Pacific Coast Highway Help

Mflowers92

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 21, 2016
Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get a little last minute guidance on our honeymoon road trip.

My husband and I are flying into SFO, spending the afternoon and next morning in San Francisco, then picking up a rental car, taking the Pacific Coast Highway down to Big Sur, spending two nights there, then driving down to Disneyland for four days! This is our first trip to California.

I’m having a little trouble navigating the road closures on the pacific coast highway. From what it seems to me, San Francisco to Big Sur will be clear, but then it does look like we’ll have to cut inland south of Big Sur. If that is the case, how would you recommend reworking the route? It is certainly faster to just cut inland and straight shot to Disneyland, but if there are spectacular sights south of Big Sur, we would try to cut back to the coast and take that way down. We are staying at The Disneyland hotel, and I do want to explore, enjoy the pool, and rest before hitting the parks the next day.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
 
Highway 1 around Big Sur is constantly an issue. When are you leaving? How much time do you want to spend driving to Disney? Your hotel will always have up to date local information so I would start with them. Consider driving through Pebble Beach and doing 17 mile drive on your way. It’s a slight detour on your way to Carmel and to Big Sur but worth it. Great food and views if you can stop to eat. Hearst Castle is a wonderful stop if you have the time and interest. From there it really depends on your budget and interests. You can take 101 south and have some great coastal views, such as Pismo Beach and onto Santa Barbara if you want to stop. Or you could opt to go quickly to Disneyland. Also you could consider if you have any interest in going into San Diego.
 
We will be flying into San Francisco July 8, spending the 9th and 10th in Big Sur, then our reservation at DLH is from the 11-15th.
I am much more willing to take longer detours between San Francisco and a Big Sur than between Big Sur and Disneyland, mainly because tat second stretch is a much longer drive to begin with, and I’m eager to get to Disney!

I think we probably will try to take 101 though to make the drive a bit prettier. I appreciate all your tips! I think we’ll definitely try to check out 17 mile drive!
 


We will be flying into San Francisco July 8, spending the 9th and 10th in Big Sur, then our reservation at DLH is from the 11-15th.
I am much more willing to take longer detours between San Francisco and a Big Sur than between Big Sur and Disneyland, mainly because tat second stretch is a much longer drive to begin with, and I’m eager to get to Disney!

I think we probably will try to take 101 though to make the drive a bit prettier. I appreciate all your tips! I think we’ll definitely try to check out 17 mile drive!

The road is reportedly scheduled to open at the end of July. I'm not sure when your trip is, but if it's in August or September you might get lucky and the road may be open.

It can get a bit confusing when talking about Big Sur because technically Big Sur is a huge area (the stretch from about Carmel to San Simeon which is roughly 70 miles or so), so depending on which part of Big Sur you are staying at can make a difference in terms of driving directions, though usually when people say Big Sur, they mean Big Sur Village (it's where Big Sur River Inn is).

You can check http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/ to look for current road closures. Right now, it looks like the road closures are south of Gorda. If you use Google Maps, it looks like it accounts for the road closures as of today anyway, so you can probably just go with that.

Right now, Google Maps actually says the fastest way to get to Disneyland is to go back north from Big Sur Village to Monterey and take highway 68 east back to the 101, and go south from there. This would mean you would actually miss most of the Big Sur coast during the drive (since Big Sur Village is on the northern part of Big Sur). However, since you'll be in Big Sur for a few days, that's probably OK. Just make sure while you are there to take a drive down south until you get near the road closure (around Gorda). It will take about an hour each way.

The thing you might miss due to the detour would be San Simeon/Hearst Castle. If you want to see Hearst Castle, from the 101 S, you would head west on highway 46 back to highway 1, then go north a bit. According to Google Maps it would add an extra hour to your drive south. I think Hearst Castle is definitely worth seeing, but it's up to you whether you think it is worth it. It's definitely a long drive from Big Sur to Disneyland.
 
Just maybe a nomenclature issue....

Nobody would call it "Pacific Coast Highway" in Northern California. It's almost universally called "Highway 1". There are a bunch of official names for sections, but I don't know of anyone who uses them around here. If you're asking for directions or referencing it while you're in Northern California, it might help to call it "Highway 1".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_1
 
Just maybe a nomenclature issue....

Nobody would call it "Pacific Coast Highway" in Northern California. It's almost universally called "Highway 1". There are a bunch of official names for sections, but I don't know of anyone who uses them around here. If you're asking for directions or referencing it while you're in Northern California, it might help to call it "Highway 1".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_1
And in the LA/Santa Barbara/ OC area I’ve never heard it called Hwy 1, only PCH or Pacific Coast Hwy. ;-)
 


And in the LA/Santa Barbara/ OC area I’ve never heard it called Hwy 1, only PCH or Pacific Coast Hwy. ;-)

Sure. What one calls highways it is a regional thing. I've been in Southern California where there's reference to taking "The 101", while in the Bay Area we'd always refer to it as "Highway 101" or just "101". But that's an easy thing to figure out. Say "Pacific Coast Highway" around the Bay Area and people have to start thinking because it's different than the local nomenclature.
 
