Thanks again for everyone’s input. If we do lunch in Big Sur, it’ll definitely be Nepenthe. The one issue is we are driving from Carmel to Santa Barbara. If we tried for Nepenthe on way to SB, and arrived to Nepenthe at say 11:30am, that would put us arriving to SB at 4-5pm, which is awfully late considering we have limited time there.
We were going to do some nature/hiking while based in Carmel so instead of driving all the way out to Nepenthe and doing activities out there, I was thinking doing Point Lobos and then hitting California Market at Pacifics edge for lunch, as to not drive roughly an hour each way.
Thoughts?
You can’t go wrong with either plan, just depends on what you want to do. Pacific’s Edge is a spectacular venue, I wouldn’t want to dissuade you from going there. Actually more scenic than Nepenthe. Even for a Californian who has been around the coast all my life, it’s an unbelievably scenic location. So if you don’t have time for the drive down and back to Nepenthe, and are not planning on taking Hwy 1 all the way down on your way to SB, I like your choice. I do think it might be worth driving down 1 at least past Bixby bridge, which is the iconic scenery you get in all the tourist and car commercials lol. It’s about 20 mins from Carmel Highlands, though there can be some traffic congestion going past the bridge (damn tourists).
I’ll give you one opinion on driving route: 101 from Monterey down to Santa Barbara is moderately scenic, a nice drive, through some inland hills and valleys (which will have turned mostly brown by then). You’ll come down to the flatter areas through SLO and along the beach cities, again OK scenery. Hwy 1 down through Big Sur is one of the most spectacular and scenic roads on earth. For the extra hour it will take you to go that way, I would strongly consider it. Though if your wife has any tendency to car sickness, it’s a windy road with big elevation changes, sometimes a little scary, particularly for the passenger heading in the southbound direction.
While you’re in Carmel, I also highly, highly recommend doing 17 mile drive. I would go north on 1 and enter from the north gate (it will cost you $9 or so), the drive south seems more scenic than the drive north.
- We plan on doing 17 mile drive
- The plan was for a day trip to Point Lobos, lunch at Pacific edge and then take the extra 15 min down to Bixby
- We 100% plan on driving Hwy 1 through Big Sur. That’s the issue. Since we want to drive from Carmel to SB on the coast, it’ll take us a bit longer. Odds are we’ll just wake up early that day and just drive down without stopping for a nice lunch. Since we taking coast, it’s 4 hours from Nepenthe to SB and they don’t open until 11:30…
So ya, we plan on taking the coast the whole way but timing is tough. Odds are we’ll be passed the Nepenthe area by 10am, let alone 11:30
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Even if you don’t eat at Nepenthe, you can still make the stop (it’s a good place for a break). Literally right on the road, so no time wasted. They have a kind of cool gift shop, and you can walk up the ramp to the restaurant at least to see what it’s like (it’s a very cool place).
Just saw that Nepenthe has the Cafe which is open for breakfast and has a terrace. Problem solved lol
Any Santa Barbara recommendations? Initial thoughts are Ritz or Hilton as we’re only in town for one night but they’re so far from downtown
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L’Auberge Carmel is a fine, fine place to stay. My standby whenever I am down that way. But I am a sucker for service and luxury and expect to pay for it.
An old friend of mine ownes Patisserie Boissiere is downtown Carmel. The business has been there like 50 years, he bought it probably 35 years ago (I helped him with a small loan, long since paid back, NFI). It’s a lovely, quaint French pastry and espresso place, open breakfast lunch & dinner (I think). Mention my name to him (his name is Magdi) and he’ll treat you like a prince. Don’t mention my name, he’ll treat you like a prince.