Travel Dispatch: California’s Highway 1 Is Back
Time to plan a road trip.
Travel Dispatch
May 20, 2026

After three years, Highway 1 is open again. As of mid-February, drivers can once again travel the full length of California’s iconic coastal road — which was included in The New York Times’s “52 Places to Go in 2026” list — after a series of landslides that began in 2023 severed the route.

If you’ve been meaning to take one of the world’s most beautiful drives, here are some guides to popular stops along the way, from north to south, to help you plan.

People sit on a green lawn in front of a bay with a large red bridge and mountains in the background.

Jim Wilson/The New York Times

San Francisco is as beautiful as ever

Surfers walk along the shore and float in the water at a rocky beach.

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Discover surf, wineries and towering redwoods in Santa Cruz

A beach area with a field of yellow flowers in the foreground. A layer of fog is suspended above the water. In the distance, an enormous rock formation rises from the water.

Amanda Friedman for The New York Times

Fall in love with the Central Coast in San Luis Obispo County

A person wearing a white baseball cap sits on a public bench overlooking a beach in the daytime. Next to them is a bicycle rack with some bikes parked. Some people frolic in the small waves at the beach.

Find natural beauty and history at every turn in Santa Barbara

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Tanveer Badal for The New York Times

The best spots are hiding in plain sight in Los Angeles

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