Pfeiffer Beach
Sycamore Canyon Road
Big Sur, CA
A hidden Big Sur cove where the sand runs purple and, for a few weeks each winter, the setting sun fires a beam straight through a sea arch.
Pfeiffer Beach is Big Sur's worst-kept secret, a cove reached down a narrow canyon road that carries no highway sign, so that only those who know to look for it find their way in. The reward at the bottom is a wild, wind-scoured beach strewn with dramatic offshore rocks and arches, the Santa Lucia Mountains falling straight into the Pacific behind.
Two things make it unforgettable. The sand here runs streaked with purple, a real mineral color that intensifies after rain, and one of the offshore rocks holds a sea arch known as the Keyhole. For a short window each winter, the setting sun lines up perfectly and fires a blazing beam of light straight through that arch, drawing photographers from around the world.
What Guests Love
- The streaks of genuinely purple sand, especially after rain washes fresh grains down the bluff
- The offshore rock formations and arches with the surf thundering through them
- Keyhole Arch, and the beam of sunlight that shines through it around the winter solstice
- The feeling of a hidden beach, reached down an unsigned canyon most drivers miss
Worth Knowing
- Sycamore Canyon Road is narrow, unmarked, and not suited to large vehicles; watch for the turn just south of the Big Sur ranger station
- There is a day-use fee and limited parking that fills fast, especially in winter for the arch
- The surf is powerful and the water cold; this is a beach for walking and watching, not swimming
- The famous sun beam only aligns with the arch for a short window in December, and needs a clear sky
Details
Big Sur, CA
Learn about Pfeiffer Beach
Why the sand is purple
The purple is not a trick of the light. The bluffs above the beach hold veins of a manganese garnet, and as the rock erodes, grains of the purple mineral wash down onto the sand and collect in swirls and streaks, especially in the low spots and after a rain has carried a fresh load down the slope.
On a dry, wind-scoured day the purple can be faint, mixed into the paler sand. After a winter storm it can be vivid, ribbons of lavender and deep violet running across the beach. It is one of only a handful of purple-sand beaches anywhere, and entirely natural.
The Keyhole and the winter sun
Just offshore stands a cluster of tall rocks, and one of them is pierced by an arch known as the Keyhole. Through most of the year it is simply a handsome sea arch with the surf surging through it. But around the winter solstice, as the sun drops far to the southwest, it aligns with the opening.
For a few minutes near sunset on the right clear days in December, the light pours through the arch in a sharp golden beam, striking the water and spray inside. Photographers gather well before sunset to claim a spot, and when the sky cooperates the effect is spectacular. Cloud or fog can hide it entirely, which is part of the draw for those who chase it.
The Big Sur coast
Pfeiffer Beach is one small piece of the larger Big Sur, the roughly ninety miles of coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains meet the sea in a wall of cliffs, redwood canyons, and hidden coves. This is a land of fog and wind and enormous surf, thinly settled, that has drawn writers and artists for a century for its raw beauty and isolation.
The beach takes its name, like the nearby state park, from the Pfeiffer family, homesteaders who settled this rugged country in the 1800s. The whole coast was and remains part of the homeland of the Esselen and Salinan peoples, whose deep history here long predates the roadside pull-offs of Highway 1.
When to go
December is the marquee season, for the sun beam through the Keyhole, though it comes with crowds and demands a clear evening. The rest of winter and early spring bring the most vivid purple sand, fed by the rains, and dramatic storm surf. Summer is milder but often draped in coastal fog, which can be beautiful in its own right.
Whenever you come, arrive with time to spare for the narrow canyon drive and the limited parking, and stay for sunset, when this west-facing cove is at its finest. Bring a windbreaker; Pfeiffer Beach is almost always breezy.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Tradewinds Carmel
BoutelMission Street at 3rd Avenue, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
23 miles away|Learn More ›
Things to Do Near Big Sur
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
About 2 miles
A redwood park along the Big Sur River with easy trails, a waterfall, and the shady heart of the Big Sur valley.
McWay Falls
About 11 miles south
An 80-foot waterfall dropping onto a hidden cove beach at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, one of the iconic sights of the coast.
Bixby Creek Bridge
About 12 miles north
The soaring concrete arch bridge that is the most photographed landmark on the Big Sur coast.