New adventures with no stress! - I typically rent a car when visiting Carmel but this time I really wanted to travel stress free and enjoy the scenic drive from Carmel to Big Sur. Juan and Ben were both awesome. Ben suggested places for our itinerary that we had not seen before and was excellent with pre and post trip follow up. Juan was a delight and adjusted the itinerary to stop whenever we asked him to for a photo op. He showed up at our hotel on time and was a very safe driver. We could not have asked for a more delightful stressfree trip. I would highly recommend California Pacific Excursions.

Must do. Worth it! - Must do! You will not regret. Carlos was amazing and showed us more than we could've ever done on our own. I highly reccommend this day trip, I'm so glad we did.

Epic! Bucketlist experience - Fantastic! A must if you have access to a car. Unfortunately, it is not (yet) possible to ride the entire highway one, but from Monterey you come a little past Big Sur. Beautiful views. Pretty moderate traffic. A bucketlist thing!!

First class tour! - This tour made our trip to Monterey extra special! Ben was amazing to help us plan just right tour for us and Carlos did a great job as our driver, catering to our every need! Would highly recommend!

Experience the Monterey Peninsula in style! - Carlos was a gem! Professional, knowledgeable and a joy to spend the day with. Our private tour did not disappoint as Carlos skillfully directed us to beautiful views, hidden paths and the best picture spots we never would’ve found without taking this tour. If you’re wanting to see it all with ease, book this private tour without question.

Gorgeous landscapes and wonderful guide - Carlos picked us up at our hotel and gave us a wonderful tour from the Inn at Spanish Bay to the Redwood Forest (last stop). Took a quick side trip to a gorgeous and "off the beaten path" beach that was reminiscent of a beach I visited in Kaui. He was a wonderful conversationalist and the Big Sur tour was our favorite excursion. Highly recommend Carlos! Thanks Carlos!!!

Big Sur at its best - Afforded unparalleled views of the central California coast. Our tour from Carmel through Big Sur was very good. Our driver, Juan, was helpful in capturing the experience by allowing us to stop frequently at vistas along the way to take in the scenery and the views. Hit both Bixby Bridge and McWay Falls. Afterward, we did a portion of the 17 Mile Drive and hit the highlights of Pebble Beach. Good tour and very satisfying experience. Great way to spend a day!

Beautiful coastal line - Carmel is the small city worthwhile to stay longer and coastal scenery is attractive. McWay falls is far away and small not justified to spend time there!

Great drive from Monterey to McWay Falls - We stayed in Monterey for a few days during the 2nd week in August. The temps were cool, in the 60’s and the skies were clear everyday without rain. There was some fog in the morning due to the cold pacific water, but it burned off by about noon. We started our drive down the Pacific Coast highway on a Monday morning with our first stop at Carmel. We drove through town and saw lots of high end shops and restaurants and continued on until we got to Carmel’s beach. We stopped and took a short walk on the beach which was very nice. One of the famous golf courses could be seen to the right in the distance. I believe it was the Pebble Beach course. We took a few photos and then continued our drive. Our next stop was Point Lobos State Park. The parking lots were full by late morning so we could not drive in to the park. We then decided to park our car out on the road and we then walked in. We stopped at the ranger station at the park entrance to get a park map. The walk turned into a hike of over a mile by the time we reached an ocean overlook area. But it was worth it. Below in the kelp we saw sea otters. Off in the distance in the ocean we could see some whales spouting and one eventually breached. It was quite a sight. We stayed for about 45 minutes viewing the otters and whales before hiking back to our car. Point Lobos is a must see place along the way. We drove over the Bixby Bridge without stopping. There were few if any parking spots along the road there and I had seen enough photos of it already. We continued on until we saw the beautiful turquoise water of Garapata beach. We pulled into the on road parking area and took the short walk down to the beach. The color of the water there is a bright turquoise and with the clear sky we had and bright sunshine, it looked beautiful. We took off our shoes and walked through the sand until we reached the water which we quickly found to be very cold. We admired the beach for about a half hour before we headed back to our car and continued our drive south. There are some twists and sharp corners on the PCH, so there needs to be some very good and steady concentration by the driver as some areas have shear drop offs. Our next stop was at the restaurant Nepenthe for lunch. Nepenthe is perched on a hillside about 800 ft. above the Pacific Ocean. The views from most of their seating is fantastic. We chose to sit outside because of the beautiful weather we had that day. The food is pricey and for the most part not very fancy, but good quality. If I went again, I would ask for seating on the railing so I would be directly facing the view of the ocean. We enjoyed a leisurely late lunch. We now headed south again for a short drive to McWay Falls in Julia Pfieffer State Park. Parking there costs $10 for a car, however, there was no attendant. It is an honor system where you fill out a form and envelope and self pay by cash. The envelope is placed in a pay box. There is a short walk from the parking area to a viewing overlook. You are not allowed to go down to the beach where the falls exit the rocks. It is a great view and also a great photo opportunity spot. It was now late afternoon when we headed back to our car. They was no point in journeying any further south as the road had been washed out by a mud slide in 2023. So we headed back north on PCH. The north to south drive is a little less stressful since we were no longer on the outside lane near the shear drop offs. It was a great day and a nice drive back to Monterey.

Not worth the price!! - The scenery was spectacular and our Driver was very polite. However we expected a tour guide and not just a driver. Our driver was a little hard to understand and did not offer any commentary on the history of the area, what we were seeing, or any other information typically offered by a tour guide. There were no new learnings from this tour. Not what we were expecting, especially given the price for the tour.