Anthea Gerrie Celebrates The Reopening Of California’s Scenic Route 1 At Its Southern Stretch Through Cambria and San Luis Obispo County.
There are two iconic American roads demanding an exploration in 2026, and they collide on the Pacific coast. Here Route 66, celebrating its centenary, terminates where it meets California’s gorgeous Route 1, which gets breathtakingly wilder and wilder as it heads north up the coast. Consequently dogged by landslides, the central stretch of America’s most beautiful coast road has been closed as a through route for nearly two years.
Don’t wait too long before visiting the newly accessible swathe connecting San Luis Obispo County, delightfully rebranded SLO CAL, with the Monterey peninsula, and allow enough time to really enjoy the road officially designated a National Scenic Byway. You need several days to take in the delights of an unparalleled drive whose tortuous hairpin bends echo those of the French Riviera’s Grand Corniche.
Ideally, make it a one-way drive north to hug the mountain while simultaneously enjoying clifftop views and making pull-offs to eat, stay at one of a handful of hostelries – some posh and romantic, others charmingly rustic – or visit the artisan galleries which occasionally punctuate a road otherwise unspoiled by development.
Cambria
You only need a long weekend to explore Cambria and San Simeon at the jumping-off point for Route 1’s scenic stretch for a taste of the breathtaking coast without the slow and demanding drive which lies beyond. In fact Cambria offers the greatest concentration of seafront lodgings between Los Angeles and the Monterey Peninsula on the romantically named Moonstone Beach Drive, where charming motor inns for every budget nestle into a forest separating them from the road and a boardwalk offers gorgeous strolls beside the rocky coastline.
And there’s much more of offer in Cambria than the beach – a large village packed with interesting shops and restaurants that reminds you of the joys of strollable small-town America.
Cambria lies 40 minutes north of the lively college town of San Luis Obispo, where the 101 freeway meets Route 1 a four hour-drive from Los Angeles, a comfortable first stop on the central California coast. We stayed in pole position at Oceanpoint Ranch on Moonstone Beach Drive at the end of a canopy of ravishing pines.
Its cattleman decor – think cow-print rugs, horns above the bed – is a nod to the nearby ranches which are a feature of this stretch of coast; Hearst Ranch is famous for the superb grass-fed beef carnivores should not miss sampling while in the area. At night the inn has firepits perfect for lingering late with a bottle of the local wine for which San Luis Obispo County is winning plaudits, and there’s a pool for daytime cooling off.
After a glorious meander along Moonstone Beach to walk off the blueberry pancakes at the Cow Tipper cafe opposite the boardwalk we got our first taste of Hearst Ranch beef at Robin’s, a local favourite in Cambria village which lives up to its promise of superb market fare. Their burger was one of the best I’ve ever tasted, and a culinary highlight of the trip, complemented by a spinach and strawberry salad, an overlooked American invention not seen often enough on menus.
The beef at Brydge, which has turned the spotlight of food critics on Cambria thanks to the reputation of chef-partner Elaine Rivera-Glenn, was not local the night we were there, although much produce on the vegetable-forward menu came from nearby farms.
The charm of Cambria is the profusion of restaurants in intimate rooms rather than big undivided spaces – true not only of Robin’s in an old adobe building and Brydge hidden up a side street, but also Madeline’s, in a traditional shopfront setting on Main Street. Cambria lunches are best completed by a quick drive down the road to tiny Harmony, whose once-important dairy is now gone, but the home-made ice-cream remains in a van open till 4pm, and there is a notable glassblowing studio.
Hearst Ranch beef was still on my radar at the eponymous mansion which arrived 50 years after the family farm, fulfilling the ambition of press baron William Randolph Hearst to build a magnificent neoclassical home for his vast collection of European treasures high on a hill six miles north of Cambria. You can actually buy the beef in the visitor centre while waiting for one of several guided Hearst Castle tours; the main event showcasing the grand public rooms and indoor and outdoor Roman pools is a must for first-time visitors.
The drive up and down the hill gives those who are not heading north to Ragged Point and beyond breathtaking high-up ocean vistas, while the mansion itself showcases the antiques and antiquities Hearst, who inspired the lead character in Citizen Kane, amassed and shared with his dozens of celebrity friends; all the big names in Hollywood and politics were here, from Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable to Winston Churchill.
Don’t rush too quickly back to Los Angeles if heading south – excellent dining choices await close to Cambria along the southern stretch of the SLO CAL
coast. Breakfast queues form early outside Hidden Kitchen in the tiny seaside hamlet of Cayucos, where the big draw is blue corn waffles topped with all manner of fresh ingredients to be enjoyed outside overlooking the Pacific.
More of a lunchtime treat is the award-winning clam chowder served in a hollowed-out loaf at the Splash cafe in Pismo Beach, another great place to stretch legs overlooking the ocean. And as San Luis Obispo marks the halfway spot between Los Angeles and San Francisco, there’s always the option for those making the one-way coastal drive to fly from the latter or return by fast freeway to LA all the way from Monterey county.
Tell Me More About Visiting Cambria And San Luis Obispo County
Rooms at Oceanpoint Ranch from about £135. Visitor information at SLOCAL
For more information on the state go to VIsit California
