A Weekend Guide to Big Sur, California

If you’re thinking of traveling to Big Sur, the answer is yes! Go! Go now! Big Sur, California is so amazingly, stunningly beautiful! If you have not been, then you need to go! I’m sharing my Weekend Guide to Big Sur, California including where to stay, where to eat, and what to do.

A Weekend Guide to Big Sur, California

I went to school at UC Santa Cruz and I somehow avoided visiting Big Sur while I was living up there. But I was happy that I had never been before and that I got to experience all the beauty of Big Sur with my husband! We drove down to Big Sur for a weekend after a trip to San Francisco and even though it was raining, it was still so incredibly beautiful!

Where to Stay in Big Sur, California:

We stayed at Deetjan’s Big Sur Inn which is such a charming little bed and breakfast (and dinner) type place.

Most of the rooms are in buildings (apparently with paper thin walls) and some have shared baths, but we stayed in the Castro Cabin, the only stand-alone room at Deetjan’s Big Sur Inn. It was super cozy (once we got a second blanket), and we loved listening to the rain on the sunlight window all night.

Breakfast the next morning at Deetjan’s was amazing! Everyone on Yelp and in the room journals (each room has guest journals going back several years) recommends the eggs Benedict, but we went with our usuals: pancakes and sausage for the misters, and eggs, bacon, home-style potatoes, and toast for me!

Other places to stay in Big Sur include:

Ventana Big Sur
Treebones Resort
Glen Oaks Big Sur
Post Ranch Inn
Fernwood Resort
Ragged Point Inn
Lotus Blossom Cabin
Ripplewood Resort
Esalan Institute

What to Do in Big Sur, California:

Before checking into the Inn, we stopped at the Henry Miller Memorial Library. The mister had heard of it because several bands have played very intimate shows at the Library on the lawn. The shop sells Henry Miller, Kurt Vonnegut, and Jack Kerouac books, has a few places to sit and read, drink coffee, and pet the fluffy cat. It’s … interesting.

As I was flipping through one of the Henry Miller books, I randomly came across this letter from Henry Miller to a friend:

Where to Eat in Big Sur, California:

I’m sure almost everyone would recommend eating dinner at Deetjan’s, but we decided to try something else and went to Roadhouse. The food was great, decor is awesome, and service was prompt and friendly. We highly recommend checking this restaurant out.

The next day, we drove north from Deetjan’s to go to Pfeiffer State Beach. It’s a bit hard to find as there is no street sign and no wireless service in Big Sur. But basically the directions from Deetjan’s are take the first left street turn past the Big Sur Deli.

Once you turn down the street, you should see this sign:

From there it is a two mile drive to the beach. Access/parking is $5/car. The beach is gorgeous. It was cold and raining for the majority of time that we were there, but that didn’t stop us from walking down the beach. The rock formations and crashing waves are just gorgeous!

We then made our way south, stopping at a few vista lookouts, and then stopped at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to walk to McWay Falls, the only waterfall in California that falls onto a beach (or in the ocean). Parking is $10, but we also saw a lot of cars parked along Highway 1. The falls are stunning, but keep walking all the way to the end and you will get a gorgeous view of the turquoise waters along the north as well as a bit of a history lesson on the area and a house that was once built there with stunning views of the falls.