While road tripping on Highway 1, the Calla Lily Valley in Big Sur is a must-stop. Between the months of January and April, hundreds of white Calla Lilies bloom in a small corridor between the PCH and Garrapata State Beach.
Getting there
The Valley is located on the west side of the Cabrillo section of Highway 1, 20 minutes south of Carmel-By-The-Sea. If you’re traveling in a Cabana, there is ample room to pull over on both sides of the highway. Click here for the entry coordinates.
The Hike
There are several ways of accessing the Calla Lily Valley. If you’re coming from the north end, you can pull over at an unmarked entrance for a quick jaunt down to the valley. For a slightly longer hike (1 mile total), you can park at Garrapata State Beach Parking and enter the trailhead to the right for coastal cliff views or continue straight down to the beach and head right to walk on the beach until you get to the valley entrance. From the valley, you can access stairs back up to the cliffside coastal trail back to parking. AllTrails has complete maps (and make sure to download them before traveling due to poor cell service in the area!).
Other Activities Nearby
North of the Calla Lily Valley are a couple phenomenal coastal hikes – Soberanes Point (4 minute drive north) and Point Lobos State Natural Reserve (12 minute drive north). Both can be made into a short pit stop or longer half day hikes.
On the south side, Notleys Landing Viewpoint is a short 3 minute drive south of Calla Lily Valley – a perfect pullover for a roadside snack with views of the Rocky Creek Bridge, very similar in style to the iconic Bixby Creek Bridge.
The Bixby Creek Bridge is only a 6 minute drive south from Calla Lily Valley. The immediate area surrounding the bridge is generally packed with cars and people grabbing photos, so plan accordingly for traffic.
Let Us Plan
Cabana offers trip planning so that you can focus on the trip and not the work that goes into it. Add on trip planning to your Cabana booking or reach out to us for guidance on your next road trip!
