So much of the Oregon coastline is public property. There are high, basalt rock cliffs, long sandy beaches, and awesome tide pools. You will see colonies of Sea Lions on the rocks, whales spouting off and breaching in the distance and beautiful sunsets. It is magical.
I lived in Oregon for 20 years and visited the coast frequently. (In Oregon we call it the coast, not the beach). I once spent an entire week by myself camping on the coast from Florence to Astoria. It was wonderful. My favorite section of the Oregon Coast is the CENTRAL COAST between Florence and Lincoln City. Here are my favorite things to do and see while there, as well as places to stay and eat.
A Quick Coastal Overview
The Oregon Coast is usually thought of in 3 sections: North, Central, and South. Each section is actually a bit different from the others.
The NORTH COAST is popular with visitors from Portland. Astoria is the northern-most city and is parallel to Portland at the mouth of the Columbia River. There is a beautiful bridge there which takes you to the Washington side. In the northern section, you will also find the Lewis and Clark camp and the Tillamook Cheese plant where you can take a tour. Seaside has accessible beaches and lots of activity and is very popular–good for families, but a bit more touristy than I care for. Cannon Beach is a cute little town with very pretty rocky views.
The CENTRAL COAST, which this lens will cover, starts in Lincoln City, which is also very popular with sandy beaches and ends in Florence, with its nearby sand dunes.
The SOUTH COAST begins at Florence and includes Coos Bay and Bandon, again with some great rock outcroppings, as well as a strong Native American heritage. It is known for its oysters and cranberries. At Brookings, near the California border, you enter into the Redwoods region.
Getting There
If you head over to the coast from Eugene, you will reach Florence and Route 101. Head either north to the Central Coast area or south, if you wish. Most people reach the far northern section by way of Portland. If you want to travel the entire coast, I would give it at least a week, so you can take it easy and enjoy yourself.
Places to Stay on the Central Coast
Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport–My Favorite!
Newport is my favorite coastal Oregon town. It is very artsy and has an interesting downtown right on the bay where the fishing boats come in.
This “hotel”, on the ocean side of town at Nye Beach, is really more like a funky, cozy B&B. There is an excellent breakfast served in a communal area overlooking the water, and optional dinners, as well. When I first discovered it, I was on a tour of the coastline with a girlfriend from Canada. We prepared to set up camp (there are plenty of very nice parks, by the way, if you like to camp) and realized we had forgotten the tent stakes. We happily ended up at the Sylvia Beach and shared breakfast with the owner from Portland, “Goodie”–a bit eccentric and very friendly.
An older, renovated hotel with a literary theme, friends of Goodie’s were asked to each design a room based on their favorite author. All are very fun and interesting and you will want to try and stay in all of them. The Edgar Allan Poe room even has a pendulum hanging over the bed. Check out the personal stories of guests in the journals provided in each room.
Beware those with allergies: there is a resident cat and she will sleep in your room with you if you want her to. On the top floor of the hotel, there is a library as well as 2 bunk rooms (one male, one female) for groups or singles on the cheap. It is a great place for a writer’s retreat.
One word of caution: If you prefer a sleek, well-appointed hotel with plenty of amenities, this may not be the place for you. There are no TVs or phones and the emphasis is really on personal introspection. One thing nice about it is that if you are a single person looking for an interesting retreat, you will not feel awkward or out of place. If you are traveling with children, it is definitely not the perfect place for you.
Seevue Inn: In Yachats, South of Newport
The little town of Yachats right on the ocean and south of Newport is also a great place to stay. There is so much to see and do up and down the coast from there. Here is a small, quirky, reasonable “find” of a place to stay just outside of town. Some rooms have fireplaces, some have a kitchen and each room has a different theme. It sits on a cliff looking out over the ocean.
Heceta Head Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast
Aaaah…this is quite the place to stay: a relatively recently renovated (say that fast 5 times!) lighthouse keeper’s home. It is very high on the list of great accommodations. The view is spectacular. The rooms are luxurious and the food is delicious. There are only a few rooms, so be sure to book well ahead of time.
