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Sea otter in Big Sur - www.visitbigsurcalifornia.com

Welcome to Big Sur.

The world's greatest meeting of land and sea, Big Sur spans the Pacific Coast from San Simeon to Carmel along the coastal range of the Santa Lucia Mountains. More than three million visitors per year explore the deep woods, ride horses on the beach, and visit local art galleries and restaurants all nestled along Highway 1, a river of asphalt that runs from the high cliffs to the open sea.

Big Sur is a world-class road trip with accommodations ranging from a human nest in a yurt camp to a 5-star resort perched on the hills and with dining options as diverse as home grown organics to Michelin Guide cuisine.

Big Sur is what you need it to be.

The name Big Sur comes from the Spanish “el sur grande” or Big South, referring to its position 25 miles south of Monterey, California. Framed between the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, Big Sur is a region without formal boundaries or government – it’s more emotion than cartography. It’s a passageway. A journey.

Big Sur has three communities - more like outposts and they were - Gorda, Lucia, and Posts. Tucked in between you’ll find restaurants, state parks, art galleries, hotels, and campgrounds and if you stop and look you’ll see an artist working in the filtered redwood light.

Formed by the slow and perpetual meeting of land and sea, the cliffs are a wonder to drive and behold – red-tailed hawks soar alongside you.

In Big Sur you can see the largest, rarest, fastest, slowest, and most elusive life forms on earth. We don’t know if these creatures are in Big Sur because the flow of evolution places them here or they decide to be here, like you, joining us in the promised land.

Whales visible from shore and otters and dolphins swimming along the base of mountains make Big Sur a unique treasure, named one of the top two destinations in the United States by TripAdvisor.

Home to less than 1,000 permanent human residents, Big Sur is more emotion than geography; it’s a passageway, a journey, from which visitors emerge in awe of the power and beauty of nature.

The Big Sur Visitor Bureau is dedicated to promoting Big Sur and local businesses, from a wood artist reshaping an ancient redwood slab to world-class lodgings high on the ancient cliffs.

We invite you to experience Big Sur and we welcome your feedback on how we can make this site, and your experience, more pleasant and ultimately, unforgettable.

Videos:

Big Sur Grandeur: 4 minutes

Big Sur's Biodiversity: 4 minutes

Saving the Condor: 3 minutes

Beasts of the Beaches: 5 minutes

The Beauty of Big Sur: 4 minutes

Stalking the Mountain Lion: 45 minutes

Kingdom of the Blue Whale: 45 minutes

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