Scenic Route 156 156
Scenic Route 156 is a State Scenic Byway in California. Within California it covers roughly 6 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Scenic Route 156 with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
State Route 156 is a California Scenic Highway linking Castroville to Hollister, passing through the historic mission town of San Juan Bautista along the way. The route's officially designated scenic stretch runs from about a mile east of Castroville to US Route 101, serving as one of the main connectors between the Monterey Peninsula and both the San Francisco Bay Area and California's Central Valley. Parts of the corridor date back further than the modern highway number: the segment between San Juan Bautista and Hollister was first defined as a route in 1909, extended toward Castroville in stages through 1933, and finally signed as Route 156 by 1938. That same year, the distinctive San Juan Bautista Y junction, marked with mission-style adobe walls, a cross, and a bell tower, was completed where the highway meets the historic mission town, visually tying the modern road to the Spanish mission era it passes through. Today's drive mixes agricultural valley scenery with a direct link to one of California's best-preserved mission settlements, making it as much a heritage route as a scenic one.
- Castroville to Hollister (SR-152)
- scenic: 1 mi east of Castroville to US-101
- San Juan Bautista mission town
- San Juan Bautista Y junction (1938)
- route history dating to 1909
- Monterey-to-Central Valley connector
Plan a drive on Scenic Route 156 →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Scenic Route 156
No campgrounds are listed close to Scenic Route 156 yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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