Big Sur, ancestral home of the Esselen Tribe, former refuge for beatniks and literati like Henry Miller, and a hiking haven where the redwoods meet the Pacific Ocean, is fully accessible once more. Following a three-year closure caused by winter storms, erosion, and landslides, a vital section of Highway 1 reopened on January 14 (ahead of the expected March 2026 opening), allowing travelers from the south to again reach the region. At long last the scenic drive between Carmel and Cambria, with Big Sur at the center, is reconnected, making this an ideal time for a weekend visit.
“We are incredibly relieved and grateful that our lifeline to the north is being reestablished,” said John Handy, owner of Treebones Resort, which is situated in southern Big Sur and had been separated from the northern part of the community, resulting in numerous challenges.
The three-year closure was a “shock to our system,” said Handy, noting about a third of business had been lost due to the inaccessible road. “To be able to receive our mail, packages and supplies regularly is going to feel like a miracle,” he added.
The boundaries of Big Sur are as blurry as the fog that frequently cloaks it. Many refer to the Carmel River as Big Sur’s northern starting point and San Simeon, the town 90 minutes south, where the eclectic Hearst Castle looms large, as its southern endpoint. Geographic quibbles aside, most agree that the stretch of coast is among California’s most fascinating and magnificent.
Where to stay in Big Sur
Set in the captivating natural beauty of Big Sur, luxury all-inclusive Alila Ventana Big Sur offers a carefree escape from San Francisco and L.A.
Courtesy of Alila Ventana Big Sur
Alila Ventana Big Sur
Surrounded by 160 acres, the adults-only, luxury all-inclusive Alila Ventana Big Sur underwent a major refresh in 2025 (its 50th anniversary year), including a full update of all 54 rooms, suites, and villas with calming decor and views of the surrounding beautiful landscapes. The on-site Sur House restaurant (with a Mediterranean-meets-California cuisine menu) offers maximum ocean views, and newly reopened SurStream (in a small Airstream) serves pizzas, salads, cocktails, and gelato. Guests can check out a Sony camera kit (free of charge) for capturing professional-grade shots of the scenic region. Activities range from morning meditations to guided hikes and falconry, along with a full-service spa, two pools, and Japanese baths.
Nightly rates start at $1,805.
Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn
This historic and beloved inn was built in the midcentury using local redwood and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Each of the rooms at Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn has its own quirks and character, from the Van Gogh (themed around the painter’s bedroom in Arles, France) to the Castro Cabin, a stand-alone structure on the banks of Castro Creek. Even if you don’t stay overnight, it’s worth making a reservation for breakfast. The pancakes and eggs Benedict are legendary.
Rooms start at $100 per night.
Glen Oaks Big Sur
Part renovated roadside motel, part collection of cabins and cottages, Glen Oaks Big Sur, like so many venues in the area, brings together new and old. The property’s midcentury Adobe Motor Lodge consists of king- and queen-bed rooms with fireplaces and private yards with outdoor seating. The larger on-site Bridge House, among the redwoods, features two master bedrooms with detached sleeping quarters available for larger groups. The beautiful accommodation can only be accessed by crossing a 150-foot suspension footbridge that crosses the Big Sur River. Big Sur Roadhouse is the modern on-site diner, open for breakfast and lunch daily.
Nightly room rates from $385.
Check into Post Ranch Inn with its absolutely unbeatable ocean views.
Photo by Kodiak Greenwood/Courtesy of Post Ranch Inn
Post Ranch Inn
Just across the highway from Alili Ventana Big Sur is the ultra-luxe Post Ranch Inn, a 39-room (and one private home) resort overlooking the Pacific. The unique rooms range from tree houses among the towering redwoods to a butterfly-shaped building with three guest rooms. In addition to the inn’s lineup of yoga, sound baths, and stargazing, there’s a falconry program and a chef’s garden that supplies the Sierra Mar restaurant. As the Post Ranch Spa undergoes a refurb through spring 2026, in-room organic treatments are available.
