20 Best Things to Do in Cannon Beach

One of the closest beach towns to my home in Portland is also one of the Oregon Coast’s most picturesque. Only a 90-minute drive from the city, Cannon Beach has the combined appeal of a charming town center and a breathtaking coastline. Living so close, it’s easy to take for granted this international destination that frequently appears on lists of the world’s most beautiful places. Festive on sunny days and atmospheric on foggy ones, the rugged and moody coast of Cannon Beach is unforgettable throughout the year. Here are the best things to do in Cannon Beach, Oregon, from hiking trails and wildlife viewing to restaurants and window shopping.

1. See the views at Ecola Point

Crescent Beach Oregon — *Ecola State Park*

Pass required: Oregon State Park Pass ($5/day or $30/year). You can buy a pass onsite.

Amenities: Restrooms and picnic tables

At the north end of Cannon Beach, Ecola State Park is one of Oregon’s most stunning parks. Once you enter, you’ll drive through an old-growth forest where giant sword ferns grow under a canopy of moss-adorned Sitka spruce trees. Each time I visit, I can’t help scanning for small dinosaurs in the prehistoric-looking undergrowth.

After driving a little over a mile through the park, you’ll reach Ecola Point, the much-photographed viewpoint overlooking a dramatic stretch of the Oregon Coast from secluded Crescent Beach to the gently sloping headlands of Oswald West State Park. Ocean waves lap over dozens of sea stacks, including Cannon Beach’s famous Haystack Rock. A short trail leads to a second viewpoint looking out onto Tillamook Rock Lighthouse (a.k.a. Terrible Tilly) perched on a basaltic sea stack about a mile offshore.

To stretch your legs, consider taking the 2.5-mile out-and-back trail down to Crescent Beach. This beach at the base of Ecola Point is only accessible on foot and much less crowded than the viewpoint. Although not long, thick mud and large tree roots can make the hike challenging. Once on the beach, look for a small waterfall and a collection of sea stacks called the Sea Lion Rocks. At low tide, you can find some tidepools at the north end of the beach.

Crescent Beach Trail Oregon — *On the trail to Crescent Beach*

2. Indian Beach and Tillamook Rock Lighthouse

Pass required: Oregon State Park Pass ($5/day or $30/year). You can buy a pass onsite. A day pass covers all parts of the park (both Ecola Point and Indian Beach).

Amenities: Restrooms and picnic tables

If you drive from Ecola Point farther into Ecola State Park, you’ll have the chance to get down to the water at Indian Beach. Headlands flank the beach to the north and south, shielding it from town and signs of human development. Looking south, you’ll see the sea stacks around the base of Ecola Point. To the north are the cliffs of Tillamook Head.

One of the best hikes near Cannon Beach is the Clatsop Loop Trail, which starts from Indian Beach. This moderate 3-mile loop explores an old-growth forest and ends at a viewpoint overlooking Terrible Tilly. On the way, you’ll pass by a camp for Oregon Coast Trail hikers and an old WWII radar station that is being slowly consumed by moss. Several viewpoints along the trail look onto the ocean from high above, making it an ideal place to watch for whales in the distant waves.

3. Walk along Cannon Beach and see Haystack Rock

Haystack Rock Cannon Beach — *Haystack Rock*

There’s no need to search for Cannon Beach’s most eye-catching attraction. You couldn’t miss it if you tried. The 235-foot basalt monolith called Haystack Rock is so memorable that it has become a symbol for Cannon Beach and, often, the entire Oregon Coast. Its story begins with volcanic activity millions of years ago and hundreds of miles away. Lava flows erupting from fissures in northeastern Oregon formed Haystack Rock when they traveled across the state and pooled in the soft bedrock at the coast before welling up as a re-eruption. Over the millions of years that followed, uplift raised Haystack Rock and its surrounding smaller sea stacks, the Needles, to their current positions.

One of Haystack Rock’s most appealing qualities is its proximity to shore. Unlike the Oregon Coast’s more remote and distant monoliths, you can walk up to Haystack Rock when the tide recedes. At a very low tide, you can walk around it and admire the tidepool critters. From Cannon Beach, look north to see a distant Ecola State Park, including Chapman Point and its surrounding sea stacks. Looking south, you’ll see Tolvanna Beach and Silver Point. To drive away the chill, you might want to make a bonfire on the beach. Cannon Beach is one of the few Oregon Coast beaches that allows them.

4. Watch for birds

Pelicans Cannon Beach — *Pelicans cover the beach near Chapman Point on a foggy day*

Cannon Beach, especially Haystack Rock, is a favorite among seabirds like gulls, cormorants, black oystercatchers, pigeon guillemots, harlequin ducks, and common murres. Since nesting birds attract predators, it’s not unusual to spot a bald eagle or peregrine falcon circling overhead. Summer is the best time to see brown pelicans flying in graceful lines over the waves. Large flocks of them sometimes congregate on the beach.

