3-Day Deep Dive into Northern Coast

The biggest perk of our deep-dive itineraries? You stay in the same accommodation throughout.🙂 That means no time spent re-packing and unpacking—resulting in a more relaxed pace and more energy left over to savor each day to the fullest.

Recommended lodging location: Seaside or Cannon Beach

Day 1: Astoria

The Astoria Column: Looking down upon the mouth of Columbia River exiting to the Pacific Ocean, this is a great high ground to enjoy the sweeping views. If you walk up its 164 stairs the view is even more rewarding, but it's impressive enough at the foot of the column so no need to push yourself if you ain't feeling it.

Astoria town center:

• For indoor activities, there are several options right in the center of town that you can easily find by punching in 'galleries' or 'museum' on Google Maps, e.g., Flavel House Museum.

• Fort George Brewery and Buoy Beer Co offer nice beer tasting menus.

• Wandering along the river or around 10th St + Marine Dr with no particular plan works too - it's a small town. If it happens to be Sunday, you'll spot farmers market stands on 12th St!

Lewis and Clark National Historical Park: a museum-slash-park commemorating the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Parking/Entrance is $10 or free with Interagency Pass.

Fort Stevens State Park: I recommend downloading the park map from the website in advance. Key spots like the Visitor Center and its surroundings, the Observation Tower, and the Wreck of the Peter Iredale are all clearly numbered on the official map, so I won’t attach a separate one here. Parking is $10 per vehicle or free if you have an Oregon day-use parking permit.

Day 2: Cannon Beach and the surrounding area

Cannon Beach day! If you are going after mental or physical rest and recharge, DAY 2 would be very well spent sitting at the pristine beach, watching happy dogs running around with sandy paws, maybe listening to an audiobook or podcast. PNW coast range is one of those places both breathtaking and serene enough that it's enough to just be.💕 But if you are looking for a more active day, this area offers plenty of fantastic activities as well, as listed below.

• Indian Beach Trail: You could either just chill at the beach or take a 2-hr hike all the way to the Ecola Viewpoint and back.

• Town of Cannon Beach: Dragonfire Gallery and Jeffrey Hull Gallery carry really cool, high quality local art pieces to browse. If interested in hitting up all the little galleries in the area, simply look up 'art gallery' on Google Maps. For old school candy lovers Schwietert's Cones & Candy will be a fun treat. If craving milkshakes or quality coffee or chocolate, Cannon Beach Chocolate Cafe has a great range of offerings.

• Haystack Rock: can't miss it, it's right there in your face the moment you step foot on the beach here.🙂 For some fun tide-pooling, I recommend looking up the tide schedule and see if you can make it during the low or negative tide. The seascape here is sublime regardless, though, so don't stress if tide timing won't work out for your schedule.

• Fancy a steam-powered locomotive ride along the coast? Get a ticket for the time of your choice at this website and make sure to get to the departure point (typically Rockaway Beach) on time.

• Hug Point State Recreation Site is another breathtaking beach with a unique vibe.

• Short Sand Beach Trail: a quick yet stunning 10-15min walk from the parking lot to get to the beach.

  
  

In the evening, the sunset at Cannon Beach is simply spellbinding.

Day 3: Tillamook & Pacific City

The last day of this trip is focused around Tillamook & Pacific City, located just south of Cannon Beach.

• If you like smoked jerkies Tillamook Country Smoker Factory Outlet has a great range of local jerky products at good prices. 

• Tillamook Creamery: self-tour the cheese factory and sample some free cheddars of different ages.😋 Cafeteria has a full flavor selection of their ultra creamy ice creams, including some that aren't offered outside of Oregon, so it's a nice sampling opportunity before buying a whole tub of one flavor, or two, or three...

• You can visit http://nestuccaadventures.com/ or http://kayaktillamook.com/ to browse kayak rental options.  

• Cape Kiwanda Sand Dune. If you patiently walk up the dune at the beach, you'll be rewarded with several great viewpoints and photogenic spots.

• Pelican Brewing is right next to the sand dune, a good spot to enjoy some beer with ocean view.