Nightly rates from $1,740
Treebones Resort
This eco-minded glamping lodge is currently closed for renovations and will reopen on February 13. When it does, book into one of the Treebones Resort yurts with full or partial ocean views and king-size beds. The yurts do not have en suite bathrooms (there are communal restrooms and showers for guests), so for something more luxe there’s the “Autonomous Tent Collection.” These sleek glamping accommodations feature a bathroom with walk-in shower and separate lounging area with a dramatic translucent-white tent fabric that serves as the roof. The on-site Wild Coast Sushi is an intimate omakase restaurant, and the Lodge offers a four-course, garden-focused tasting menu.
Nightly rates for yurts from $368, and for the Autonomous Tent Collection from $948.
Where to eat in Big Sur
Score a table at Sur House and you’ll be treated to a Mediterranean-inspired menu enhanced by locally sourced ingredients.
Photo by Bronwyn Knight/Courtesy of Alila Ventana Big Sur
Whether you’re staying there or not, the fine-dining restaurants Sur House at Alila Ventana Big Sur and Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn remain the places to go for an upscale dining experience rooted in locally sourced ingredients and sustainable practices.
During daily brunch at Sur House indulge in Moroccan shakshuka or ricotta zeppole (Italian-style doughnuts) with passion fruit and rosemary custard. Dinner includes decadent surf and turf fare including a 24-ounce bone-in rib eye and a squid ink pasta with the option to add lobster.
At Sierra Mar, breakfast is reserved for guests of the resort, but guests and nonguests alike can book a table for the prix fix lunch, which includes a garden harvest spread of veggies and dips, fish, steak, caviar, and oysters, or for the curated six-course tasting menu dinner.
For a truly astonishing sushi experience, head to Wild Coast Sushi Bar at Treebones Resort, where fresh omakase and sake are served to the backrdop of Pacific waves crashing on the coast. You can also reserve a $60 bento box lunch featuring sashimi over rice.
Along Highway 1, Big Sur Taphouse is the place to go for a posthike local beer and burger, and the Big Sur Deli sells satisfying, road trip–friendly sandwiches. For a sobering nature excursion, check out the nearby Taphouse Trail, a mile-long access path created by the community after the devastating fires and landslides of 2016 closed the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge.
Lunch with killer ocean views is what’s on the menu at Nepenthe in Big Sur.
Courtesy of See Monterey
No trip to Big Sur is complete without a stop at Nepenthe, where the food (standards such a burgers, salads, and steak frites) is less of a draw than the location and history. Since it opened in 1949, the midcentury restaurant with a prime view of the Pacific has hosted celebrities of all sorts (scads of musicians; writer Henry Miller, who lived in the log house above the restaurant; Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who spent significant time there while filming The Sandpiper).
For something a little more under the radar, check to see if the architecturally fabulous Coast Gallery is having any events. The venue officially closed in 2024, but still hosts the occasional pop-up coffee or bagel shop.
Things to do in Big Sur
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is a great place to access scenic trails through the redwood forests.
Photo by Fabio Sasso/Unsplash
Go for a hike
Big Sur is a treasure trove for hikers, with trails that showcase redwoods, rolling hills, and that stunning craggy coastline. It is also the ancestral home of the Esselen Tribe, which in July 2020 won back 1,200 acres of their land. No matter where you hike in Big Sur, keep in mind that for many, this land is sacred.
Additionally, trails may be closed, depending on fire and other conditions—check before you go. For instance, as of publication, the short 0.5-mile overlook trail to the famous McWay Falls (which cascades onto the sand and ocean below within a scenic cove) is closed as crew work on a retaining wall project that is expected to last well into 2026. The interactive Big Sur Trail Map is a good resource: Look for trails marked yellow or green.
Some of the best hiking trails in Big Sur include:
- East Molera Trail in Andrew Molera State Park: Patrice Ward, a photographer and guide with Big Sur Guides, recommends the East Molera Trail, a 3.2-mile hike that climbs nearly 1,400 feet. “It’s a nice elevation hike,” he says. “But here’s a cool thing: At the base of the hike, right before the switchbacks that start to take you up, there are fossils right there at your feet in the rock.”
- Soberanes Canyon Trail in Garrapata State Park: This challenging 5.4-mile loop trail is popular for good reason: It offers phenomenal views, ample redwoods soaring above, and a waterfall.
