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Big Sur on Highway 1 — scenic view along the route

Narrated audio driving tour

Big Sur on Highway 1

California, USA

Stories on the way
23
Distance
39 mi
Drive time
1 hr 10 min
Get Getaways — freeHear the narrator

Photo: Diliff · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Hear the narrator

One real story from this drive, in the voice that rides along — the same one your car hears when you reach the spot.

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo

0:00 / 0:31

Big Sur on Highway 1 is a narrated audio driving tour through California, USA — about 1 hour 10 minutes and 39 miles end to end. The route strings together 23 stops — Carmel-by-the-Sea, McWay Falls and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo among them — each with a story that plays automatically as you reach it. Download the drive in Getaways and it rides along offline, narrating the road even where the signal drops.

Every stop on the route

23 places, 23 stories — each one starting itself as you arrive. Here's what you'll pass; the narration rides along in the app.

  1. 1

    Carmel-by-the-Sea

  2. 2

    Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo

    Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Río Carmelo (English: The Mission of Saint Charles Borromeo of the Carmel River), first built in 1771 (where the mission was moved to a year after its 1770 establishment in Monterey), is one of the most authentically restored Spanish missions in California in California.

    More on Wikipedia
  3. 3

    Carmel River State Beach

    Carmel River State Beach is a state park unit at the mouth of Carmel Valley, California, United States, featuring a 1-mile-long (1.6 km) protected beach with a lagoon formed by the Carmel River.

    More on Wikipedia
  4. 4

    Carmelito, California

    Carmelito was a planned settlement, initially called Point Lobos City, on Point Lobos in Monterey County, California.

    More on Wikipedia
  5. 5

    Highlands Inn, Carmel Highlands

    The Highlands Inn is a historic resort hotel located in Carmel Highlands, California, established in 1917.

    More on Wikipedia
  6. 6

    Malpaso Creek

    Malpaso Creek is a small, coastal stream 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Carmel in Monterey County, California, United States.

    More on Wikipedia
  7. 7

    Rancho San José y Sur Chiquito

    Rancho San José y Sur Chiquito was a 8,876-acre (35.92 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Big Sur, in Monterey County, California, given in 1835 to Teodoro Gonzalez and re-granted by Governor Juan Alvarado the same year to Marcelino Escobar.

    More on Wikipedia
  8. 8

    Joshua Creek Canyon Ecological Reserve

    The 5,887.31 acres (2,382.51 ha) Joshua Creek Canyon Ecological Reserve in Big Sur, California, is owned by to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

    More on Wikipedia
  9. 9

    Notleys Landing, California

    Notleys Landing (also, Notley's Landing) is an uninhabited former hamlet in the Big Sur region of Monterey County, California.

    More on Wikipedia
  10. 10

    Rocky Creek Bridge (California)

    Rocky Creek Bridge is a 497.0 feet (151.5 m) long reinforced concrete open-spandrel arch bridge on the Big Sur coast of California, featuring a reinforced-concrete, open-spandrel, fixed, parabolic-arch, a decorative cantilevered walkway, and reinforced-concrete railings in an arched-window design.

    More on Wikipedia
  11. 11

    Bixby Creek Bridge

    Bixby Bridge, also known as Bixby Creek Bridge, on the Big Sur coast of California, is one of the most photographed bridges in California due to its aesthetic design, "graceful architecture and magnificent setting".

    More on Wikipedia
  12. 12

    Little Sur River

    The Little Sur River is a 14.3-mile (23.0 km) long river on the Central Coast of California.

    More on Wikipedia
  13. 13

    Point Sur Lighthouse

    Point Sur Lighthouse is a lightstation at Point Sur 24.6 miles (39.6 km) south of Monterey, California at the peak of the 361-foot (110 m) rock at the head of the point.

    More on Wikipedia
  14. 14

    Big Sur

    Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean.

    More on Wikipedia
  15. 15

    Big Sur River

    The Big Sur River is a 15.7-mile-long (25.3 km) river on the Central Coast of California.

    More on Wikipedia
  16. 16

    Andrew Molera State Park

    Andrew Molera State Park is a 7.5-square-mile (19-square-kilometer), relatively undeveloped state park on the Big Sur coast of California, United States, preserving land as requested by former owner Frances Molera.

    More on Wikipedia
  17. 17

    Big Sur Village, California

    Big Sur Village is an unincorporated community in the Big Sur region, in Monterey County, California, United States.

    More on Wikipedia
  18. 18

    Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

    Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is a state park in Monterey County, California, near the area of Big Sur on the state's Central Coast.

