TLDR: Sharing my own personal journey and experience driving north from LA to SF along the PCH with my Husband!
One night while enjoying a glass of wine and listening to Thomas Rett sing “Die a Happy Man” my husband, Ashvin, started talking about how it would be fun to do everything in the song, from seeing the Eiffel Tower at night to the Northern Lights. Taking a note from Thomas, in May 2022, we decided to rent our own “convertible and drive up the coast of California”.
We traveled to LA in May to attend my cousin’s wedding in Malibu and needed to be in SF a few days after to visit Ashvin’s siblings; making this the perfect opportunity to finally cross the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) off our bucket list. We spent 4 days traveling North, with stops in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Monterey; you can take a look at my detailed day-by-day itinerary here, for more specific recommendations!
We kicked things off at LAX where we rented a Mustang Convertible. If you are going to do this drive, I HIGHLY recommend you splurge and rent a convertible. There is nothing like driving through the mountains with the top down and the sun shining down on you! We departed LA in the late afternoon and drove straight to our first destination, with a couple stops along some scenic overlooks.
Santa Barbara
Upon reaching Santa Barbara we checked into our hotel, The Waterman. Overall, this hotel is a quaint hotel with small rooms, but perfect for us to sleep in for the night. The staff was extremely friendly. Once we told them we were celebrating my husband’s birthday they offered us a complimentary bottle of wine!
After enjoying a glass of our complimentary wine we decided to walk around and explore the area. Since Santa Barbara is known for their Mexican food, wine, and breweries we wanted to make sure we explored as much as possible! We grabbed some burritos from Mony’s Mexican and made our way to Corks n’ Crown Tasting Room. Both the Mexican food and the wine were devine! Corks n’ Crown is a small tasting room, where the staff was friendly and treated everyone as if they were a “regular”. From Corks n’ Crown we walked a mere 2 blocks to find ourselves at Stearns Wharf. Stearns Wharf was bustling with activity, a perfect location for us to sit down, relax and do some people watching to wrap up our evening!
The next morning we decided to wake up and grab coffee and bagels at Handlebar Coffee Roasters. After finishing up our quick breakfast we found a local brewery to hang out and get some work done (both of us were still technically on the clock for some of this trip). We ended up at Topa Topa Brewing Co, which provided the perfect outdoor ambiance for us to enjoy a couple of beers and join our virtual meetings for a few hours before hitting the road to San Luis Obisbpo.
San Luis Obispo
From Santa Barbara, our first stop was to grab lunch in Solvang. Solvang is little Denmark hidden right along PCH. This little town is lined with cute Danish shops, restaurants, and pubs. We walked along the streets for a little and just picked a restaurant that had a cute outdoor location and good food, Solvang Brewing Company. Solvang really transported us straight to Europe, we truly felt that we were having a beer at a pub in Copenhagen! We felt we could have stayed and walked around a little longer and maybe even enjoyed another beer at a different pub, but decided to depart for our next stop at Pismo Beach.
Pismo beach was the perfect, relaxing final destination. Since we didn't have much on our agenda to do in SLO we decided to spend some time enjoying a glass of wine and a beer at a local bar. This stop ended up being way more “entertaining” than we had anticipated. About 20 minutes into our stay, Ashvin went to the mens room and returned not 30 seconds later with a look of shock. He immediately informed me that there was a naked man asleep on the urinal. After a minute or so of shock and confusion he went to inform the bartender, she immediately sighed, rolled her eyes and shouted at the bouncer “ugh he's back again!” Clearly this man was a repeat offender! This could have easily ruined someone's evening but the bartender proceeded to sit with us and laugh about the entire ordeal and even offered us some free drinks. We thoroughly enjoyed chatting with her about the many crazy things she has witnessed as a bartender. After laughing with her and enjoying our drinks we made our way to Pismo Beach to stroll along the beach and watch the gorgeous sunset! Finally, we ended our night by checking in at The Avenue Inn in SLO.
Big Sur
On Day 3, we woke up bright and early to kick-start our drive to Monterey. The drive from SLO to Monterey was easily the most scenic portion and our longest drive so we wanted to take advantage of as much daylight as we could! Our first “official” stop during this leg of the trip was Hearst Castle. The drive from SLO to Hearst can easily be done in under an hour, but the views were just so gorgeous we stopped multiple times and it took us just over an hour. We decided to forgo buying tickets to see the castle itself, and just enjoy the view of the grounds and surrounding area. We were told that we may be able to see some Zebras but unfortunately they seemed to be hiding from us. We probably could have viewed the grounds here pretty quickly but ended up staying a little longer, as Ashvin had another work call to get done.
Upon leaving Hearst Castle we pulled over shortly after to visit Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Beach. I will say, we were definitely not warned about the awful stench of this area. This is definitely not a beach that you will visit for a long time. In reality, it is just cool to stop by and see the giant elephant seals; you will also see little chipmunk looking rodents running around the parking lot. Depending on what time of year you visit, you’ll see the seals in a different part of their mating season. Since we visited in May we saw them during the molting season, which might have explained the overwhelming smell!
From Piedras Blancas, we headed towards Pfeiffer Beach. The drive from Piedras Blancas to Pfeiffer will take you right through Big Sur. The views along this drive are absolutely breathtaking! We finally got a little hungry during this time so decided to look for somewhere to grab a bite. We ended up at Cafe Kevah, a small cafe nestled into the hill side. While we simply stumbled upon this cafe - I can’t recommend it enough. Food was great and the views were amazing!
After lunch we continued on to Pfeiffer Beach. The drive to Pfeiffer will take you down a side road off of PCH. I will say, I am very grateful Ashvin was driving this leg. The small side road was less a road and more a dirt path barely large enough for one car. The anxiety inducing drive ended at a gorgeous secluded beach perfect for a leisurely stroll! We were even able to see the famous Keyhole Arch!
After relaxing for a bit, we made our way back up the tiny path back to PCH to head on to Monterey, with one final stop at Bixby Bridge. This bridge is probably one of the most famous symbols of the PCH drive. We took our typical pictures before heading on to Monterey to check into our hotel at the Casa Munras Garden Hotel & Spa.
Monterey
For our final day we decided to keep a casual day around Monterey as our drive would be relatively short to San Francisco. We started the day off by exploring Carmel. Carmel proved to be a very picturesque town with cute shops. In Carmel we also decided to start the 17-mile drive in Pebble Beach. This 17-mile drive was nestled within Pebble Beach Golf Course with some nice views. Even though every itinerary of PCH insists on completing the 17-mile drive, we really didn’t get the hype. Honestly, the views in Big Sur were leagues and bounds better.
Before departing Monterey we visited The Refuge, a co-ed day spa in Monterey. Even though the massages were completely booked for the day, we decided to still enjoy the day spa facilities. Unfortunately, we did not read the fine print of the spa before attending, and only learned after we purchased our entry that this spa was a completely silent spa! That being said Ashvin and I still enjoyed sneaking in conversations when no one was around as we navigated the various hot and cold spa facilities. We wrapped up at the spa after about an hour, packed up, and departed to San Francisco!
Overall this trip easily goes down as one of our most memorable trips! Both of us stated multiple times that this would definitely not be the last time we drove a sports car up the coast of California.
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