As you nudge your rental car around the steep sandstone cliffs, amazed at how the road just manages to cling to the mountainside, you’ll find yourselves gasping from the sheer beauty of this trek between the Carmel Highlands and the Monterey County line. To your right, it’s nothing but a 500-foot drop to where the West Coast ends and the Pacific crashes with towers of white spray. With diversions into the Ventana Wilderness and tiny hippie towns, laid-back is the mode here, so take those Highway One turns nice and easy. Soon the groves of bay laurel will part and you can check into your cozy hotel and begin exploring on foot, bicycle, or surfboard, before you end the day watching the sun set on the U. S. of A.

Experience the treatment of a lifetime at new-agey Esalen Institute, 30 minutes from Carmel, where much of modern massage was invented. • For the seminal Big Sur night out, book a table at Nepenthe, order a fine California vintage, and toast your good luck as you gaze at the Pacific. • Hike to Sykes Hot Springs; along the way, reward yourselves with a soak in a handmade tub in the wilderness. • Sit awhile on Pfeiffer Beach, with its ragged rocks and hidden coves.

On the edge of a mountain 30 miles south of Carmel, the Post Ranch Inn was designed to play into the drama of the sea setting. Stay in the Ocean House, so neatly tucked into the landscape that grass grows on the roof, or the Tree House, with its lofty location. Doubles from $455, year-round; 800-527-2200 or postranchinn.com.

The most energy you’ll expend at the Ventana Inn & Spa is sampling the wine and cheese served at four o’clock. The rest of the time, you’ll scan the mountain and ocean views from your balcony, wander the 243 acres in plush white robes, and try the Japanese hot tubs. Doubles from $340; 800-628-6500 or ventanainn.com.