← All destinations · North America
California, USA · North America · northern hemisphere
Big Sur & Monterey is at its best for hiking in April to May and September to October. Good but not prime in March and November. Crowds peak in July and bottom out in November.
| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakes & Coastline | 2 | 8 | 42 | 64 | 70 | 73 | 29 | 29 | 90 | 90 | 61 | 0 |
| Hiking | 2 | 12 | 66 | 88 | 92 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 92 | 91 | 68 | 0 |
| Wildlife | 90 | 90 | 67 | 67 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 42 | 67 |
| Crowds |
Swipe the table sideways for the rest of the year.
Highway 1 reopened through Big Sur in 2026 after two years shut by the Regent’s Slide — this is a road that closes, and checking it is part of planning the trip
Coastal and redwood day walks, some steep. No guide needed; check road access first.
Booking without checking Highway 1. It was shut for two years by a landslide and only reopened in 2026; winter storms routinely take out sections again, and there is no parallel route.
July and August, and any sunny summer weekend
Long stretches of Highway 1 with no shoulder, nowhere to stop, and no services, food or bathrooms. Plan the stops before setting off.
Big Sur’s lodges are famously expensive and there are very few of them. Monterey, Carmel or Cambria at either end cost far less and put the drive itself in the middle of the day, which is where it belongs.
Highway 1 slides in winter storms and has been severed for a year or more at a stretch.Jan · Feb · Dec
Kept out of the score on purpose. Averaging a rare catastrophe into a monthly number would tell you something false; the warning is the honest form.
Big Sur is a coastline rather than a trail network — most walks here are short and spectacular rather than long.
0 is this destination’s own quietest month and 100 its busiest. The scale never compares one destination to another. Source: Wikipedia — Monterey, California
These are affiliate links: we earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. Nothing on this page is chosen by who pays — not a score, not a month, not a warning.