Highway 1, Big Sur en San Francisco. The must-visits when visiting the West Coast!
This summer we have spend three weeks of driving a brand new Jeep Cherokee through California, Nevada , Utah and Arizona. More than 4.000km and almost 70hours in the car, driving through the most beautiful Natural Parks and cities. From campsites to luxury hotels, Airbnb and motels, we’ve tried everything.. We loved it!
Because we’ve got sooo many pictures, have seen so much and of course want to give you the best tips we share our road trip in three separate blogs. In this first blog we discuss our trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco via Highway 1 and Big Sur.
Highway 1
★★★★☆
After a difficult start to the holiday we started our journey, in a brand new Jeep Cherokee, a day later than planned. A quick stop in the evening to visit Wallmart for food, drinks and camping gear . Now we were really ready for it. Because of all the difficulties and time (difference) we got really tired. There was nothing else to do than to stop at a motel near Santa Barbara.
We had been looking a lot of photos and videos before our trip, so we knew what to expect, but (sounds somewhat cliché) in reality it is much more impressive to see. What an incredible views and beautiful nature. We really had to do our best not to stop every five minutes on one of the many viewpoints and take pictures. But we could not be in Big Sur fast enough…
Big Sur
A beautiful wooded area, you still drive along the coastline but now it has all of the iconic bridges, and in our opinion the most beautiful views of the entire route. But what are the spots you should definitely stop at?
Bixby Bridge
★★★ ☆☆
This bridge is not to be missed, you can already see this far ahead of you and the car park next to the bridge is packed with tourists, trying to photograph the bridge from an almost impossible angle. Tip: walk across the street of the road, after about 50 meters you can find a spot on your right which is a short walk down. From this spot you can get a beautiful picture of the bridge and the sea.
McWay Cove
★★★★★
This little bay is pretty good find, but you must be careful that you do not accidentally drive past this. This spot has everything: a waterfall, rocks, beautiful blue water, words can’t even describe it. I think this is one of the most beautiful places we have seen during this trip.
Because we had no place to sleep yet, we could not stay too long, but I think it’s a beautiful spot to watch the sunset. Pssssst .. On the walkway between the trees on your left, you have to step over the string to get the top of the waterfall.
Just before you arrive in San Francisco, you can still stop at several places to feel the fine sand between your toes on the beach. After so long ride in the car and nowhere else on the route to really get to the water this is really nice.
San Francisco
Those three days we had were much too short. What a city!
We tried to discover the city by foot on the first day, but it ’s really big. The next day we rented some bikes. Through Groupon we scored a great offer: two bikes for the price of one. Super convenient! As a result we bikes across the Golden Gate bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf and on Lombard Street we cycled down (is this allowed?) .. The bike proved to be an ideal way to explore the city. We cycled about 40km in total. Are you also planning to do this? Ensure good fitness and leg strength, as the roads can be very steep!
Mr. Holmes Bakehouse
★★★★★
Rowena was well prepared, she collected various tips form blogs. One of them was Mr. Holmes. This bakery is known as the creator of the cruffin, a croissant and muffin in one. It costs a bit, but tastes delicious.. Hmmmm what feast, we could get used to this. But be there early, because they close when they are sold out. Around 10am all of the cruffins were already gone (we had the last two!).
Golden Gate bridge
★★★★ ☆
A bit touristy, but this is something you simply must visit when you’re in San Francisco. Hopefully you have better luck than us, because the wind was blowing hard and it was cold!
Lombard street
★★ ☆☆☆
Too touristy for us and basically you can not see it very well. You need to watch out for cars, because upper Lombard street is so crowded and there’s a continuous lineup of hired cars with tourists who want to get down.
Soon more, then we’ll discuss Yosemite National Park, Twin Lakes , Las Vegas, Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Antelope Canyon and Grand Canyon. See you then!