The most famous visitors at Cannon Beach are the tufted puffins that nest on top of Haystack Rock every spring from April until July. For your best chance of seeing puffins, arrive at the beach very early to catch the birds before they head out to sea to hunt for the day. You still might see puffins later in the day, especially if you’re lucky enough to visit when trained volunteers are on the beach to help. Bring a good pair of binoculars. In the air, puffins look a bit like flying footballs. Their wings flap quickly to keep them airborne. At a glance, they can be hard to distinguish from common murres, but their black underbellies will give them away. Common murres are white underneath.

Seagull cannon beach — *If you are planning a memorial service at the beach, know that gulls really like roses*

5. Tolvanna Beach

Tolvanna Beach Oregon — *Tolvanna Beach*

On the south end of town, Tolvanna Beach is a quieter yet just as scenic alternative to the more central beach access points. Less than a mile from Haystack Rock and an easy walk to the shops in town, you aren’t missing any of Cannon Beach’s highlights by starting from this beautiful stretch of coastline. To the south, you’ll see Cannon Beach’s lesser-known sea stacks at Silver Point as well as a distant Hug Point. Look for a playground, restrooms, and picnic tables near the free public parking lot.

6. Browse the shops on Hemlock Street

Cannon Beach has arguably the best layout of any town on the Oregon Coast. Unlike most coastal towns, Highway 101 goes around rather than through the center of Cannon Beach, making for a quiet and walkable downtown. Free public parking lots bring you straight to the action.

One of my favorite ways to explore Cannon Beach is first to walk down the beach and then return through town on Hemlock Street. Along the way, you’ll find sidewalks lined with flower baskets, art galleries, cafes, and boutiques. While it’s not impossible to find the usual beach town kitsch here, you’re more likely to see used books, goat’s milk soap, artisanal chocolate, and trendy dog sweaters in the shop windows.

7. Visit the art galleries

*A glass octopus from Icefire Glassworks*

While nearby Seaside was establishing itself as a resort town in the late 1800s, Cannon Beach became increasingly appealing for people looking for a quieter and more bohemian coastal retreat. Today, Cannon Beach has a long history of being a haven for artists and has many galleries. While you may find less shell art here than in most beach towns, you’ll have no trouble finding oil paintings, film photography, sculptures, and ceramics. If you’re looking for a place to start, consider checking out Icefire Glassworks, where you’ll find colorful sea creatures created from blown glass. Behind the gallery space, you can see the glass-blowing studio.

8. Try out the restaurants

Cannon Beach has one of the better restaurant scenes on the Oregon Coast for both quality and variety. Here are some spots I like to get you started.

For a quick and easy takeaway lunch that you can bring to the beach, try Kiki’s Tacos, Pizza a’fetta, or Crepe Neptune.
For fish and chips, go to Ecola Seafoods Restaurant & Market.
For a hearty brunch, check out The Lazy Susan Cafe. The marionberry scones there are never entirely out of my thoughts.
For a satisfying post-hike meal, Public Coast Brewing Co. has excellent beer and food made from many local ingredients.
For a special occasion, Wayfarer Restaurant & Lounge has the best views in town thanks to its wall of windows looking onto Haystack Rock.

*Wayfarer Restaurant is one of the few restaurants in Cannon Beach with beach views*

9. Farmer’s market

*Fresh produce at the Cannon Beach Farmer’s Market*

If you visit Cannon Beach on a Tuesday afternoon, it’s worth checking out the weekly farmer’s market, where you can find an impressive variety of vendors in a fairly small market. Look for fresh local produce, flowers, drinks, and snacks, including a generous number of samples. Try out a bite of pie, local dried fruit, and artisan spirits while you browse for gifts and dinner ingredients.

10. Grab a drink

When the classic Oregon Coast drizzle drives you away from the beach, warming up with a drink can be a cozy way to escape the rain. For coffee, try Sleepy Monk Coffee Roasters, whose beans are so good that it’s hard not to bring home a bag as a souvenir. Insomnia Coffee is also a good choice with its added appeal of being only a few steps away from the beach. My favorite place for a treat is the Cannon Beach Chocolate Cafe, where you can get a decadent latte made with drinking chocolate. Be warned that you’ll be in front of a large selection of truffles while you wait for your drink, which, at least for me, means leaving with most of them.

For beer, it’s hard to go wrong anywhere in Oregon. I’m not saying you absolutely couldn’t find a bad one, but it would be more work than finding a good one. For some of the best beer in Cannon Beach, head to Public Coast Brewing Co. or Pelican Brewing. It will go great with fish and chips or a house-made veggie burger. Pelican Brewing has suggested beer pairings for their food items to help remove the guesswork.

