Big Sur

Big Sur is a roughly 150-kilometer coastal strip in central California running from Carmel-by-the-Sea in the north to San Simeon in the south, where cliffs drop directly into the Pacific and the Santa Lucia Range rises steeply behind — terrain so rugged it has never supported a railroad or significant settlement. Highway 1, blasted into the rock face during the 1930s, remains the sole artery and is widely considered one of the most dramatic drives in North America. The region drew a wave of writers and artists from the 1950s onward: Henry Miller lived here for nearly two decades and described Big Sur as America's last truly wild edge. Today visitors find trails through old-growth redwood canyons, cliff-top campgrounds, and a coastline frequently swallowed by Pacific fog that can erase the horizon entirely.