Stories have been told of this famous highway running down the Californian coast. We started from LA -> Santa Barbara lunch -> Cambria[1] -> Monterey[1] -> SF. Not much time for stopovers – it was a long road.

Highway 1 was:

I guess, Highway 1 is in-a-way pretty, like the architectural brutalist style. It’s a raw, unfiltered, wild, rocky, stretch of nature, with winds, waves, sun, and unfriendly hills that wills you to drive quickly through, while at the same time marveling at its power.

The scarcity of petrol stations, the scarcity of mobile network reception, of food, town, bathrooms, everything really. But also the lovely towns (too far apart IMHO), the californian wharves.

I’d have to say this was a brutal coast, and there are far friendlier and easier ones. For the wharves, you can experience that in LA, SF, Monterey without getting so wild, for the drive, you probably need to be used to those distances to appreciate it, for the distance, it’s more suited for a high speed rail line. But hey, you could always take the non-sightseeing highway.