Big Sur is still the perfect getaway — and it’s only a brief drive away. Here’s where to play.
Plop down in a sturdy Adirondack chair smack in the middle of the Big Sur River and let the water tickle your toes. Somewhere in between watching your kiddo discover the joys of tubing down a lazy river and sipping a fresh mint-infused mojito, you begin to feel the magical powers of Big Sur at work on your psyche. Suddenly you can’t remember where your smartphone is. Or what day it is. It’s as if the river has washed away all your worldly cares.
While recent fires, mudslides and fallen bridges have wreaked havoc on the community here, closing some major attractions and stretches of California’s Pacific Coast Highway, this has turned out to be something of a blessing for intrepid visitors. Big Sur has regained the sense of retreat and seclusion that inspired Henry Miller to call this place “the face of the earth as the Creator intended it.”
While the spring and summer months usually draw hordes of Instagramming tourists, making driving and parking a real hassle, if you roll into Northern Big Sur this year, you will be rewarded with the bliss of peace and quiet.
The untrammeled beauty of this rugged stretch of coast has been reborn.
Yes, you heard that right. You don’t need to pop for a helicopter to airlift you into this coastal oasis. You can drive into Big Sur Village from the Bay Area the same as always, down the vertigo-inducing zigzag turns of Highway 1 and across the iconic Bixby Bridge. Many hotels and restaurants are open for business, and indeed, they are desperate for it. Among them: the retro-chic Glen Oaks Big Sur and the oldest hotel in town, the charmingly rustic Big Sur River Inn, also known as the place with the chairs in the river.
While some of the items on your bucket list, such as the bright purple sands of Pfeiffer Beach and the unparalleled beauty of McWay Falls, are off the table beause of storm damage, and you can’t drive any farther south than Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park because the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge is out, there is still more than enough to do on a Big Sur getaway.
As it happens, adventurous travelers are now allowed to make the half-mile hike to get across on foot via the Pfeiffer Canyon foot trail. Locals have been doing this for some time — including gaggles of adorable children on their way back and forth to school. Now visitors are also allowed to take the steep trail that connects the once-isolated patch of Big Sur with the rest of the world, and shuttles can ferry you from there. If you crave a pilgrimage to the famed Nepenthe Restaurant, minus the crowds of yore, this is your shot.
However, if you’re not up for a mile round-trip trek, perhaps because you have cranky pintsize hikers in your party, there is still scads to do and admire in Big Sur right now. The eyepopping panoramas, from the white-tipped waves crashing on craggy rocks to the majestic redwoods, are all still here, and it’s all the more lovely because you don’t have to share every field of bursting wildflowers with a thousand selfie sticks.
If you can ever bring yourself to leave the languid pleasures of that chair in the river (it wasn’t easy for this reporter), you owe it to yourself to check out the silky sands of Garrapata State Park, with its Pinterest-worthy beach. Wildflowers bloom on land while dolphins frolic in the surf. The park is only open west of Highway 1, but since that’s the ocean side, it’s still a stunning place to visit. Stroll along the glistening beach, collect pretty shells and make footprints in the velvety cream-colored sand.
Some warn that Garrapata is not a safe beach for swimming, but many surfers have a ball in the roaring waves here. Tiny tots seem content to splash along the gentle river that rolls into the sea, and many beachgoers spend the day building elaborate beach huts out of huge rocks and chunks of driftwood. Some look hardy enough to stand the test of time.
For those who would rather hike than sunbathe, there are now many open trails (and limited camping) at the stunningly beautiful Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. You can roam amid the giant redwoods, hike to a waterfall or join the locals at the swimming hole, a deep spot in the Big Sur River where folks take turns diving off a rock into the crystalline waters. No matter how you spend your time in Big Sur, rest assured it’s as magical as ever.