The Central Coast roughly spanning the area between the Monterey Bay and Point Conception. It extends through Santa Cruz County, San Benito County, Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County, and Santa Barbara County. Travel through the area is almost entirely by private automobile. The only major highway in the area is U.S. Route 101, which runs north-south throughout the entire central coast. This highway runs from Los Angeles, over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and connects the Central Coast to the Bay Area in the north.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is located in a former sardine cannery and a former brewery on Cannery Row in Monterey, California, is one of the largest and most respected aquariums in the world... more info

Cannery Row - Monterey

Waterfront street in the New Monterey section of Monterey, site of a number of now-defunct sardine canning factories... more info

Hearst Castle, San Simeon

Hearst Castle was the palatial estate of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. It is located near San Simeon, California, on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco... more info

Big Sur

Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the central California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. This landscape produces stunning views and has made Big Sur a popular tourist destination... more info

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Big Sur

The park stretches from the Big Sur coastline into nearby 3,000-foot ridges. It features redwood, tan oak, madrone, chaparral, and an 80-foot waterfall that drops from granite cliffs into the ocean from the Overlook Trail. A panoramic view of the ocean and miles of rugged coastline is available along the trails east of Highway 1... more info

Mission San Juan Bautista
Founded 1797, this mission is the focal point of a state historic park and plaza of a classic Spanish-California village... more info


Monterey, Bay Aquarium & Carmel
Gray Line San Francisco Sightseeing & Tours offers your an 11 hours tour through Central Coast. Your tour begins as we drive south down Highway 1 enjoying spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean, through Half Moon Bay and the seaside town of Santa Cruz. Pass through the Salinas Valley, and through Monterey to Steinbeck's Cannery Row. Visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Follow the coast through Pacific Grove to 17-Mile Drive where you will visit Pebble Beach, Seal Rock and the legendary Lone Cypress... Buy Tickets Now!