Hwy 1 Drive: The Ultimate Road Trip from Monterey to Pismo Beach, California

One of the greatest scenic drives in the US: Hwy 1

This post covers some fun stops off Hwy 1 starting in Monterey and traveling south down to Pismo Beach, California.

Free itinerary at the bottom of this post!

Monterey

My husband and I flew into Monterey Airport for this trip (with our end destination in Paso Robles). This is the smallest airport I’ve been to (only has 1 baggage claim)! Very quaint!

We got in at lunch time and started exploring (and eating)…

Old Fisherman’s Wharf

Old Fisherman’s Wharf has a ton of shops to explore and places to eat.

They also have whale watch tours departing from Old Fisherman’s Wharf.

San Carlos Beach

Not far from the Old Fisherman’s Wharf is San Carlos Beach. It is small but pretty with nice sand!

This is walkable from the wharf if you are up for an easy half mile walk. There is a nice walking path.

They have a diving school here so we got to watch some people learning to dive. If you are interested in learning to dive, I think there are a few options in this area!

You can get a very up close look at the sea lions at San Carlos beach when you walk out on the pier.

Food Stops in Monterey

Carmel

Carmel is a small beach town right off Highway 1 with lots of cute cottages in the center of town. We headed straight to the beach.

Carmel Beach

Carmel Beach is stunning with its white sand and picturesque cypress trees. It’s roughly a 1 mile stretch of beach with views of Pebble Beach Golf Course to the north.

There is a decent size free parking area at the beach entrance, but it does fill up quickly. We got here early afternoon on a weekday and were able to find a spot.

This is a dog friendly beach and also has a scenic gravel walking path that parallels the beach.

I wish we would have spent a night in Carmel. I needed more beach time!

Next time, I want to do the Point Lobos Hike just to the south of Carmel Beach. Google this — the pictures are gorgeous!

The picture above was taken just south of Carmel. There are so many places to pull off along highway 1 to take pictures and enjoy the views!

If you are into cars, travel here during car week. I believe this is held annually in Monterey each year (in August). You will see lots of fancy cars driving the coast! We just happened to be here at this time in August which was cool (although I’m not a fancy car person!).

Food Stops in Carmel

Big Sur

There are a lot of gorgeous views in this area and again plenty of places to pull off and take pictures. There are also a couple cool bridges in the Big Sur area including the Bixby Creek Bridge and the Big Creek Bridge.

Bixby Creek Bridge

We stopped to photograph the Bixby Creek Bridge!

McWay Falls

There is a small parking lot for McWay Falls visitors. There are restrooms here! From the parking lot, it is a short walk to see the waterfall.

The waterfall itself was a bit underwhelming, but it was still a fun stop and nice to get out to stretch our legs.. and take a pretty picture!

San Simeon

We did not stop in this area, but if we had more time I would have stopped at the following…

Hearst Castle

We were not able to visit Hearst Castle as it was closed due to emergency road repairs from a recent storm. But I’ve heard good things and think this would be a fun stop!

Here is the Hearst Castle website to see if they are open.

Hearst Ranch Winery

This winery looked pretty from what I could see online. If we had time, this would have been a stop for us!

Cambria

I have family that lives in Cambria, so we also stopped in this cute little town to get together for dinner!

Stolo Vineyards

Stolo Vineyards & Winery is roughly 3 miles off Hwy 1 just outside Cambria. They have some very interesting wines and a beautiful ‘meadow’ where they do their tastings.

This would be the perfect place for a picnic. It also seemed kid friendly as it was all outside and spread out.

Food Stops in Cambria

I don’t have a good picture, but we ordered take out from Robin’s Restaurant (recommended by family who lives here)! I had the vegetarian lasagna and my husband has the mole shrimp enchiladas.. both were delicious!!

Pismo Beach

Pismo State Beach is about 17 miles long. It stretches across 3 towns (Pismo Beach, Grover Beach, & Oceano) We just visited the Pismo Beach Pier.

Pismo Beach Pier

We enjoyed watching a couple whales out off the end of the pier.

We also had fun watching the surfers from the pier.

Food Stops in Pismo Beach

No matter where you stop on Hwy 1 in this area, you are sure to see some pretty scenic views!

When we started this drive, we planned on taking our time to stop wherever we wanted. It was nice not to be in a rush and instead leave ample time to just explore some fun stops!

Free Itinerary

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