Big Sur, California: 1 Day Road Trip to Beaches, Waterfalls, Bridges and Elephant Seals

Foreign places in California with stunning coastal views and lots of great adventures. My dad and I spent an entire day driving the 90-mile stretch of coast from San Simeon to Carmel, while on our seven-day Pacific Coast Highway

trip

you get to see the entire PCH. video of the

trip

by clicking the link in the description or you can watch how we spent a full day exploring the Big Sur coast in this video, let me know what your favorite place in Big Sur is and let's jump to it as you head north from Cambria. I will arrive in the town of San Simeon which for me is where the views of the Big Sur coast begin, of course you can also visit Hearst Castle here which I love but I wouldn't do it unless you have half a day to spare. explore and try to add it.

Getting to Big Sur within a day means you have to rush to make plenty of other stops along the way if you're interested in visiting the castle, although I have two videos on my channels of different tours I've taken and it's a great place to explore. Hearst Castle is about a seven-minute drive from one of my favorite stops on PCH, the

elephant

seal lookout. If you've ever wanted to see these animals, this is one of the best places to see them according to their website at certain times of the year. They could have up to 17,000

elephant

seals

on the coast.

Peak times are January, April and October. There is a half-mile elevated trail from the parking area that you can walk along to get many different views of these huge animals. It's hilarious just watching them bark. They look at each other and shake a thousand pound sand off their backs, the females are much smaller, they can stay on the beach for a month while they molt and these are pretty much all the females we saw here after leaving the elephant

seals

we passed through a lighthouse and headed north along the Big Sur coast toward Jagged Point. Please note that this area is prone to landslides and over the past 10 years there have been several occasions where driving through the Big Sur coast could not be done due to

road

damage, so be sure to check beforehand. planning a PCH Drive.

We're here at Ragged Point Inn, which is kind of like the unofficial start of the Big Sur coast you can explore a little bit, start the big trip you can technically get. to the coast from here, but it seems quite steep. I can't remember if you've ever been to Big Sur, so I'm excited to show you today. One of the highlights of Ragged Point is the art installation known as the portal. up to Big Sur is a large wooden circle that perfectly frames the coast. Plus, how do you not remember if you've been to Big Sur when you're in a rough spot?

Make sure you walk to the end because it feels great. forest and then an amazing view right at the point. This is a good picture of what Big Sur Road looks like. It's windy and there are some big drops. Ragged Point also has an inn and restaurant and I have never stayed there but let's know if in the comments you have nothing for our next stop from Ragged Point in the next 70 miles it is a winding two lane

road

with large unevenness on one side. This is why it takes so long to drive through this area.

The views are so incredible that there are many visitors everywhere and the going is slow. My dad and I left the Ragged Point area around 10am. m. and we didn't get to Carmel until 7:30 p.m. m., so plan time to get as many points of view. As you can, there are plenty of great hikes and things to do along the way which of course will show you, but the path is definitely the destination in Big Sur, the coastline is stunning from every angle, with huge rocks on the water and many different things.

beaches

with waves crashing over them getting that gold iPhone right there.

I should also note that if you have the opportunity, it is best to drive from north to south on this road. If you do, you will be on the coastal side all the time to improve. views while driving that said, my dad hates dropouts while driving so he preferred the south to north route heading towards Sand Dollar Beach Sand Dollar Beach does have a paid parking area, but it is one of the easiest

beaches

to access on along the Great South Coast, it's a short walk to get to if you want to hang out by the sand all day or you can just go to some of the lookout points and get amazing coastal views of the cove.

Check out this Overlook Sand Dollar beach if you like. You are looking for a good place to spend the day on the beach. It's hard to beat. Make sure you bring ten dollars in cash. Although to pay the driving fees, we passed through Lime Kiln State Park, which is another favorite of mine. There is a great hike. to a waterfall and historic lime kilns there, the winding path continued giving way to incredible viewpoints. Some of my favorite viewpoints on the route are the ones leading to the Big Creek Bridge, they don't really have names but if you put Big Creek Bridge on your map you will see as you get closer to it, you need a zoom lens to be able to zoom in through of the water and see the bridge, although check it out, this is them working on the original route the first time they crossed it.