    More on Wikipedia
  19. 19

    Joseph W. Post House

    Joseph W. Post House is historic house located on the Highway 1 in Posts Summit, approximately four miles to the south of Big Sur, California.

    More on Wikipedia
  20. 20

    Deetjen's Big Sur Inn

    Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, a collection of single wall buildings, cabins, and a restaurant in Castro Canyon, was one of the first visitor accommodation to offer overnight lodging and meals in Big Sur for California visitors and travelers after the opening of Highway 1 in 1937.

    More on Wikipedia
  21. 21

    Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

    Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is a state park in California, 12 miles south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on California's Pacific coast.

    More on Wikipedia
  22. 22

    Anderson Canyon

    Anderson Canyon in the Big Sur region of California was named after pioneering homesteaders James and Peter Andersen who were the first European settlers of the area.

    More on Wikipedia
  23. 23

    McWay Falls

Good to know before you go

  • Carmel-by-the-Sea

    Parking is free but tight — angled spaces along Ocean Avenue and the side streets, and no meters anywhere in town. On summer weekends it fills fast, so take the first spot you see rather than circling.

  • Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo

    A free lot sits off Rio Road right at the mission, plus street parking nearby. It's a working parish and museum, so weekend mornings can be busy with services — arrive a little early if you want an unhurried visit.

  • Carmel River State Beach

    A small state-beach lot sits at the end of Carmelo Street for the lagoon end, plus shoulder pullouts along the highway near Monastery Beach. Both fill on sunny weekends, so have a backup plan.

  • Highlands Inn, Carmel Highlands

    The inn is a private resort, not a pullout — there's no public roadside parking here. If you want the view, it's through the hotel's own restaurant or bar, where parking is for guests and diners.

  • Malpaso Creek

    There's nothing to stop for at the creek itself — it's a marker, not a destination. What matters from here on is the road ahead: before committing to the drive south, check Caltrans for current Big Sur closures, because landslides can shut the coast highway with little warning.

  • Bixby Creek Bridge

    Here's the make-or-break truth: the famous dirt pullout at the north end and the shoulder along Old Coast Road have been the classic places to stop, but access here keeps tightening. Official guidance now warns that parking or stopping is no longer allowed on or at either end of the bridge, so don't count on grabbing a spot.

  • Point Sur Lighthouse

    There's no casual pullout for the lighthouse itself; access is only on foot with a guide. Tour visitors meet at the farm gate on the west side of Highway 1 and walk in from there.

  • Big Sur

    Cell service all but disappears through here, and gas stations are rare and expensive, so fill your tank in Carmel or Monterey and download your maps before the signal drops. There's no rushing this road, so build in more time than the mileage suggests.

  • Andrew Molera State Park

    There's one main dirt parking lot just off Highway 1, and it fills on busy weekends. It's a day-use lot only, with no camping in the main park, so arrive earlier in the day if you want a spot.

  • Big Sur Village, California

    Parking is small, scattered lots at each lodge, store, and restaurant; there's no central lot. Pull into wherever you're actually stopping rather than circling, and expect it tight on summer weekends.

  • Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

    There are day-use lots inside the park near the trailheads and the river. They fill by late morning on summer weekends, so come early or plan a weekday visit if you can.

  • Joseph W. Post House

    It's a private National Register home, not a museum, so there's no gate to walk through and nothing to pull over for — enjoy it as a passing piece of history from the car, and keep your eyes on this narrow road rather than the house.

  • Deetjen's Big Sur Inn

    It's a working inn and restaurant, not a walk-through attraction, so don't go wandering the cabins. Fair warning if you do stay: rustic rooms, thin walls, and no cell service or wifi are the feature here, not a flaw. Book ahead — the place is small.

  • Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

    Almost everyone in this park is heading for the waterfall overlook, which leaves the inland redwood trails comparatively quiet. If you want the big ancient trees more or less to yourself, that's where to point your boots.

  • Anderson Canyon

    There's nothing to pull over for here — no trailhead, no parking, no facilities on the highway. The old shacks are long gone and the land now falls roughly inside the state park, so let this one be a story you carry past, not a stop you make.

  • McWay Falls

    The day-use lot sits right off Highway 1 and it's small, so it fills fast on weekends and through summer. If it's full, there's limited shoulder pull-off nearby, but don't block the highway — this is a fast cliff road with nowhere to be careless.

Take Big Sur on Highway 1 with you.

Download it once and someone in the car knows things the whole way — narration, map and stops, offline, so it keeps talking where the signal drops. Getting there is the getaway.

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