Girona, France & Costa Brava

Cycling down the California coast from Monterey to Santa Barbara via Big Sur on a bike tour avoids much of the urban biking and the less scenic agricultural areas of longer bike tours down the California coast. The first part of a Monterey to Santa Barbara bike tour focuses on the hilly, but spectacular Big Sur coast, with its rugged coastline and towering redwoods. South of Big Sur, cycling through San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County offers a diverse palette of marine wildlife viewing, historic missions, winery areas and surfers plying the waves of the Pacific Ocean off sandy beaches.