The Pacific Coast Highway — officially California State Route 1 — runs for 655 miles along one of the world’s most dramatic coastlines. But the section most travellers mean when they say the PCH is the stretch between San Luis Obispo and Carmel-by-the-Sea, where the Santa Lucia Mountains drop almost vertically into the Pacific and the road clings to the cliff face in a series of breathtaking curves and bridges. This is Big Sur, and it is genuinely unlike anywhere else on earth. The drive is as much about stopping as moving. At Bixby Bridge, one of the most photographed spans in America, pull over to watch pelicans glide below the arch. At McWay Falls, a short trail leads to a view of an 80-foot waterfall dropping directly onto an isolated beach. At Piedras Blancas just north of San Simeon, thousands of elephant seals haul themselves onto the beach in a spectacle extraordinary in its scale and intimacy. Throughout the drive, the Pacific — vast, cold, and magnificently blue — provides an ever-present backdrop. North of the Big Sur section, the route passes through Carmel-by-the-Sea, a storybook village of white-painted cottages and independent galleries that sits beside one of California’s finest beaches. Nearby, 17-Mile Drive through Pebble Beach and the Monterey Peninsula offers another layer of coastal splendour, culminating at the Lone Cypress, one of the most iconic trees in America. The Pacific Coast is most rewarding taken slowly, ideally over three to four days, with overnight stops in Big Sur, Carmel, and Santa Barbara. The Travel Suite can build the entire journey into a wider California itinerary combining the coastal drive with time in Los Angeles and San Francisco, or design a dedicated Pacific Coast road trip with hand-picked accommodation and a full guide to the best stopping points along the route.