Well, I drove the Oregon coast by myself once, but I do know that there are some coastal cities that are slightly more posh than others, and they tend to alternate as you pass through or by them.

The posher coastal cities tend to be great places to stop, admire, and dine at, such as Cannon Beach—whereas the cities in between, bigger and smaller, tend to be better for finding a cheaper place to stay.

The bigger cities would probably be your best bet, such as Newport or Tillamook. If you just take a simple side road off 101, you can find a two bedroom for around $40-$45 a night.

One tip to prevent financial sadness: do not speed at all when you enter a town!Follow the criminally low speed limit to the mile-per-hour! There’s nothing that makes a coastal Oregon highway cop happier than catching someone doing at least 5 mph over the speed limit. If you blast through even faster, they’ll be having your wallet for dinner.

Otherwise, have fun! You could easily do this in three days.

I couldn’t say much about rentals, but some good landmarks include:

Sea Lion Caves, in Yachats, near Florence. Largest natural sea cave in.. the US? The world? I don’t recall. The historical aspect of it is interesting though, the old stone steps, etc.

The Astoria Tower, in Astoria. It’s a nice city too, in terms of restraunts, beaches, things to do.

Portland is a wonderful city with a huge variety of things to do, although it does rather lack beaches.

Florence is a small coastal town that’s gotten pretty popular as a tourist attraction. Very lush and green, some good restraunts, lots of sand dunes and the activities that go along with that, buggy rides, sand boarding, etc.

As long as you spend some time on the beach you won’t be missing much.

Depending on where you want to stay on the coast will vary the cost, but if you want a great price on a nice experience, I would recommend Lincoln City. We stayed at the Nordic Oceanfront Lodge Hotel on a whim and stayed for around $50 a night during the week. Weekends are about $20 more – still very reasonable for the accomodations. The room was nice & really comfortable. There is no balcany, but you can open up the windows and sit at the table in the comfort of your own room and still enjoy the ocean view. All rooms have a view & the office lends out DVDs & popcorn for free. Bandon has good prices as well and has great views of face rock – they allow dogs too. My favorite place to visit, however is Cannon Beach, which has an array of prices and accomodations. Most of these hotels will offer a $100 or $200 view that you would get in California, in my opinion… Have fun!

Hi Mejaka,

When I was a kid (in the early ‘90s) my family stayed at the Viking’s cottages in Nye Beach right next to Newport. I still remember them fondly. They are adorable little 1920’s cottages right on the cliff and about $100 a night. I think they all sleep 4-6. Here’s the website: http://www.vikingsoregoncoast.com/Vikings/index.htm. I hope that helps.

Hi. I’m sorry I don’t have time to give you a lot of fine details here but … you seem to be able to do research pretty well.

There are several KOA’s along the coast. KOA’s have little Kamping Kabins and usually these are reasonable.

There are many state parks along the coast. This takes a little more work to figure out. some are open only parts of the year. Also, dig into the info on the parks because they are not all listed in the online service that makes reservations. Several have cottages and the like.

And then there’s a lovely hotel that my daughter and I stayed at in Florence … (we had to wait for Portland to thaw … 2003?) http://parkmotelflorence.com/

Super enjoyed our stay there and there was a very good cafe at the end of the drive. It is not ocean front but just a 5min drive away.

Then there was another place … http://www.indiancreekrv.com/ ... this is a reallllllllllllllly loooooooong story … but we stopped there for breakfast because the forest ranger sent us there. Breakfast was fantastic … and they need to fire their web designer because it is in a very beautiful little spot just off hwy101 in Gold Beach.

and so … that’s the short version.

If you come back with a tale from the coast, you might want to link up with us … we’re telling the realllllly loooong version of our trip beginning Friday … and we’ll be realing it out every Friday until it’s told … which may take all year.

ttyl
pam
http://www.marillaanne.com

YES! How does $30 a night sound?

You can stay in a yurt for $30 a night!!! I recommend Beverly Beach State Park Yurts. They have a queen size bunk bed and large futon that folds out. Will fit a family comfortably!

You have good heating inside and light. You even get an electrical plug. We call it “luxurious camping”. My husband and I have done it for 5 years in a row now. We cook outside, or drive into Newport for food. It is beautiful, it is cheap, and it’s SO MUCH FUN!