The Siberian American: California Road Trip: The Most Beautiful Place in Big Sur

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

California Road Trip: The Most Beautiful Place in Big Sur

I still think about our California road trip all the time. I’m usually a person who prefers new experiences, but I would love to repeat this trip in the future. Our day driving up the Pacific Coast Highway was one of my favorite days ever. Every view was incredible, but my favorite view of the day was of McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.


There’s something truly spectacular about seeing an 80-foot waterfall cascade into the Pacific Ocean. I am always on the hunt for waterfalls (I can’t wait to share some of the ones we saw while in the Smokey Mountains with y’all!), and the McWay Falls took my breath away.


Tips

To get to McWay Cove to see the falls, you need to park on the side of the road. Park in the first open spot you see, as it’s almost always crowded. It’s much harder to turn around in that area if you completely miss the parking area then to walk a little bit longer to the falls. To get to the lookout for the falls, you walk a half mile on a dirt path from the parking lot and pass through a tunnel underneath Highway 1 to get to the overlook.


The best view of McWay Falls is actually a little before the overlook itself. Once you get to the overlook, the waterfall is further away. Still, you will get many stunning images of striking cliffs, palm trees, redwoods, and the Pacific Ocean.


Have you ever taken a road trip on Highway 1? What’s the best road trip you’ve ever taken?

Catch up on our California road trip: 

 
Hearst Castle Grand Rooms Tour

Hearst Castle Upstairs Suites Tour and Roman Pool

Pacific Coast Highway Tips

12 comments:

  1. I wish we'd made it to Big Sur during our time in California. I can't wait to get back out there and see more!

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  2. I love this area and would love to stay in Big Sur at some point. We typically stay in Half Moon Bay and make the drive down Highway 1 to that area... it's absolutely gorgeous.

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  3. During our trip to San Francisco a couple of years ago our trip to Big Sur down the PCH was probably one of my favorite days too! It was just so beautiful! I couldn't get enough of McWay Falls either, and I remember not knowing how to get over there! It's totally worth it to deal with all the traffic though!

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  4. Gorgeous! I've mentioned this before on one of your other CA posts, but I've never been to California! We actually may end up doing a long CA trip later this year if we can't get an international trip to work out. If we don't go this year, I'm sure we will soon because it's high on our list!

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  5. Oh wow, what a beautiful place!

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  6. I will definitely have to check out Big Sur the next time we are in Cali. We have family out there and are hoping to make another trip soon. We've driven the PCH but there are so many more stops I would like to make along the way. You got some great pics, girl! Beautifully Candid

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  7. So glad you shared this! I'm in the middle of planning our PCH trip so this was perfect and I pinned to refer back to :) It's so beautiful there! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

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  8. Driving up the Pacific Coast has recently been added to my wanderlust list and this post makes me want to book it asap. Gorgeous views!

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  9. These are incredible pictures! They're almost tropical... So relaxing. I've never been to the west coast, but your California adventures make me want to visit so badly!!

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  10. Ah we were just there in April, and it was so lovely! I loved the falls view as well! There was actually a couple eloping there when we were there, that was so sweet. :) We saw whales from the beach and from the drive which was so cool. I was glad I took some motion medicine because the windy roads and cliffs made me a bit uneasy. It was so worth it and gorgeous though, and not too bad after I'd taken the medicine! Lovely photos! So glad that you enjoyed it as well! XO - Alexandra

    Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things

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  11. Those pictures are stunning and make me want to go right now!!!

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