Weekend: Oregon Coast

Updated 2/2025.

I originally wrote this post in September 2020 after a weekend in Coos Bay, followed by a drive north along the Oregon Coast before returning to Portland. Since then, I’ve made updates to include more detail from weekends in and around Astoria and Netarts Bay.

Short story, Oregon’s Pacific coast is beautiful, and a beautiful escape, whether that’s from inland wildfires (as was the case in 2020) or just the daily grind.

Getting There

Oregon’s coast is mostly a road trip destination. Portland (PDX) is the airport that has most of the connections, especially if you’re flying from anywhere outside of the west coast. Coos Bay (OTH) has seasonal flights from San Francisco (SFO) on United, but that’s the only airport on the coast that has regular commercial flights. There are a few flights to Salem, Eugene, or Medford, which might be slightly closer to destinations further south on Oregon’s coast, but still involve drive of an hour or more to get to the coast.

If you’re doing a road trip, do be mindful of seasonal weather and the roads from inland to the coast. Not to be alarmist, but things can get bad quickly for those who are in the wrong place at the wrong time or are unprepared. And cell coverage between the coast and inland areas along I-5 is spotty, at best. Weather can change quickly, and since Oregon doesn’t get a lot of extreme weather, plows and other road maintenance isn’t what you might expect if you’re coming from a climate that’s more used to snow and ice.

Know Before You Go

If throwing down a towel on the beach and splashing in warm, gently-lapping waves is what you envision when you think of the coast, Oregon would ask you to think again. The Pacific Ocean is cold here, and the waves can be pretty rough. Plus a lot of the coastline is quite rocky. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s incredibly beautiful, but this is not Miami Beach or Venice Beach. Bring your camera, for sure. But bring a sweater too.

Once you’re prepared for the weather, consider preparing to disconnect, too. Our 2020 trip wasn’t actually vacation, so finding a place with internet/cell service for work purposes was a must. Fortunately Bay Point Landing promised both, plus a stunning backdrop right on Coos Bay. But many places aren’t as reliable: a couple of our other favorite spots, Ft. Stevens State Park just west of Astoria and Netarts Bay outside of Tillamook, as with many of the roads leading to the coast, have little or no cell service. And WiFi, if it exists, may be patchy or slow.

Sightseeing Highlights

For our couple days in Coos Bay, the tide reliably retreated each morning, offering the sea’s briny aroma and a myriad of sea birds to enhance our morning beach walks (and offer clamming opportunities for others).

The beach at Fort Stevens State park also expands reliably at low tide, and while this beach isn’t known for clams, low tide does expose the remnants of the Peter Iredale shipwreck, which is pretty cool.

Netarts Bay doesn’t have too much in the way of beach, but does offer calm waters for kayaking or clamming, if the season is right. Oysters are prevalent here too and you’ll find freshly harvested ones in many of the local restaurants.

All three locations, as with most anywhere along Oregon’s coast, offer impressive sunsets on clear evenings. Or, as was the case for us in Netarts Bay in 2025, a moody, foggy drizzle as the day’s light slowly faded.

Coos Bay is a stone’s throw from plenty of other great places to check out, so after the workday ended during our stay there, we ventured to nearby Cape Arago State Park to hike and explore. There are plenty of trails here with ocean views close to the trailhead and parking area, so you can pick a quick and easy adventure or a more lengthy one clambering over rocks to check out the area tide pools. Or anything in between, really.

The towns of Coos Bay and North Bend form a peninsula with the bay wrapping around both sides. Bay Point Landing, where we chose to stay, is on the west side of this peninsula, whereas downtown Coos Bay is over the hill on the east side. Other than the bay, there’s not much immediately adjacent to Bay Point Landing. But there are a number of fun things to check out downtown, including:

• Mingus Park is an interesting mix of a more typical American city park with ponds, fountains, and picnic tables … and a Japanese garden. We were there on a drizzly fall afternoon, but I suspect the Japanese garden area would be particularly photogenic as the seasons changed.
• 7 Devils Brewing has two locations on opposite sides of downtown, but their Waterfront Alehouse unsurprisingly has the best views. But the Brewery and Public House is more easily walkable for other activities downtown, and also has a large outdoor patio for warmer months.
• The Coos Bay Boardwalk may not be a spot where you’ll spend a lengthy amount of time, but it’s only a few blocks from 7 Devils Public House and is a pretty spot to stretch your legs before or after a brew. The boardwalk also has some simple exhibits to learn a bit more about the local history and bay.
• Steve Prefontaine fans, or folks who know their running/Olympic/Oregon history, will also probably want to catch the Prefontaine mural conveniently located in between 7 Devils Public House and the Coos Bay Boardwalk.

Highway 101 tracks near the coastline for pretty much all of California, Oregon and Washington with many sections following right along the water. Between Coos Bay and parts further north, there are a handful of fun stops:

• The Sea Lion Caves promise a lively bunch of animals, but they were a dud when we were there in May. No sea lions. All gift shop. Plan (or research) accordingly if seeing the sea lions is top priority.
• Haceta Head Lighthouse is a beauty! Do yourself a favor and do at least a short hike uphill from the lighthouse to see it from above.
• Don’t hesitate to stop along the way. The view from the second floor of Depoe Bay Brewing is gorgeous. And the town of Yachats is full of great shops, restaurants, and Yachats Brewing too. (Fair warning for the home-is-where-you-park-it crowd: Yachats is a cell signal wasteland, especially for AT&T and T-Mobile. If you’re planning to stay there and need to work, make sure you have a spot with good WiFi.)
• Further north, there’s the Tillamook Creamery visitor center. Keyword: ice cream. But also a great opportunity to see and sample their cheese production and get lots of made-in-Oregon gifts. And cheese curds.

Having explored a part of the Oregon Coast where we’d spent little time before, the rest of the drive back to Portland on the 2020 trip was uneventful.

Lodging

In Coos Bay, we stayed at Bay Point Landing, an upscale RV Park/resort. Cabins and Airstream rentals are also available. As mentioned above, it’s right on the bay, which is perfect for the views (bayside sites are available, but are more expensive). There’s also a small sundry shop in the office, a pool and hot tub, gym, coin laundry, and other amenities. Although few, I had a couple minor complaints: there’s little in the way of screening between sites, so if privacy is important, you might be disappointed. And the resort’s WiFi wasn’t as reliable in the morning when all the other campers were using it. Fortunately, cell reception at Bay Point Landing was good on AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile (yes, we had phones with all three carriers at one point in time), so hotspots filled the gap in WiFi coverage.

At Netarts Bay, we’ve stayed at the Netarts Bay Garden RV Resort which is well-kept and has friendly staff. On our most recent trip, we stayed in a bay view site: true to the name, it looked right out at the bay. But there’s no screening between sites in this area, so if it’s busy, you’ll be looking right in your neighbor’s window. Other sites may or may not have much privacy (we previously stayed at one of the sites in the “loop” which was a little more private), their map gives some guidance. The RV park is about a half-mile walk from the Schooner restaurant, which is a good spot to get local food and often has live music on Saturday evenings.

And at Fort Stevens, we’ve stayed many times at Fort Stevens State Park’s campground. It’s one of my standing favorites.