I'm spending a few days in the Monterey/Carmel area and would like to spend one day or at least part of one day exploring the Big Sur area. My wife and I are not hikers. We will walk to see something but nothing more than a mile. We'd like to relax and enjoy the views and not deal with too much stress from driving along cliffsides.

Where would you recommend we go?

You will have to drive along some cliffs to get to Big Sur. If you decide that that is ok than a good hike for you would be to McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. It's flat and paved and you get a beautiful view of the falls and the ocean. A web site you may want to try is: www.bigsurcalifornia.com.
If you don't want to do the cliff top drive to Big Sur than you might want try Pt. Lobos. Pt. Lobos has lots of easy trails and beautiful views and it's just south of Carmel.

www.ptlobos.org is the website. Great suggeston for Pt. Lobos State Park. It's beautiful here! If you want a really great place to eat in Big Sur, check out either Cielo @ the Ventana Inn & Spa or Sierra Mar @ Post Ranch Inn.

We'll be back in this beautiful area next month for a four day stay at the Highland's Inn. Enjoy your trip to the coast! ***kim***

What viamar said!! I think McWay Falls is one of the most beautiful spots in the West - do not miss. We also liked Point Lobos. Not sure if this is typical, but P. Lobos was foggy in the morning, and down at McWay Falls it was gloriously sunny. When we turned around to go back, Pt. Lobos was still foggy in the afternoon. Not that it took away from the trails, which are very interesting, just an observation.

Point Lobos really has some of the very best that the Big Sur area has to offer, without having to drive much to get there.

Stop for lunch just a little futher south; at Rocky Point. If the weather is nice you can eat outside right on the cliffs. The views are unbeatable.

Pfieffer Beach is a great spot to sit and watch the waves, the surfers, the clouds, the birds...
-Bill

Big Sur usually gets much less fog than Carmel and Monterey. When we get really sick of the fog we head to Big Sur for the day. I think it's because the Santa Lucia mountains are so high that they block the heat from valley. It's the valley heat that pulls the fog in, or so I've been told.