19 Things To See & Do From LA to Big Sur | Bixby Bridge, Cachuma Lake & Piedras Blancas
Last year I began mapping out three different road trips: the Southwest, Texas, and the California coast. In March, I was able to cross off the California coast and I thoroughly enjoyed my trip. My absolute favorite stops were Santa Barbara, which is unbelievably scenic, and the Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1) that is truly surreal. While I tried to capture it in photos and videos, it’s really something I feel you need to experience for yourself. The next time I take this trip, I’d love to go up a little further perhaps to San Francisco. As always, my travel diaries are more or less my sharing what I did to give you some ideas, but by no means is there one way to do this trip. There are so many things to see, so it’s definitely worth it to tailor your stops to your interests. I’m going to cover everything we were able to do and you can also check out my vlog below for more of my thoughts and information.
Oxnard/Ventura
1. Channel Islands Harbor
We stopped here first because it is a recommended spot for whale watching. Though we didn’t catch any whales, we did get a great, up close view of some sea lions that were quite intriguing to watch, as they’re an animal you don’t see often, especially not where I’m from. It’s a rather quiet place since it’s a residential area, so it’s nice for a walk along the water. In addition to recreational water activities there are also shops and restaurants nearby.
2. Ventura Pier & Promenade
We got a later start than planned so visiting the pier and promenade was something we did not get to do, but I included it so you’d be aware that it’s an option to do. I will say that from the photos I came across when planning, it looks very similar to the pier in Santa Barbara and a couple other places so if you’re not able to make it to one, then you can still visit one of the others.
Santa Barbara
3. Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Visiting the museum was the first thing we did in Santa Barbara. When we arrived we found that they had a temporary exhibition “Through Vincent’s Eyes” displaying Vincent Van Gogh’s work and sources, which was a nice surprise since I love his artwork (closed May 22, 2022). The museum also has quite the permanent collection and I especially enjoyed the contemporary art section.
It’s only $10 for adult entry, which makes it a great inexpensive option to occupy at least a couple of hours of your time. It’s also located in a beautiful, walkable area that has shops and cafes, so it’s easy to plan other activities around your visit here. Get tickets.
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4. Stearn’s Wharf
Stearn’s Wharf is a landmark pier in Santa Barbara where people do recreational activities like fish, but there are also at least a couple restaurants, a treats shop, and room to just sit and enjoy the view. There’s also the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center located on the pier, which is something to do if you don’t care to be in the sun or are just really interested in sea animals.
Interestingly enough, this is a pier you can drive onto and park, but if you’d rather not then there is street parking on Shoreline Drive. I should also mention here that parking everywhere in Santa Barbara is either free or really cheap. We never paid more than a couple dollars to park anywhere, which is great for your pockets on a road trip like this where you’ll have to make several stops.
5. Shoreline Drive/Park
There were absolutely no people on the beach when we visited, and I wondered why because, as you can see from the photo below, the view of the city is breathtaking. Along Shoreline Drive there are restaurants and places to stay, so nothing worth doing in the city is really more than 10 minutes apart and I really liked that about Santa Barbara.
6. Superior Court Of California County Of Santa Barbara &County Courthouse Gardens
The County Courthouse was one of my favorite stops. I had listed it as an activity because everyone suggested the building as a must-see photo spot, but I had no idea until arriving that there was an entire sunken garden oasis there. I’ve never seen such lush, beautiful and serene garden in my life. It’s quite spacious and the perfect place to enjoy a walk, read a book, have a picnic, or a photo op.
You can also tour the inside of the building and go directly into the clock tower; there is no fee to enter or hang out here and throughout this blog post you’ll find that there actually weren’t many things we had to spend money on.
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7. Santa Barbara Harbor (Sunset)
The harbor was the most recommended place to watch the sunset in Santa Barbara and for very good reason. The view is mostly unobstructed, it’s quiet, and it’s just absolutely gorgeous. One of the things I’ve loved about my travels is that the sunset looks different everywhere I’ve been, but consistently brilliant. There’s a huge parking lot where we paid a couple dollars to park so we could take in this beautiful sight.
8. East Beach Park
East Beach Park was not on our list to do, but road trips can be full of surprises and unexpected adventure. We were early to our zoo visit and had some time to kill and this park is just a couple minutes around the corner. There are tables here and there, volleyball nets, and charcoal grills available for use. It’s truly a nice park to enjoy a beach day and I suspect if we hadn’t been planning to visit the zoo we would have done just that.
9. Santa Barbara Zoo
Reservations are required for the Santa Barbara Zoo and tickets range from $15 to $20. We paid $11 for parking, but when we arrived, there was no attendant at the gate to check so you may want to pay (or not pay) for parking on site if necessary instead of paying online ahead of time.
I was almost disappointed by the zoo because when we arrived most of the animals were sleep or hiding. I have to say that if this happens to you, try to circle back around because we actually ended up seeing all of the animals except one, the capybara. It’s not a huge zoo so it only took us a couple hours to cover the entire grounds.
One of the things I had never seen before was the portion of the zoo where you could actually go inside with select animals like the kangaroos. I wasn’t personally interested in that, but if you’re into a sort of immersive experience you might like that. At least a couple of the animals like the otters and the giraffes had just given birth so that was awesome to see as well.
