Driving the coast

My husband and I will be driving through Oregon late September and we want to see some of the coast. We are planning on being in Portland for a few days, then heading to the coast. We though we would head over from Corvallis. What is the nicest part of the coast? I know that is subjective, but would we be better off staying on 5 until the Eugene area then going over to the coast down into California? Also how many hours would it take to do say Newport to Florence or Reedsburg to California? We like quaint towns and beautiful scenery. We don%26#39;t mind winding roads, we have plenty here in CT. We will end our trip in Manhattan Beach CA to see our son and family, so we don%26#39;t need to see every beach community. All suggestions for must see scenery are welcomed. What is a realistic stopping place for the day since we will be starting from Portland? Thanks Trip Advisors.

Driving the coast

I would miss the northern coast, some of the prettiest scenery is in the Cannon Beach/Ecola State park area. www.cannon-beach.net is a nice website for this not-to-miss area of the Oregon Coast. Have fun! :)

Driving the coast

I think syrahgirl has a typo above ;-)

There are three sections that are very scenic. One is the northern section from about Cannon Beach to just north of Tillamook. The second is the stretch from about Yachats to north of Florence. The third and in my opinion the most scenic, is the southern section from Port Orford to the CA coast.

Once you are in CA, the spectacular coastal scenery continues until you are around Eureka. If you opt to take Hwy 1 at Leggett, that is a slow road but awesome!

So, that may help you decide.

Portland to Newport is about 3 hours. Yachats is one of the prettier stops, but not sure how many nights you have?

There are many day-use parks to park and see the views, as well as many pullouts :-)

I think you%26#39;re right about the typo, half-Brit, but it%26#39;s probably good advice as is, especially if Jeanne has only one night to spend on the Oregon coast.

How much time are you planning between Portland and Manhattan Beach?

Here is our tenative plan. Sept. 22, through 24 in Seattle. On the 25 and 26 stay in Portland. On the 27th drive to the Oregon Coast and stay somewhere. On the 28th drive into Eureka and head inland to Redding CA area. On the 29 and 30 stay in Carmel California. That puts us into Manhattan Beach on the 1st of October. We are thinking that driving from Portland, we should heed Half-Brit%26#39;s advise and see the southern part. Since we are coming from Portland, we will have seen the Columbia River Gorge area. How many hours will it take us to drive from Portland to Port Oxford? Will we probably take 42 to I think it is 425. Is this doable in one day? I don%26#39;t mind driving up to 8 hours, with stops but would rather not go over 6 hours of driving.

Portland to Port Orford over the most direct route is about 5 hours. Not bad.... but, unless you detour from hwy 101, you won%26#39;t see any coastline except from Port Orford South (101 is mostly inland from Florence to Port Orford).

So, I suggest instead that you head to the coast at Newport, then south, spending the night in Bandon, about 25 miles north of Port Orford. Bandon has has more and better options for lodging and dining; cute little town. That drive is 5 - 5.5 hours, but takes you along a beautifully scenic section of the central coast.

If you decide to stick with driving I-5 further south, cut over to the coast at exit 162 on hwy 38. That road parallels the Umpqua River, another great, scenic drive, and passes by Dean Creek Elk Reserve shortly before it junctions with hwy 101 at Reedsport.

You%26#39;re planning to spend the night in Redding? To get there from Arcata (Eureka), will take about 3-3.5 hours on a winding two lane road. Crescent City to Arcata is just under 1.5 hours ... then just under .5 hours to Brookings ... and another 1.5 hours to Bandon, or a bit less.

So that would be about 6.5 hours of driving from Bandon to Redding, not counting stops.

If you take I-5 to Hwy 42, that is a good road. The ';425'; is actually 42S (42 south), it is one of the old roads prior to 101. It%26#39;s okay, a little narrow, not fast. Be sure to look very carefully for it since it is easy to miss in Coquille.

Ok, it seems that we need to stop somewhere before Redding, CA. So what would you suggest for our Oregon coast itinery if we take 2 days to go back into California somewhere. There seems to be very little roads that are going to connect back to I 5.

That%26#39;s because there is a mountain range in-between ;-)

Are you trying to avoid the San Francisco traffic and mess? Otherwise you could take 101 all the way then bypass SF proper by going along the east bay.

Or ... how about going south on 101 to around Ukiah, then taking Hwy 20 east to I-5? It%26#39;s been years since I was on that road, but you could do a search or ask about it in the CA forum. It%26#39;s only 100 miles or so to I-5.

You could go from Portland to Bandon, via Hwy 38 to Reedsport then south on 101. Overnight at Bandon. Then drive to either Garberville or Ukiah for a night, then head to I-5 and south to Carmel.

Sorry, I meant to mention the reason is that there are mountains to cross. We don%26#39;t necessarily have any set regions we want to avoid or for that matter see. We just want to wind up in Carmel, then Manhattan Beach. I just wonder if doing all the coast driving would be too much. As mentioned before, we love quaint towns and beautiful scenery. Some of these places may be inland too. However, we do want to spend time with our son, dear daughter-in-law and precious granddaughter in Manhattan Beach. We are thinking around 3 weeks total. That%26#39;s why we were considering some of the time on I 5. We welcome all suggestions.

Just want to comment on a couple of areas that will need special time allowances, depending on times of day you will be there:

Bay Area...although half-Brit suggested the East Bay route around SF, I can attest (having kids living in the area) that during rush hours, there is no ';quick'; way through the area. Coming down I-5, you can bypass the Bay Area entirely...but if you%26#39;ll be visiting any part of it, get ready for heavy freeway traffic.

Manhattan Beach...Have you ever been there? Then you know that can be a horrendously congested area, whether you come down the 405 and cut across or come down the coastal route past LAX. And, if it%26#39;s the wrong time of day (and, in L.A. any time can be the wrong time), you can spend hours coming through the SF Valley, down coast rte via Malibu or down the I-5 %26amp; 405 through the north valley and Westwood areas.

At the end of a long day of driving these areas can really put you in a sour mood. Try to hit them at mid-day if you can.