And being on the inside helps a lot with your safety. It is even scarier north of San Francisco. My husband and I stayed at a beautiful ‘motel’ north of SF for my birthday one year. Driving back down the coast (he was driving, not I) I had to close my eyes I was so frightened.
My wife and I went to Mallorca (island off the south of Spain) some years back and I rented a car. We drove out to a monastery in a very rugged mountain range and had dinner there, it was beautiful, watched the sunset.
The roads are very narrow and very twisting, with huge drop offs and minimal guard rails, but driving out during daylight was not bad.
However, after the sun went down and we were driving back, it was damned scary, not knowing the roads and cars with drivers who do know the roads screaming around corners towards you (especially when you are driving the outside lane) was hair raising.
My wife was scared to death, and I was white-knuckled and gritting my teeth for that ride. I actually sweated.