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10. Cachuma Lake
This was our absolute best surprise stop on the road trip. We were driving along and then suddenly started to see all of this blue. It turned out to be Cachuma Lake. There’s a park you have to drive through to get to the lake and there is a visitor’s fee of maybe $10 or $15, but the attendant allowed us through for free just so we could take photos for about 20 minutes. While you are not allowed to swim or do any recreational water sports in this lake, you can boat and kayak, which would have been incredible to do if we had planned for that.
11. Pismo Beach (Butterfly Cove)
We stopped at Pismo beach for a couple hours and it was probably the most fantastical place we saw. During a certain time of year, thousands of butterflies gather at butterfly cove, and I so desperately wanted to see that because I imagine it’s amazing to witness, but we had missed them by about a week so we just so one lone butterfly. There is nicely smelling eucalyptus on the trail to the beach, which was a small but lovely surprise. There are also several different places to park and and an RV/Camper site to utilize if that’s your vibe.
San Simeon
12. Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery/Vista Point
This is a stop we almost skipped, but I’m so glad we didn’t. From the road, it doesn’t really look like you’ll see much, but if you take one of the short paths and get closer to the edge of the cliff, you’re able to see these adorable elephant seals. There are placards that explain the different activities you might see them do such as breeding or challenging each other, but we only saw them resting as you can see in the photos. Aside from the seals the landscape is just gorgeous and the perfect opportunity to get some great shots if you’re into that sort of thing like I am.
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Big Sur
13. Bixby Creek Bridge
This is one of the most popular tourist stops along the Pacific Coast Highway and it is really quite beautiful. I saw other websites and blogs describe it as dramatic and I’d have to agree. The engineering of the bridge, the water crashing below, and the mountains surrounding the bridge just make for a sensational experience. Parking is limited and awkward, as you park directly off the highway and there is a curve around the mountain that makes it difficult to see traffic coming from one way. Because of the number of people, you also have to exercise a little patience if you’re aiming to get certain photos as well.
14. McWay Falls
This was another surprise stop that we added to our itinerary. As we were driving, my brother was quite sure there were other scenic places that I didn’t have listed and he was right. We googled stops off the PCH and this was one of the most recommended. It is a national park and the official fee is $10 but we did not have to pay. Here again, parking is limited (about 10 spots) and it’s awkward to maneuver through the area so you may have to be a little patient. Once out of the car, there is a short walk to get to the vista point where you can see the waterfall but I would say it’s definitely worth the minor trouble of parking and walking.
15. Route 1 Pacific Coast Highway
Just driving along the PCH is an activity by itself, so I wanted to include some of the photos I took so you can get an idea of the sights and scenes you’ll see.
Monterey #YourPlaceToDream
16. Pebble Beach/17-Mile Drive (seen in Big Little Lies)
If you watched Big Little Lies on HBO with Reese Witherspoon, Monterey is where that show took place and 17-Mile Drive was featured in at least a couple scenes. 17-Mile drive has 17 stops so roughly one stop per mile where each stop has a different natural feature to see from crashing waves to rock formations to abnormally growing trees to animals. To enter, you pay $10/car, you’re given a map, and from there you can spend as much time as you want going from stop to stop taking in all there is to see. To me, it’s definitely worth the time, especially if you’re someone who appreciates being outdoors and taking in nature.
17. Monterey Bay Coastal Recreational Trail
If you’re someone that likes to enjoy a nice bike ride, walk, or run, the recreational trail is definitely somewhere you’ll want to visit. It can be very chilly right off the water, but it’s such a beautiful place to get a bit of exercise in. There’s no fee to get in and there’s plenty of parking as well.
Carmel By The Sea
18. Carmel Mission Basilica
This is hands down one of the most beautiful church grounds I’ve ever seen. There are several other restored churches like Mission San Miguel in Paso Robles that are similar, so if you aren’t able to get to one, it’s possible to check out another in a different area.
It costs $10 per person to get in which is no more than you would pay for any other museum. You enter through a gorgeous, serene garden. From there, you enter the main sanctuary of the church where you’ll hear Gregorian music, you can pay to light prayer candles, and there are other things to see like figurines, beautifully designed furniture and more.
Once you leave the sanctuary and go through the corridors, you enter an even bigger garden in the center of the establishment where I honestly could have stayed all day for the calm and quiet I felt.
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19.Hugh Comstock Fairy Tale Cottages
This was one of the most disappointing parts of the trip and not because the houses aren’t beautiful. It was moreso because the houses are actually occupied and many of them have lots of plants and bushes in front so it’s very difficult to get good photos of them or to really admire them without feeling awkward staring at someone’s home. They also are a little difficult to find as they aren’t all directly beside each other and the name signs are not very big. We started on Torres and 5th or 6th street to see them, so hopefully that is a better starting point for you than it was for us trying to figure out how to see them all.
A road trip up the coast of California is definitely worth taking and, aside from hotel and food expenses, can be a great way to see a lot of such a beautiful state as California in an inexpensive way. When I arrived back home I had no regrets about the time spent and could definitely see myself doing it again but extending the length of the trip next time and adding more stops.