It is a long drive to Disney from the Central Coast. It really depends on how you want to spend your day getting there. Do you want to do it leisurely and make stops or get there sooner? We’ve driven to Disney on 101 and vowed never to do it again! Traffic can be awful. We are in Monterey so we have a few options. It will depend on how far north you want to go from Big Sur. You could go further north and take 5. We did a lot of trips to So. Cal. last year and hate 5 because of the massive traffic and congestion so we try to avoid it as much as possible. We take 101 to 46. It’s absolutely unremarkable. There’s nothing to see and nothing to do. It’s not at all scenic. It is for us worth it because it’s the quickest way for us to get there. Are you going to fly out of LA or come back up to SF to return home?

When you are coming up the security gate at Pebble Beach you won’t have to pay to go through if you have a reservation at a restaurant. There are a lot of options if you check the website. You can even eat reasonably or just grab appetizers and enjoy the view or of course since you are on your honeymoon splurge! Congrats btw!
 
When you are coming up the security gate at Pebble Beach you won’t have to pay to go through if you have a reservation at a restaurant. There are a lot of options if you check the website. You can even eat reasonably or just grab appetizers and enjoy the view or of course since you are on your honeymoon splurge! Congrats btw!
There are theoretically a few options, such as being a guest of a resident or staying at one of the lodges. The one I remember was that some people tried getting around the fee by claiming that they were going to the post office or maybe the Wells Fargo bank branch there. Some people say they're just going to Pebble Beach Lodge to buy something. I've always just paid the fee unless I had something specific that allowed me in without a fee.

One time I went to a golf tournament. It was kind of a makeup day for the Pebble Beach Pro Am in the middle of summer. I parked on the side of 17 Mile Drive and waited for a bus. But my ticket allowed me in without paying the fee.
 
Check out this site, it has a lot to show you features of your trip.

Roadtrippers.com

It will show the route you want to take and what is to see along the way.
 
There are theoretically a few options, such as being a guest of a resident or staying at one of the lodges. The one I remember was that some people tried getting around the fee by claiming that they were going to the post office or maybe the Wells Fargo bank branch there. Some people say they're just going to Pebble Beach Lodge to buy something. I've always just paid the fee unless I had something specific that allowed me in without a fee.

One time I went to a golf tournament. It was kind of a makeup day for the Pebble Beach Pro Am in the middle of summer. I parked on the side of 17 Mile Drive and waited for a bus. But my ticket allowed me in without paying the fee.
You know if there is garages sales in 17 mile drive you show the place and they wont charge you to get in the gate. I am talking honesty, I do it when i find them on craigslist. Or if you are playing at the courses they don't charge either. But if we go in for the heck of it we pay the fee.
 
I think the PCH/Highway 1 is now fully open! We're planning a PCH/Disneyland trip for next year and there are new articles saying that the highway has been repaired and is now open. It might be alternating one-lane directions, but that's better than fully closed. Roadtrippers uses Mapquest routing which still incorrectly shows the closure, but google maps has caught up and shows the road open again. Other than the fact they use Mapquest, Roadtrippers is awesome and it greatly simplifies trip planning.

Roadtrippers will help us get to & from DL, but unfortunately they can't help us figure out differences from WDW, so for that we'll need Disboards!
 
I think the PCH/Highway 1 is now fully open! We're planning a PCH/Disneyland trip for next year and there are new articles saying that the highway has been repaired and is now open. It might be alternating one-lane directions, but that's better than fully closed. Roadtrippers uses Mapquest routing which still incorrectly shows the closure, but google maps has caught up and shows the road open again. Other than the fact they use Mapquest, Roadtrippers is awesome and it greatly simplifies trip planning.

Roadtrippers will help us get to & from DL, but unfortunately they can't help us figure out differences from WDW, so for that we'll need Disboards!

It has been repaired...for now. Unfortunately the locals in Big Sur know that it will go out again. I would strongly suggest that you prepare an alternative itinerary if it goes out again before your trip.
 
The best way to know find a business in big sur or call the visitors center and find out more info from them. As they will surely have good updates.
 
I think the PCH/Highway 1 is now fully open! We're planning a PCH/Disneyland trip for next year and there are new articles saying that the highway has been repaired and is now open. It might be alternating one-lane directions, but that's better than fully closed. Roadtrippers uses Mapquest routing which still incorrectly shows the closure, but google maps has caught up and shows the road open again. Other than the fact they use Mapquest, Roadtrippers is awesome and it greatly simplifies trip planning.

Roadtrippers will help us get to & from DL, but unfortunately they can't help us figure out differences from WDW, so for that we'll need Disboards!

It has been repaired...for now. Unfortunately the locals in Big Sur know that it will go out again. I would strongly suggest that you prepare an alternative itinerary if it goes out again before your trip.
Unfortunately when CA has a very wet winter - which we usually desperately need - you can almost bet some part of Hwy. 1 will have a rock slide closing it for awhile, although usually not for as long as the most recent closures.
 

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