This week’s dream: California’s coastal wilderness

The "majestic" coastal region of Big Sur in central California has inspired generations of writers and artists, says David Vincent in the Guardian. Walt Whitman eulogised its "razor-edge mountains, steep valleys, cliffs and waterfalls" in the late 19th century; Henry Miller, who visited in 1944 and stayed for 18 years, found its beauty "almost painful to behold"; and in 1960, the profound sense of solitude it induced in Jack Kerouac "nearly gave him a nervous breakdown". Waves of beatniks, hippies and Hollywood stars followed in their footsteps – yet Big Sur is amazingly unspoiled, as wild now as in those early days.

It stretches for about 90 miles along the coast, five hours' drive north of Los Angeles and three hours south of San Francisco. Unbroken cliffs make much of the shore very hard to reach and the "tight jigsaw of green mountains" that stretches inland for 30 miles is "also impenetrable, save by mule and foot". Indeed, Europeans did not land here until 1769, almost 250 years after the first Spanish galleons sailed past; they dubbed it el pais grande del sur – the big country of the south. Only in the 1930s was "a small ribbon" of it opened up, when Highway 1 was blasted out of the cliff face, creating "probably the most scenic drive in North America".

There are marvellous hiking routes through the "fragile wilderness", where "groves of bay and laurel, oak and redwood" alternate with open chaparral, affording spectacular views of the jagged coastline. You can relax at Partington Cove, where otters and seals frolic in the waves, or by the "picture-postcard McWay Falls", which plunge straight into the ocean. And in the evenings, few can resist the allure of the hot tubs at the hippyish Esalen Institute, suspended halfway down a 500ft cliff above the waves.

British Airways flies from Heathrow to San Francisco from £398 return. Rooms at Big Sur Inn  (001 831 667 2377) from £50 per night. ·