Last edit by: TWA884
Caltrans road conditions:
Big Sur visitors information on businesses and services currently open:
Big Sur visitors information on businesses and services currently open:
Pacific Coast Highway - CA Route 1 between SF & LA
#181
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 153
Your route is reasonable. It's the one I'd choose to see the best part of the Central Coast en route to Las Vegas while minimizing overall drive time.
Reaching LV by sunset would require extreme measures. Google Maps' estimate of 10:22 drive time is suspiciously low IMO. I've driven each part of the route several times and would estimate the whole at 13 hours of driving, best case. Add in time for even minimal gas/food/photo stops-- as well as allowance for a bit of heavy traffic or construction delays you're practically guaranteed to encounter somewhere along the route-- and you're looking at 16 hours end to end. Figure "before sunset" means you want to roll in to Vegas by 8pm, so you'd need to be on the road from SF at 4am. And again, that's assuming something close to best case. Do you have an evening engagement in Vegas you're trying to meet by arriving before sunset? If so taking this day-trip is very risky.
Reaching LV by sunset would require extreme measures. Google Maps' estimate of 10:22 drive time is suspiciously low IMO. I've driven each part of the route several times and would estimate the whole at 13 hours of driving, best case. Add in time for even minimal gas/food/photo stops-- as well as allowance for a bit of heavy traffic or construction delays you're practically guaranteed to encounter somewhere along the route-- and you're looking at 16 hours end to end. Figure "before sunset" means you want to roll in to Vegas by 8pm, so you'd need to be on the road from SF at 4am. And again, that's assuming something close to best case. Do you have an evening engagement in Vegas you're trying to meet by arriving before sunset? If so taking this day-trip is very risky.
As at the time of posting which is around 5:45pm PDT, it's quoting me 11:53 and I see a number of traffic accidents, constructions and heavy traffic.
According to some website, the sunrise time on the day I'm planning to to take this drive, is around 5:50 and sunset is around 8:36. I don't have any evening plans, it's more like trying to set a goal on what time to reach LV. Why I want to leave before sunrise is cause at least for the early part of the journey from SF to Monterey, I'll be travelling on major highway hence driving in the dark would be less of a concern. As I approach Monterey, it would have become brighter and hence the stretch between Monterey and Cambria I can do it in daylight.
Then from then on it will be a drive to LV. I was hoping to reach before sunset so that I wouldn't have to drive in the dark towards the end of the day, though I believe the last part towards LV would be quite a major highway? It's fine if I were to reach after sunset given that the time listed for sunset might be theoretical hence it will still be bright for sometime after that.
Also I was like looking at alternatives where by I just drive a part of the PCH where by I will take the fastest route to Monterey then drive to Bixby Bridge before backtracking and head to LV via 101. But apparently that's a longer drive according to Google Maps.
Any opinions would be appreciated!
#182
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Not only is that a longer drive; you will miss the most spectacular section of PCH.
#183
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 153
#184
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#185
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Central California
Programs: Former UA Premex, now dirt
Posts: 6,531
+1.
Big Sur, the drop from there back down to the shore near Ragged Point and on to San Simeon. The turn east at 46 takes you away from the coast but has a couple of turnouts where you can see Morro Rock at a distance if you want to stop for a minute.
The main advantage of getting to I-15 for that last leg to LV in early evening is that the setting sun will be behind you rather than right into your eyes.
Big Sur, the drop from there back down to the shore near Ragged Point and on to San Simeon. The turn east at 46 takes you away from the coast but has a couple of turnouts where you can see Morro Rock at a distance if you want to stop for a minute.
The main advantage of getting to I-15 for that last leg to LV in early evening is that the setting sun will be behind you rather than right into your eyes.
#186
Join Date: Mar 2007
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Any opinions would be appreciated!
Please stop asking until you are prepared to listen.
#187
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: LAX
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Posts: 2,391
There is no alternate route once you go south of Carmel on PCH. Until you reach Cambria.
#188
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 153
I believe that is basically how online mapping services work, too. I also believe that occasionally an unreasonable average speed is attached to a particular stretch of road. I am telling you that from my direct, repeated experience their numbers look wrong.
A number of excellent opinions have been offered here, and you have ignored or argued against most of them.
Please stop asking until you are prepared to listen.
A number of excellent opinions have been offered here, and you have ignored or argued against most of them.
Please stop asking until you are prepared to listen.
Unless I were to tell you my entire plan, the next best thing I can do is to tweak it and come up with an improved plan and ask for thoughts. I can't simply listen for the sake of listening.
I am appreciative of all the ideas. It lets me made a more informed decision.
Last edited by reddevil0728; Apr 8, 2016 at 6:45 am
#189
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 81
i came back from California before 1 month, i drove in highway 1 in the end of Feb, the weather is amazing. no wind no rain. what a wonderful experience, really worth it the 14 hours flight from home to the US.. i stopped in most of places pple suggested here.
the highway is so easy to drive on, once you r in it you wont loose your way. i started the highway from Pacafica beach then half moon bay then going down to santa cruz monterey etc...
the highway is so easy to drive on, once you r in it you wont loose your way. i started the highway from Pacafica beach then half moon bay then going down to santa cruz monterey etc...
#192
Join Date: Mar 2007
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Doesn't exist. Steep mountains plunging straight into the ocean is a geographical feature unique (within the Americas) to the west coast. The closest thing I can think of on the US east coast is the Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway in VA and NC. And that's mountains only, no ocean.
#193
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Moderator's Note:
Doesn't exist. Steep mountains plunging straight into the ocean is a geographical feature unique (within the Americas) to the west coast. The closest thing I can think of on the US east coast is the Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway in VA and NC. And that's mountains only, no ocean.
Thank you,
TWA884
Moderator
#194
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Good article:
14 Things You Need To Know Before Driving Californias Big Sur
The rugged stretch of California coastline between San Simeon and Carmel has always done its best to ward off interlopers. Even the otherwise-ambitious Spaniards gave it a miss at first. Centuries later, there was still no road through the land that explorers referred to as el pas grande del sur, which may or may not translate roughly as that place where the parking was so bad, we left and went somewhere else. When the project to build what would become the most adored segment of Californias Highway 1 was finally started, it took 18 years to complete. Residents, what few there were, remained largely off the grid until the 1950s.
Today, visitors to Big Sur can glide through roughly 85 miles of stunning scenery in a couple of hours, but the region remains an overwhelming and somewhat unknowable place to many. Its crowded, for starters Big Sur after all, is right up there with New Yorks Times Square on the list of must-sees for many visitors to the United States, let alone us Americans. In addition, many attempt to simply wing it, not realizing how easily the best bits can be missed entirely. Muddling through is fine, but to really get something out of the experience, its best to come prepared. After years of driving this fabled stretch of road pretty much every way it can be driven, heres what I wish Id known at the outset.
<snip>
Today, visitors to Big Sur can glide through roughly 85 miles of stunning scenery in a couple of hours, but the region remains an overwhelming and somewhat unknowable place to many. Its crowded, for starters Big Sur after all, is right up there with New Yorks Times Square on the list of must-sees for many visitors to the United States, let alone us Americans. In addition, many attempt to simply wing it, not realizing how easily the best bits can be missed entirely. Muddling through is fine, but to really get something out of the experience, its best to come prepared. After years of driving this fabled stretch of road pretty much every way it can be driven, heres what I wish Id known at the outset.
<snip>
#195
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: SJC/SFO
Programs: WN A+ CP, UA 1MM/*A Gold, Mar LT Tit, IHG Plat, HH Dia
Posts: 6,282