Pacific Coast Highway: The Drive
5 Beautiful Drives
Easily accessible from Southern and Central California, San Luis Obispo — or SLO — is the Central Coast's commercial hub, the place to fuel up and grab a final Frappaccino before leaving gas stations and Starbucks temporarily behind. In the Santa Lucia foothills, the city's downtown district is lined with quirky shops and coffeehouse. Local landmarks include the 18th century Mission San Luis Obispo (www.missionsanluisobispo.org) and Bubble Gum Alley, a 70' x 15' multicolored mosaic of chewed gum that has been the city's communal "art project" since the late 1950s.
From SLO, drive north up the Pacific Coast Highway to Morro Bay (www.morrobay.org) where graying Bohemians and feathered friends — egrets, herons, kingfishers, pelicans, cormorants and loons — slurp oysters in the shadow of an ocean-jutting, 578-foot rock. Its unfortunate near neighbors are three massive power plant smokestacks.
Continuing north, Cambria is an artsy oceanfront enclave dotted with organic cafes, wellness retreats and shops hawking everything from handmade garden statuary to wizardry supplies. In San Simeon, break for a tour of Hearst Castle (www.hearstcastle.com), a 165-room Moorish mansion and former playground for 1930s socialites (Erroll Flynn and Charlie Chaplin were frequent guests).
Before the coast-hugging, two-lane highway becomes too rugged, stop and scan the windswept beach for resting sea otters and elephant seals (www.elephantseal.org). They're especially prevalent south of the old lighthouse at Piedras Blancas.
Then head 20 miles north to Ragged Point (www.beachcalifornia.com/ragged.html), where sparkling waterfalls plunge from pine-covered granite cliffs. For an invigorating stretch, follow a short (but steep) roadside trail to the driftwood and shell-covered beach below. Or hold out for a less taxing hike in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to view an 80-foot waterfall that drops into the ocean. Afterward, head on to Big Sur Village, just a few miles north, for a soothing massage and hot mineral springs soak at the renowned Esalen Institute spa (www.esalen.com).
| 
)
