One of the most popular and long-lived stopping points along the Big Sur coast, Nepenthe (831/667-2345) is a rustic bar and restaurant offering good food and great views from atop a rocky headland a thousand feet above the Pacific. The hilltop where Nepenthe now stands was previously the site of a rustic cabin that Orson Welles bought for his wife, Rita Hayworth, in 1944. Named for the mythical drug that causes one to forget all sorrows, Nepenthe looks like something out of a 1960s James Bond movie, built of huge boulders and walls of plate glass. The menu too is somewhat dated; burgers, steaks, and fried fish predominate.
Sharing a parking lot, and taking advantage of similar views, the neighboring Cafe Kevah (831/667-2344) serves a veggie-friendly range of soups, salads, and quesadillas, plus good teas and coffees and microbrews on a rooftop deck; you’ll find a gift shop downstairs selling top-quality arts and crafts and knitwear by Kaffe Fassett, who grew up here and whose family owns the place.
Right along Hwy-1, at a sharp bend in the road just south of Nepenthe, the Henry Miller Memorial Library (irregular hours, usually daily in summer; 831/667-2574) carries an erratic but engaging collection of books by and about the author, who lived in Big Sur for many years in the 1950s.
A half mile south of Nepenthe on the east side of the highway, one of the oldest and most atmospheric places to stay is Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn ($80–180; 831/667-2377), a rambling and rustic redwood lodge built by a Norwegian immigrant in the 1930s and now a nonprofit, preservationist operation. Deetjen’s also serves Big Sur’s best breakfasts and hearty dinners.
