directly onto a cove beach.
• Piedras Blancas - thousands of elephant seals hauled out beside the road.
• Hearst Castle - the hilltop house of imported European rooms and pools.

When to go

September to November is the clearest, since summer brings persistent coastal fog that can hide the entire view for days; spring is green with wildflowers. Drive north to south so you are on the ocean side of the road, and start early because the pull-outs fill.

Honest expectations

Landslides close the Big Sur section regularly, sometimes for a year or more, and detours around it are long and inland, so check the road status before committing to the route. Summer fog is a real risk to the whole point of the drive. Fuel and rooms in Big Sur are limited and priced accordingly.

Nearby

Monterey and Carmel are at the north end; Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo at the south.