For all the great wine in Oregon, it isn’t always a slam dunk on the coast. In Cannon Beach, you’ll be in good hands at The Wine Shack whether you try out the house label Puffin Wines or one of their rotating featured bottles. Both a wine bar and bottle shop, you can have a flight or a glass pour while you browse. I can attest that a glass of Walla Walla Merlot will dispel even the deepest rainy day chill.

11. Silver Point

On the south end of Cannon Beach, you can escape the bustle around Haystack Rock by heading to Silver Point and its lesser-known sea stacks. There are two ways to see Silver Point. The easiest is to stop at one of the several overlooks just off Highway 101 as you’re leaving town. Wide roadside shoulders allow plenty of time to pull off the highway and admire coastal views from above. Just below the viewpoints are Silver Point’s sea stacks. Looking south, you’ll see Arcadia Beach and Hug Point. To the north, look for a distant Haystack Rock through the trees.

To see the Silver Point sea stacks up close, park at Tolvanna Beach or one of the beach access points at the south end of town. Head to the beach and walk south toward the large jagged rocks jutting up from the sand. At low tide, the ocean recedes to reveal sea stars, anemones, and mussels packed so tightly around the base of these sea stacks that it’s hard to find an inch of bare rock.

12. Arcadia Beach State Recreation Site

Only a few minutes south of Silver Point, Arcadia Beach is the closest stretch of coastline near Cannon Beach that feels like you’ve made it out of town. Besides a few swanky beach houses set back in the trees, it’s just you and the Pacific. Well, perhaps it’s better to say you, the Pacific, and many other beachgoers on beautiful summer weekends. From the parking lot, a short trail will bring you down to Humbug Point, the sandstone headland at the north end of the beach. There are some sea stacks to explore here, including the evocatively-named but in-no-way-lion-looking Lion Rock. At low tide, admire anemones and barnacles galore on the sea stacks. Beyond Humbug Point, you can see a distant Cannon Beach. Arcadia Beach extends a little over a mile to the south before reaching Hug Point.

13. Hug Point

Only 10 minutes south of Cannon Beach, Hug Point is one of my favorite places on the Oregon Coast. If your plans are flexible, check out a tide table before you visit. You can walk south on a pretty sandy beach at high tide, but the ocean will block access to the more interesting features to the north. Near low tide, walk around a small headland to find a secluded cove where a waterfall tumbles over a lip of sandstone before flowing out into the ocean. The sea caves next to the waterfall are a tempting place to hunt for buried pirate treasure. After all, maybe no one has checked before.

If the tide is low enough, you can walk on the rocky ledge around Hug Point to reach Arcadia Beach. Before the construction of Highway 101, this ledge served as a road for stagecoaches and automobiles. Wheel ruts remain on its surface as a legacy of this early vehicle traffic. As you walk around Hug Point, look for tidepools, including some impressive giant green anemones. Keep an eye on the tide to avoid being stuck on the wrong side of Hug Point.

For details, here’s my article about how to hike around Hug Point.

14. Oswald West

A small network of trails in Oswald West State Park leads from the parking lot off Highway 101 through an old-growth forest out to lovely Short Sand Beach. Headlands to the north and south of the beach protect it from the strongest ocean winds, making it a popular surfing spot and a great place to have a picnic. Look for Blumenthal Falls tumbling down the side of Cape Falcon into the ocean. Around the waterfall, you can find crabs, anemones, and sea stars at low tide. Hiking to Short Sand Beach is an easy 1.2-mile roundtrip trek. There are restrooms near the parking lot and at the beach. For a longer adventure with a big pay-off, you can hike 4.5 miles out and back to the end of Cape Falcon to admire ocean views in all directions.

15. Devil’s Cauldron

One of the most rewarding hikes near Cannon Beach for the distance is the short walk to the Devil’s Cauldron, a narrow channel where ocean waves enter and crash against towering cliffs. From the trailhead that begins at an unassuming roadside pull-off, you can hike 0.5 miles on the Elk Flats Trail to the viewpoint overlooking the Devil’s Cauldron and Cape Falcon to the north. A fence near the cliff makes the viewpoint safe for families.

16. Neahkahnie Mountain

*View from the top of Neahkahnie Mountain*

The views from the top of 1,600-foot Neahkahnie Mountain are some of the best on the Oregon Coast. From the rocky clearing at its summit, you can see Manzanita Beach, Nehalem Bay, Cape Meares, and Cape Lookout on a clear day. Pictures can’t do justice to the rhythmic waves as they roll towards shore. Don’t let the name dissuade you. The trek up Neahkahnie Mountain is a family-friendly hike rather than a strenuous climb, especially if you opt for the shortest route. Exploring the summit does require scrambling over some loose rocks, which might be difficult with small children or dogs.

