Big Sur Coast — Post Ranch Inn

This camera looks out over the Big Sur coastline from the Post Ranch Inn, perched 1,200 feet above the Pacific on the cliffs of California's Central Coast. Big Sur is the rugged, mountainous stretch where the Santa Lucia Range plunges straight into the ocean along Highway 1 — one of the most spectacular drives in the world. The view takes in open ocean, dramatic headlands, and the marine layer that drifts in and out along the coast. The light here is the star. Mornings often begin under coastal fog that burns off through the day; late afternoon and sunset turn the cliffs and water gold, and on clear evenings the sun drops straight into the Pacific. Whales pass offshore during migration seasons (gray whales in winter and spring, humpbacks and blues in summer and fall). California is on Pacific Time, three hours behind Hawaii. Big Sur stretches roughly 90 miles between Carmel and San Simeon, with landmarks like Bixby Creek Bridge, McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, and Pfeiffer Beach. There are no big towns — just the highway, the redwoods, and the meeting of mountains and sea. It's the definitive California coast.