Coast Rd, California

In my opinion, few highways in the Bay Area are more pleasant to drive on than this one. This virtually untouched stretch of Pacific coastline offers picturesque, stunning views of the ocean on the whole drive. The long, clean breaks are a surfer's dream, and the expansive vistas are perfect for every photographer.

Traffic is surprisingly light, which could have to do with the fact that few work destinations or residences are located along this remote stretch. As a result, cell phone reception is complete out in places, which means that you will have to wait until Pescadero or Santa Cruz to upload your cell phone photos to Facebook.

If you are okay doing a little bit of driving and want to escape the crowds, this is a great place to find peace and solitude in an otherwise heavily populated area.

Santa Cruz is a lovely, laid-back beach town - as long as you do not need to commute to/from the Silicon Valley every day. The junction of Highway 17 and California 1 is the epicenter of the blockage during any peak hour, with northbound traffic being particularly bad in the morning. Southbound traffic tends to mellow out a bit more but is still not great. Even worse, the beach cannot be seen from this section of the highway.

The upside is that traffic usually means cool sites nearby, particularly in the Bay Area, and the 1 in Santa Cruz is no exception. Beaches, surfing, the boardwalk, and nightlife all await and are just steps away. But if you can at all avoid it, do whatever you can to take a different route to the great attractions of Santa Cruz and save yourself some time and sanity.

Fortunately, like most of Northern California, you can count on one thing: Even in high traffic, the drivers are unusually friendly.