- Mount Manuel Trail in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park: For a more strenuous climb, tackle the 8-mile Mount Manuel trail, which takes you up, up, up to the top of a ridge. The payoff is in the views of the Santa Lucia Mountains and the ocean. Bring lots of water and sun protection—there’s little shade.
- Pine Ridge Trail: This iconic trail to the Sykes Camp features nearby hot springs. The 10.5-mile, one-way, path (part of a longer 23-mile, one-way, route), which begins at Big Sur Station, was a popular route for backpackers. Over the years, hikers had built bathing pools out of rocks sealed with toted-in concrete and sandbags—the spot became so overused that trash and crowding were huge issues. Now, rangers with the Los Padres National Forest have put an emphasis on respectful hiking. While the camp is still accessible, as are shallow hot springs, hikers can no longer construct bathing pools.
Visit the Henry Miller Memorial Library
Sheltered in a grove of redwoods, this nonprofit bookstore-gallery-memorial space is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is, of course, named for the writer Henry Miller, who called Big Sur his “first real home in America” (he also referred to the region as “the face of the earth as the Creator intended it to look.”) The Henry Miller Memorial Library also hosts live music events and concerts (Belle & Sebastian will be playing there in June 2026), author readings, and other cultural happenings.
The endangered California condor is now seeing its population grow again.
Photo by Kacie Long/Unsplash
Learn about California condors
Head to conservation group Ventana Wildlife Society’s Big Sur Discovery Center to explore its Wildlife of Big Sur exhibit. There, you will learn all about the challenges facing the endangered California condor—the largest bird in North America—and the ways in which groups like Ventana Wildlife Society are working to help protect them. There are several immersive education programs on offer as well.
Shop local art
- Hawthorne Gallery: Run by the Hawthorne family, this light-filled gallery (designed with help from Big Sur architect Mickey Muenning) features work from family members as well as other local artists.
- Coast Big Sur: Built from three redwood water tanks, Coast was once home to both an art gallery—named for Henry Miller—and a shop specializing in work from local artists. It officially closed in 2024, but this past December hosted a holiday market, so worth checking to see if any pop-up shopping events are in effect during your visit.
- The Phoenix: Part of the Nepenthe property—and named for Nepenthe’s famous outdoor sculpture—this shop sells items from around the world and California, as well as local goodies like pickles from the Random Pickler and Big Sur puzzles from local artist Edmund Moody.
Find your zen (and dip into some hot springs)
Big Sur is known for its restorative and holistic healing retreats and workshops. Among the most well-known is Esalen, a “creative laboratory” founded in 1962. Workshops focus on subjects such as mindfulness, meditation, yoga, dance, and other transformative topics. You can also purchase a day pass—providing access to the entire Esalen campus from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., including the ocean-view hot springs—and those with a day pass can also book massage services, astrological readings, and chakra work. Training monastery Tassajara Zen Mountain Center is open to the public from the end of April (when there is an opening gate ceremony) to the start of September, by reservation only. Those with a reservation can take a dip in the property’s hot springs, creek or swimming pool, walk the scenic trails, eat a vegetarian meal, and peruse the souvenir shop.
Tour a historic lighthouse
Step back in time with a visit to Point Sur Lighthouse. Situated on a dramatic volcanic rock in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the 361-foot-tall historic lighthouse dates back to 1889. It is part of Point Sur State Historic Park. Guided tours take place on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m., and on Wednesdays at 1 p.m.
The best way to get to Big Sur
To get to Big Sur, it’s best to drive. There isn’t much in the way of public transportation along the Big Sur corridor, although Amtrak offers train service from Oakland to Salinas, an hour north of Big Sur. And from Carmel-by-the-Sea, you can take the MST 22 bus as far south as Nepenthe.
If you’re coming from San Francisco, the most scenic route is along Highway 1. From the city, head south on U.S. 101, and merge onto CA-156 West towards Monterey/Peninsula. Then merge onto Highway 1. It’s about a 3-hour drive.
If you’re coming from Los Angeles, hop on the 101 North until you hit San Luis Obispo, then take Highway 1, for a total of about 5.5 hours of driving.
This article was originally published in August 2020. It was updated on January 16, 2026, to include current information.