When you first open this site it looks blank, but the fog in the photo is clearing to reveal the view of the lighthouse.
Terry-a-While Motel
Terry-a-While offers accommodations on the beach between Yachats and Waldport, not too far south of Newport.
Ya know, this is a good place to stay if you want to be able to walk right out onto the sandy beach from your room, and that is unusual on this part of the coast. You also have a kitchen. The accommodations make you feel as if you are staying in a friend’s family vacation cabin. Though some of the units are a bit disheveled, they are a good deal.
Edgewater Cottages near Waldport
A very popular place. I have never stayed here, but had hoped to and did take a tour of the cottages. I have friends who have stayed there and love it. The “cottages” are very different from each other: some are small while others are large. Its a great place to stay with a family or group. They book up quickly for the summer so call early-on.
Places to Eat on the Central Oregon Coast
In addition to those listed here, try the WHALE’S TALE and the CANYON WAY BOOKSTORE (yes, its a restaurant, too) in downtown Newport. Neither one of these has a website, but both are great places to eat! The Whale’s Tale has a very good breakfast. There is also a nice microbrewery downtown.
Mo’s Chowder House in Newport
When in Newport, you must eat at Mo’s. It is part of the Oregon Coast experience. Don’t expect a fine dining experience! It is much like a clam shack on the east coast. There are 2 locations downtown: one on the bayside of the street and one a little way down on the other side. Very popular and very busy, especially the bay-side one, you will sit at communal tables. Have the clam chowder with Oregon shrimp on top. Yummy. Visit with your tablemates. There are 2 more locations for Mo’s: one in Florence and one north of Newport near the Devil’s Punch Bowl. The one in Florence is large, downtown and on the bay, while the one at Devil’s Punch Bowl is small, quaint and perched upon a cliff next to the ocean
Salishan Lodge, South of Lincoln City
This resort is located just south of Lincoln City and north of Newport. It is on several of the “best resorts” lists and the restaurants at this resort are excellent. This would be a nice place to stay, too, and the rates aren’t bad for these upscale accommodations. They also have a golf course. The drawback is that they do not have any beach access.
La Serre Restaurant in Yachats
Located in Yachats and only open for dinner, they have very good gourmet-quality food.
Places to Visit Along the Central Coast
Check the tide charts as this will be a factor in what you are able to see. If the tide is a minus tide or very low, you will have great tide pool views. If the tides are high, you should have better wave action and spouting horn views.
Oregon Coast Aquarium – Newport
Just outside of Newport proper, this is a very nice medium-sized aquarium with some fun-to-watch outside exhibits including otters and octopi. Inside, my favorite display is the jellyfish exhibit–very ethereal.
This is where the whale, Keiko, who was eventually released near Iceland, stayed to recover from his captivity in Mexico.
Oregon Coast Aquarium “JellyCam”
The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport LIVE WEBCAM of the jellyfish exhibit. You can look at a live images of the moon jelly exhibit (the lights are turned off at night). The animal on display is the Oregon moon jelly, Aurelia labiata.
Seal Rock
This is a very pretty and interesting stop with a big rock as tall as a hill jutting out in to the sea and good tide pools at low tide. It is located south of Newport.
Sea Lion Caves
Sea Lion Caves is actually a nice spot. I tend to shy away from the touristy things like this, but you do have a great view of the Sea Lions inside the caves. It is a big echo chamber of Sea Lion roars. It is worth a visit, at least once. The Sea Lions will be inside the caves in the winter months and during cold or stormy summer days.
On warm days, you can also look over the edge of the cliffs at the turn-outs just north of the cave to see them on the rocks below.
Strawberry Hill
This is a hard stop to find. It is marked but comes up suddenly around a bend. If you pass it, turn around and go back. At low tide, you can walk out on the rocks, see tide pools and starfish on the rocks and, best of all, get a very close look at the seals resting on the next rock outcropping. Take binoculars. It is worth the stop. You do need to be fairly agile to navigate the short hike down and across.
