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San Simeon Slideshow
Travel Blogs from San Simeon, United States
San Simeon - Big Sur, Eleph. seals & Hearst Castle
This is a top pick! ... we were in the middle of nowhere. But one call put us back on our way, we had found our way into the "old" San Simeon - three old & beautiful houses - but not hotel :) Just a mile or so further we finally arrived at The Orchid ...
Hearst Castle
This is a top pick! ... to the coast and surrounding hills are uninterrupted, except by the Hearst cattle and the winding road to the castle. No wonder San Simeon and surrounding area is a top tourist spot. As we searched for our next overnight stop, we couldn’t ...
Hearst Castle (US&C)
This is a top pick! I went to Hearst Castle as a kid; I have no idea what the date was. I remember going up the scary, curvy hillside to get there. The place itself is very memorable though. It's grand and opulent--just what one might expect. I think when I went there ...
Hearst Castle
The Pacific Coast Highway went up route 1 for most of this journey and not 101 which is much busier. We made a few stops on the way to Hearst Castle, the first was at Pismo Beach which looks as though during Summer it would be extremely busy. It was ...
Sanlinas - San Simeon
... that they had recently taken over because it had its own restaurant and bar (which none of the other Motel 6's have had). San Simeon looked like a tiny seaside town, which was obviously jam packed in Summer, but looked equally dead in Winter. As there ...
Driving to the Pacific Coast
... sure where that was located as it was not marked (Kevin said he felt the earth move but I just said it was gas). We arrived in San Simeon on the coast around 4 pm. We unpacked the car at the hotel and started driving up the coast on Hwy 1. Driving down ...
US1 and Hearst Castle
... . With the sun going down we finished the tour and headed the 3 miles south to the Hotel Area ... which is about all San Simeone is .. 10 hotels 2 restaurants and a beach! But we had spotted that the Courtesy Inn, as well as being cheap ($49 ...
Hearst's Castle!
Wow what an amazing place Hearst Castle was to visit, the building of the castle started in 1919 to 1947, taking almost 30 years to complete!! William Hearst worked together with a woman Julia Morgan (who was the first woman architect of her time) ...
San Simeon
For once the Motel 6 maids weren't on duty at the crack of dawn, so we were able to sleep off any potential hangovers that we probably more than deserved from our drinking exploits the previous night. Sadly though Lynne woke up feeling really unwell ...
Big Sur
... of road, we ended up at a beach where a bunch of elephant seals had just given birth! We arrived at our hotel at San Simeon around 5 and went to a local grocery store to buy our all american christmas food. This consisted of turkey hotdogs, potato ...
17 Mile Drive & California Route 1
... are having a great time. We were lucky enough to see some seals released, and have a video of that which I have posted. San Simeon, is best described as in trouble. Perhaps a route 66 place in the making, we did walk around last night ...
A walk round the inspiration for Xanadu
We left the seal beach and headed about 3 miles down the road where we swung into the grounds for Hearst Castle (or San Simeon National Monument as it's also known). We'd booked a tour of the main house from the Hearst Castle website before leaving the UK ...
Driving the Big Sur
... night. It was a wonderful day capped off with a sighting of elephant seals on a beach just before we arrived at San Simeon. We were staying in San Simeon because we wanted to visit Hearst Castle, the opulent and wildly extravagant folly of ...
Castle By The Sea
... in 1919 he began designing, with architect Julia Morgan, a ranch home overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the small town of San Simeon, CA. As a child traveling in Europe with his mother, Hearst had gained a real appreciation for art and ...
Castle and wine
... streets, but gas is really the priority, so not finding a station head back to Morro Bay. The coastal drive takes us to San Simeon. The Visitors Center is where we pick up our pre-confirmed tour tickets ($20 per person) then we head into the ...
Detour 3 hours to travel 1 mile on Big Sur
... we couldn't see much but did it anyway for completeness. Once we reached the roadblock, we drove south again and found a motel in San Simeon. The motel had a nice looking bar so we ate a really good pizza and had a couple of drinks before bed. There ...
The Drive home to Southern California - Part 2
... of historic bridges; and we definitely pulled over when we came across the chance to observe Elephant Seals. It was in San Simeon, a beach where Elephant Seals come to breed, molt, and give birth. At that time, the seals were molting; ...
Rosebud...
... in a bit in our hotel room after our long day of hiking, but by 11:00, we packed up the Jeep and headed to San Simeon to see the Hearst Castle. The drive there was beautiful. We followed the coast of California to the Hearst State Park Welcome center. We ...
Hearst Castle & the Big Sur
The next morning we decided to take in one of the local tourist attractions and headed to San Simeon the home of the famous Hearst Castle. It was built by William Randolph Hearst in the 1920s, finally completed in the 1940s. Hearst was a billionaire ...
I said, I'm fine to drive...
... .) It's funny how a tastings at a multitude of vineyards and really curvy roads mix so well!! We did manage to make it to San Simeon in time for sunset on the beach amongst lots of retirees and some open pit fires and had a cozy dinner at the Sow's ...
One Castle or many Elephant Seals?
... 2 hours (including 40 min video), we bailed and went to watch seals instead. The elephant seals hang out on a patch of sand in San Simeon from December to February each year. The males turn up first in December and fight for a bit of beach, then ...
Route One Excursions, Cont.
... 't get enough of the landscape in my tiny frame to do it justice! But the idea of being at the very edge of the United States, and looking left and right to look along the edge of the country, is exhilarating. It looks like I need to break up this ...
Kingdom on a Hill - Hearst Castle
We left Morro Bay and headed a shortish distance towards Hearst Castle. We were a little early for our tour, so thought we would stop at Point Piedras Blancas - California's largest elephant seal colony. This is not a Kelly ...
The California Drive - day 1
We take a few hours out from site seeing and partake in some window shopping in downtown SF before driving South along the Californian coast. The highlight of todays driving was "The 17 Mile Drive at Pebble Beach, Monterey". The crown jewel of the ...
Road Trip-Days 1 & 2
... in the world doesn't ensure that things will work out. That, maybe, just "winging it" is the best plan? I made it to the San Simeon State Park for the first 2 nights of camping, roughing it in a tent with no services. Weather was decent. Walked to the ...
San Simeon - Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle - San Simeon Our next port of call was San Simeon where William Randolph Hearst built his hill-top holiday home, the inaccurately named "Hearst Castle". Hearst was the newspaper magnate grandfather of the famous Patty Hearst (who?). ...
That's a Big yes Sur
... and Bohemian types. We made plenty of stops along the way, drinking in the view and so the sun was setting as we approached San Simeon. Wanting to watch the sun set we pulled in to a 'vista point' and stumbled across the elephant seal colony that lives ...
Route One Excursions
... lunch of cafeteria food and then it was back onto Route One, with me riding shotgun. We made a quick detour to the houses of San Simeon, at the base of Hearst Castle. It was tiny and not at all what I expected for such a tourist attraction, ...