There are some interesting photos here and then this shows how they had to build this bridge to allow the landscape slides to pass underneath, leaving the viewing point. There is another exit just before the Big Creek Bridge, of course this bridge is not as popular as Bixby. but I still think it's an amazing place to take photos while crossing the Big Creek Bridge. Next stop is Mcway Falls, Big Sur's most famous sight and about 13 minutes north, the state park is apparently closed. You can usually walk here to get there. a sight, but today it is still not quite impressive, although Mcwave Falls is an 80 foot waterfall, also known as a tidal waterfall, as it falls directly into the ocean.

It is one of the two tides in California and the other is Alamir falls and Point Reyes, we believe. pops, i've never seen mcway falls before, it's pretty hard to beat that

california

site right there, it's one of the most recognizable sights on the pacific coast highway and since becoming popular on social media it has attracted people from all over the world to visit even When the park is open, you can't go down to the beach. This is the only viewpoint for the falls on the way to the next viewpoint. Consider stopping at Partington Cove if you have time to walk.

We didn't do it on this trip, but I have a video on my channel, just another random viewpoint in Big Sur, no big deal, whales, spectacular view, apparently this is a good place to see whales, but this is the Only whale I've seen today. As you continue, you leave the Costa a little and the road heads to the town of Big Sur. You can stop at the Henry Miller Library if it's open or you can head to our converted lunch spot at Panthey, which is one of the busiest places to eat so it's hard to find parking, but I hope Dad has us there by now. got a table.

This is one of the only places to eat in the Big Sur area, so I had to leave my dad and wait about 15 minutes to find a parking spot. It's worth it. although as it is an amazing place with some of the best views you have ever seen in a restaurant, well done you got us a good table although yes this is great whilst some of the best views are along the Outside bar seating. the restaurant basically doesn't have a bad view of the pente, most of the tables face the coast, but my dad got us a pretty nice place outside, the famous Ambrosia burger, this is very good, yes, a good burger, very good burger.

I decided to go. with the turkey sandwich as I have had a burger many times before, overall the food is well prepared and feels relatively healthy although it is an expensive place so know that as you walk in after leaving Nepenthe they are about five minute drive to the turnoff for our next location, Pfeiffer. There are no signs at the beach and it is a 1.5 lane road basically to the beach. I recommend putting it on Google Maps while you still have reception, which can be pretty spotty in Big Sur. We arrived at Pfeiffer Beach, one of my favorite places. in Big Sur last time I was there Pfeiffer Beach was ten dollars so bring cash for this one too once you park it's about a five or seven minute walk to the beach.

There are a few things about this beach that make it amazing, but the first is The purple sand that you can often see after a good rain wasn't as vibrant on this visit, but it's still pretty impressive to see a beach with purple sand. I mean, how often do you see that below there are two huge rocks that are right in the water, one that a lot of people usually climb up and another that has a famous arch that people take pictures of the arch, it's known as Keyhole Arch and there are some times of the year when the sun shines directly through it at dusk. line up hours in advance to see that and I have never seen it myself, it is very cold and crazy with Pfeiffer Beach still is over the years.

I've spent a decent amount of time on this beach once you find parking it never really goes too far. busy as the parking lots are relatively small, right in front of Keyhole Arch, after exploring a bit more we started the walk back to the car leaving Pfeiffer Beach which is an amazing place but unfortunately it was very windy so just picking up the sand can be seen. As long as you would like a couple more spots in Big Sur before we call it a day, remember that the drive out is slow as you have to stop if other cars are approaching.

