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 país 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 California’s 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. It’s crowded, for starters — Big Sur after all, is right up there with New York’s 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, it’s best to come prepared. After years of driving this fabled stretch of road pretty much every way it can be driven, here’s what I wish I’d known at the outset.

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