United States
A 7-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
7 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 7-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 7 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 7-day Cannon Beach trip
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