The next stop for us was a few miles up the road at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, this park also has a day use fee to access the hiking trails we parked on the first day, the hike along the river trail and then along the Pfeiffer Falls trail, we are at Pfeiffer Big. Sur State Park and we head towards Pfeiffer Falls Trail it seems like we've already done a lot today but actually this is our first real hike it's only two miles this park is not what you traditionally think of when you think of Big Sur it changes the awesome views of the coast through a pleasant shady forest.

Check out these large redwoods as you complete the half-mile river trail, you'll come to a grove of huge coast redwoods. This is also where the historic lodges and the official trailhead are located. We headed to the Pfeiffer Falls Valley View trail and you can do it as a loop or you can just go to Pfeiffer Falls. This trail is beautiful. We're trading the beaches and ocean for the redwoods, so we'll go to Valley View first. and then turn around and hit Pfeiffer Falls on the way back after doing both. I'd probably just do the Pfeiffer Falls trail next time, almost right away and there are a fair amount of switchbacks before you get your first and only real view.

We saw on the trail, here we go, we have a nice little view, nothing crazy, but it's pretty, there's a turkey vulture hovering above us, probably waiting for dad to pass out on the trail so he can eat something. Could it be, yes, we reached the top. I haven't seen much of Valley View. I don't know, maybe that's the case, but we'll just go to Pfeiffer Falls and call it Valley View. Maybe that troll will continue and get to a good place. Viewpoint I have no idea other than that it was a little anticlimactic, there was a view of the valley and that was it, so you could probably go to Pfeiffer Falls and back if you're doing this.

I heard the waterfall is right in front of us somewhere which also has a nice view of the valley with all those dividing redwoods. It's only about a quarter mile downhill to reach the waterfall. It's better than I thought. This is Pfeiffer. Falls Pretty good sized waterfall, fun little hike. Pfeiffer Falls is a waterfall of about 60 feet and there is a small viewing platform that you can see from a foreign waterfall. A decent amount of flow in mid-May, let's take the other. Walking back through the Redwoods to the car on the way back we realized how amazing the actual Phifer Falls Trail is.

It was so much better than Valley View with an awesome bridge and amazing views of the Redwoods all around you. It was definitely an amazing trail for the Pfeiffer Falls section so you can see the Redwoods and then the waterfall, we are almost back to the car and then headed to our last stop in Big Sur as we headed towards the Bixby Bridge, we passed the lighthouse of Point Sur, you can only access that through a guided tour and I also have a video about that on my channel. Finally we turned a corner and saw an exit with the incredible Bixby Bridge in front of us.

I love Bridges, so this is always one of my favorite stops. on Big Sur Drive reached the Bixby Bridge in the middle of crazy wind. The Bixby Bridge was built in 1932 to navigate around the formerCoast Road, which heads 11 miles inland and is often washed away due to landslides. Bixby Bridge is one of the tallest single span arches.

bridges

in the world is very popular because it is great to see and the surroundings are simply magnificent. I recommend walking carefully to the other side of the road so you can get some views from behind the bridge with the ocean in front of it as well.

Note that there isn't much parking here and this spot is very popular, so you may have to wait if you want to see how cool it is to have the shadow cast over the mountain from the bridge. Well, Bixby Bridge, yes or no. Amazing, I think it was built in 1932 and is still standing. It's pretty amazing as we headed north toward Monterey. We saw amazing views to the left. Agarapada State Parks we decided to go out and walk one of the trails. It's an amazing coastline, so 'On one more stop, the trail we ended up walking on was the half-mile Bluffs Trail.

The coastal views here were some of the best we saw and we sat here for a good 20 to 30 minutes just watching the waves crash on the rocks. This wrapped up our full day in Big Sur and if you want to see the rest of our seven day Pacific Coast Highway road trip, head over to my other channel where I'll be. We'll be releasing the video next week. Thank you very much for watching. Let me know what you think in the comments and I'll see you in the next video.