Cape Perpetua
The entrance to the visitor center for Cape Perpetua is well marked and is on the hillside. In the visitor center, you can view the ocean through scopes and they will help you look for whales. You may want to stop here first and get oriented.
Cape Perpetua is one of the best spots on the coast, I think. There is so much to see here. My favorite is the Devils’ Churn where the sea rushes in and out of a natural, long, narrow channel to explode in huge waves at the end. Be careful. People have drowned here.
Walk over to see the spouting horns too, where water rushes up under the rock-overhangs, creates pressure, and shoots out through holes in the basalt rock.
There is a drive that takes you high up on the cliffs. Get specific directions for it from the visitor’s center. It’s a good place to look for whales during their migration periods, or just to enjoy the views. The drive seems long, but keep going, it’s worth it. It takes you to a wooded area with a small parking lot. There you will find a trail for a medium length hike in the woods which leads to an ocean overlook constructed of rock and you will have excellent views. Take binoculars to look for whale spouts. Continue on the trail which takes you back along the other side of the cliff where you will see some more ocean views on your way.
After your hike (or before), if you walk out of the parking lot on the south side and sit on the grassy slope you have an absolutely fabulous, long view of the coast to the south. Take a snack and sit and enjoy it.
Whales and the Oregon Coast
Whales migrate along the Oregon Coast and head south from December through early February and back north from March through October. For the northern trek, most pass by in March and April, but some do hang around and it is still possible to see whales throughout the summer.
Keiko, the killer whale made famous by the Free Willy movies, was a resident of the Oregon Coast Aquarium in order to rehabilitate him for a return to the wild. I remember watching the special truck which brought him to Oregon and seeing him lifted into the aquarium in a sling. He did recover enough to be sent to Iceland, but, sadly, died of a sudden onset of pneumonia in Norwegian coastal waters in 2003.
Whale Watching Spoken Here is a volunteer whale-watching program during peak gray whale migration times coinciding with winter and spring breaks. Trained volunteers are stationed at twenty-eight locations on or near the Oregon Coast.
Miscellaneous Tips
Just a Few Precautions
- For all you easterners, remember to say “Oragun”, not Oregone.
- And Ya-hots, for Yachats.
- Watch out for waves and, as it is said, never turn your back on them. There is such a thing as a rogue or sneaker wave and people die from them every year.
- Be careful to not stand on the log piles as the waves can easily roll them and you will go with them.
- Don’t pick up the animals from the tide pools, especially the starfish. Though tempting, when you pick up starfish you tear off their little feet.
- Be careful of the slippery seaweed on the rocks in the tide pools and don’t go in those areas with bare feet as the barnacles and mussels will cut your feet.
- In the Northwest, it is the “coast”, not the “beach” or the “shore”.
Simple Joys at the Oregon Coast
Here is a list of other things I have fun doing when visiting the Oregon coast.
- Looking for agates among the rocks on the shore. The best place to look is where there is a small rise of land behind the shore and/or a little stream coming down. Watch for rocks with a sort of semi-translucent quality.
- Looking for fossilized shells. Some beaches have quite a few fossils. They look like a cross between a real shell and a rock.
- Looking for glass floats. After storms, sometimes you can find glass floats, but you will have lots of competition and you have to get out there very early.
- Finding a wash-up of Velella Jellyfish on the shore. It is beautiful and they signal soon-to-come glass floats and other interesting debris.
- Watching the fishing boats bring in their catch at the docks in Newport.
- Watching the sun seemingly disappear into the water at sunset.
- And…in the winter months in Oregon when it is perpetually raining in the Willamette Valley (from Portland to Eugene and points south), the coast can be a welcome change. For, often when it is cloudy inland, the coast will be sunny. And if not, well, at least you have a completely different view.