There are several ways to hike up Neahkahnie Mountain. The shortest and most direct route starts at the Neahkahnie Mountain South Trailhead, about 20 minutes south of Cannon Beach. From here, you can make the moderate, 3-mile out-and-back hike to the top. The trail is forested until the summit, keeping it pleasant on a warm summer day. A slightly longer and harder 4-mile version of the journey begins at Neahkahnie Mountain North Trailhead. For more of a challenge, you can make an 8-mile lollipop loop starting at the Short Sand Trailhead in Oswald West State Park.

17. Whale watching

Clatsop Loop Trail Cannon Beach — *The Clatsop Loop Trail is a good place to watch for whales*

While you might see whales anywhere along the Oregon Coast, a few things can improve your odds. The most important factor is timing. Oregon has a small population of resident gray whales that live near the central coast, but their numbers are nothing compared to the approximately 20,000 whales that pass by during their winter and spring migrations. Expect the winter migration from late December until late January and the spring migration from late March through May. During whale-watch weeks, volunteers at Ecola State Park and the Neahkahnie Mountain Historic Marker Turnout on Highway 101 can help you spot them.

The best places to look for whales are elevated viewpoints where you can see large swathes of ocean. Ecola State Park and Silver Point are the best whale-watching spots in Cannon Beach. Bring binoculars and look for misty puffs of water from blowholes, which are usually the more reliable way to spot whales from shore. Whale watching also tends to be easier in the morning than in the afternoon because less glare reflects off the water. You may also see seals, sea lions, and birds while you look.

Find details about the wildlife of the Oregon Coast.

18. Tidepools

The many sea stacks and craggy headlands around Cannon Beach make for excellent tidepool conditions. Some of the best intertidal spots on the northern Oregon Coast are within a few miles of Cannon Beach. Look for fanciful creatures like anemones, sea stars, urchins, barnacles, mussels, and crabs. These are the best spots to find them in and around Cannon Beach:

Ecola State Park:

Crescent Beach
Indian Beach

In Cannon Beach:

Haystack Rock
Silver Point

South of Cannon Beach:

Arcadia Beach State Recreation Site
Hug Point
Short Sand Beach

North of Cannon Beach:

Tillamook Head at the south end of Seaside

For details, check out my Oregon Coast tidepool guide.

*Sea stars, mussels, and anemones at Silver Point*

19. Cannon Beach History Center & Museum

Whether you are a history buff or just trying to stay dry on a rainy day, the Cannon Beach History Center is a good escape. The museum is free to visit and offers a wealth of information about local history, nature, and culture. Peruse the collection of old photographs that capture images of the Oregon Coast from long ago and see Cannon Beach’s namesake cannon. This cannon broke off the USS Shark during an 1846 shipwreck and washed up onto Arch Cape, then part of Cannon Beach. How a cannon made it to shore rather than sinking like a stone baffles me, yet somehow it now resides at the history center. Visit from Wednesday - Saturday from 11 AM - 4 PM.

20. Visit Manzanita or Seaside

If you only have one day in Cannon Beach, I’d suggest staying close to town. There are more than enough things to do. If you are visiting for a long weekend, you might want to spend a day exploring one of the nearby beach towns since each has a different character. To the north, Seaside feels like a resort. It reminds me of what a town designed by a high school class would look like. The town center has arcades, candy shops, kite stores, and an aquarium. You can paddle around the Necanicum River on a boat shaped like a giant swan. For adults, Seaside Brewery is one of my favorite spots to grab a beer. The highlight of Seaside is the Promenade, a 1.5-mile-long walkway between the town and the beach. Look for kites and seabirds flying high above white-capped waves. In the distance, you’ll see the cliffs of Tillamook Head.

About 20 minutes south of Cannon Beach, the town of Manzanita is small, laidback, and artsy. Neahkahnie Mountain looms over its 7-mile-long sandy beach. In town, the Winery at Manzanita has some of the better wine on the Oregon Coast, which you can enjoy on a patio with fire pits and Adirondack chairs. Look for lunch spots and shops for browsing along Laneda Ave.

Tips for visiting Cannon Beach

Cannon Beach has a free public parking lot on the corner of S Hemlock St and E Gower Ave. Street parking is also available. It can still be hard to find a spot on beautiful summer weekends.
Public restrooms are next to the parking lot in Cannon Beach.
Dogs are allowed on all the beaches and hiking trails mentioned here.
Most beaches in Oregon don’t require a pass or permit to park. On this list, only Ecola State Park has a fee.
Cannon Beach is rarely warm and sunny, even when it’s hot in Portland. The weather can also change quickly. Bring layers, including rain gear. Summer usually gets less rain than winter, although nothing is guaranteed. You can also luck out with a beautiful winter day at the coast when it’s cold and rainy in Portland. Thanks, Coast Range.

Enjoy your trip to Cannon Beach!

With love,

Emma