United States
A 10-day trip to Cannon Beach
Dramatic basalt monoliths, cedar-shingle cottages, and tide-governed coastal wilderness.
Cannon Beach is the Pacific Northwest at its most evocative: mist rolling over 235-foot Haystack Rock, thick Sitka spruce rainforests dropping straight into the Pacific Ocean, and a walkable village defined by strict low-rise cedar-shingle architecture. Positioned 90 minutes west of Portland along Highway 26, it balances untamed coastal ecology with high-end gallery culture and thoughtful dining.
Trip length
10 days
Best time to go
September to early October offers the sweet spot of warm, clear coastal days and dramatically thinned summer crowds.
What your 10-day plan includes
- A day-by-day itinerary with neighborhoods clustered so you spend less time in transit.
- Real budget awareness — a target, an estimate, and a status you can dial up or down.
- Recommendations shaped by your pace, food priorities, group, and must-dos.
- Swap anything, improve any day, refine in any direction without starting over.
How to plan 10 days in Cannon Beach
- Base yourself in Downtown or Midtown if you want to walk to dinner and evening drinks; choose Tolovana or Arch Cape if oceanfront quiet matters more than immediate dining proximity.
- Always plan your beach days around the NOAA low-tide chart—tidepools at Haystack Rock and the sea caves at Hug Point are fully submerged and inaccessible at high tide.
- Pair your coastal retreat with a day trip 25 miles north to Astoria for historic maritime architecture, craft breweries, and working cannery docks.
- Do not attempt Ecola State Park trailheads on summer weekend afternoons without an early arrival; parking lots often fill and back up along the winding entry road before 10:30 AM.
Build your 10-day Cannon Beach trip
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