West Coast Road Trip: Seaside to Brookings on Highway 101

The drive from Seaside to Brookings down hwy 101 spans nearly the entire length of the Oregon coastline. The drive is around 7-8 hours and there are many beautiful places to stop along the way.

Tillamook Creamery is our first stop, about 45 minutes south of Seaside. It’s absolutely worth a short stop here to watch cheese being packaged in the factory, and their restaurant offers dishes like Mac ‘n cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches, along with flights of ice cream so you can enjoy different flavors. Getting there around opening is best for low crowds, hours are 10am-7pm daily.

Two beach towns that are worth stopping at are Pacific City and Depoe Bay. Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City is a beautiful beach with stunning rock walls. You can watch the fishing boats as they roar full speed towards shore and run aground onto the sand, then get lifted onto trailers. Depoe Bay is one of my favorite beach towns to drive through because hwy 101 goes right past the seawall, and if you’re lucky, gray whales might be nearby. Check out the Whale Watching Center for information about what times of year are best.

South of Depoe Bay, but north of Newport… Devil’s Punchbowl State Park is definitely worth a short stop. It’s an easy walk to the edge, where you can peer over and look inside this natural punchbowl. And the coastline in both directions is stunning.

Newport is a great place to stop for lunch, with so many wonderful restaurants! A delightful lunch can be found at Clearwater, which specializes in seafood with waterfront views. There are many attractions in Newport, and I considered spending the night here, but we wanted to get further down the coast. But if you have more time, this would be a great option for staying overnight.

Nearly an hour south of Newport are the Sea Lion Caves, about 11 miles north of Florence. My daughter had never been here before, so I wanted to make the stop. If she had already seen this, then I wouldn’t stop and pay the $18 per person admission fee, but I think everyone should see this at least once. There are hundreds of sea lions living in and around the caves and it’s entertaining watching them interact. And now that we’ve made so many stops, we are straight on to the cute town of Bandon (a golfer’s paradise at Bandon Dunes).