Seaside, OR

A no-frills seafood counter and market on the south end that has been selling fresh-off-the-boat fish and cooking it up since the 1940s. People come for the fish and chips and the Dungeness crab cocktail, eat at a handful of tables overlooking the river, or take a tub of clam chowder back to the rental.

A warm, family-run Italian room on Broadway built around recipes the owner grew up eating from his northern-Italian grandmother. Everything from the pasta to the sauces and desserts is made in house daily, and the lasagna, cannelloni, and rotating risotto are the orders regulars repeat.

A tiny, cash-friendly Mexican spot near the Holladay bridge turning out fresh, generously portioned burritos, tacos, and tamales that locals rank above anything on the main drag. The vegan and carne asada options both have a following, and the prices stay honest for a beach town.

A scratch-cooking breakfast and lunch cafe on the quieter south (Cove) side of town where the chef pulls from comfort food and dishes from around the world on the same menu. Expect to see a smoked-salmon scramble next to arepas or nasi goreng, and expect a wait on weekend mornings.

An easygoing downtown diner-style spot just off the Turnaround serving big American breakfasts, sandwiches, and a well-regarded clam chowder without the tourist markup of the Prom. It is the kind of place families default to when half the table wants pancakes and the other half wants a burger.

A Seaside mainstay since 1983 on Broadway, doing classic Oregon-coast seafood: pan-fried oysters, fish and chips, steamer clams, and a clam chowder that long-timers swear by. It is a sit-down, full-service room that suits a family dinner more than a quick grab.

A downtown gelato counter making small-batch gelato and sorbetto from scratch, rotating through dozens of flavors a day from classic stracciatella to oddball seasonal experiments. The gelato panini, gelato pressed inside warm brioche, is the move locals send visitors for.

The heart of tiny Gearhart, a 1920s-building bakery and cafe where morning means croissants, drop biscuits, and cinnamon rolls over good coffee, and the kitchen leans on Pacific Northwest ingredients. Under owners who took over a decades-old institution, it remains the reason people detour off 101 into Gearhart.

A small, family-run tiki bar and kitchen in Cannon Beach blending Caribbean, Cajun, and Creole cooking, from jerk chicken to jambalaya to coconut prawns. The tight, tropical room and rum-forward drinks make it a fun change of pace from the coast's usual chowder-and-cod rotation.

A 12-table Cannon Beach dinner room that shares its space with a coffeehouse by day, serving Irish-rooted cooking with a Pacific Northwest hand: warm soda bread, lamb stew, seared fish, and a famously good flat-iron steak. It is one of the smallest and best-loved kitchens on the north coast.

A scratch bakery and coffee bar at the south end of Cannon Beach turning out naturally leavened bread, croissants, and morning pastries that draw a steady local line. House-made everything, from the sandwich bread to the granola, makes it a worthwhile detour from the village center.

The long-running brewpub at the center of Cannon Beach, pouring its own beer alongside burgers, halibut fish and chips, and a seafood stew in a two-level, woody room. It is the reliable, unfussy spot for a pint and a casual dinner after a day on the beach.

The 1.5-mile concrete oceanfront walkway, the Prom, that defines Seaside, running flat and railing-lined past beach houses from one end of town to the other. It is the easy, do-it-every-day walk: stroller- and wheelchair-friendly, no elevation, and the social spine of the whole town.

A roughly 2.5-to-3-mile loop climbing from Indian Beach up onto Tillamook Head through dense spruce forest to a viewpoint over the offshore lighthouse, retracing part of the route Clark walked in 1806. The grade is steady but moderate, and the payoff is the ocean overlook and old WWII bunker ruins near the top.

The hardest hike near Seaside, a steep roughly 5-mile round trip climbing about 1,600 feet through wildflower meadows to the highest summit in the northern Coast Range, with a clear-day view stretching from the ocean to the Cascades. The final stretch is steep and exposed, with cabling on the worst sections.

A pocket beach south of Cannon Beach where, at low tide, you can walk around the headland on an old wagon road carved into the rock, passing a seasonal waterfall, sea caves, and tide pools. It feels far more secluded than Cannon Beach proper despite being a short drive away.

A wide, flat, easy beach access north of Gearhart that doubles as the western end of the Fort to Sea Trail connecting to Fort Clatsop. It is the spot for a low-key, uncrowded sand walk on the Clatsop spit, with room to spread out far from the Prom crowds.

A small cove beach inside Ecola State Park ringed by forested cliffs, popular with surfers for its consistent break and with everyone else for tide pools and the cinematic backdrop. It is also the trailhead for the Clatsop Loop, so it pairs a short beach wander with a real hike.

A small, privately run aquarium on the Prom, open since 1937, where the harbor seals out front are the main event: you buy a tray of fish and feed them yourself. Inside are touch tanks and three dozen tanks of local Oregon-coast marine life. It is old-school and compact, perfect for a rainy hour with kids.

A small indoor mall built around a hand-carved, working carousel a couple of blocks off the beach, with gift shops, candy, and snack counters circling the ride. It is the default rainy-afternoon move with kids and an easy place to kill an hour on Broadway.

A Broadway arcade running since 1931, big and loud, with bumper cars, modern redemption games, and the genuinely rare vintage game Fascination, a bingo-meets-Skee-Ball parlor game you almost cannot find anywhere else. It is the evening anchor when the beach gets cold and everything else closes.

A compact family amusement park on the south end with an 18-hole mini golf course, go-karts, a kid-scale roller coaster, and a handful of small rides. It is aimed squarely at younger kids and stays clean and well kept, an easy way to fill an afternoon off the sand.

A small community playhouse in Cannon Beach, in a building that started as a 1920s roller rink, staging a full season of plays and musicals in an intimate, living-room-scale room with good acoustics. It is the evening culture option on the north coast and a warm, local night out.

A working glassblowing studio and gallery in Cannon Beach where you can watch artists shape molten glass into vases and ornaments, then buy the finished work in the adjoining showroom. It is the most engaging of the village's many galleries because there is usually something being made while you watch.

The dead-center of the Prom, where Broadway meets the beach at a stone traffic circle anchored by the bronze Lewis, Clark, and Seaman-the-dog statue marking the official end of their westward trail. This is the town's orientation point and the spot every Seaside trip photo gets taken.

Nine miles of headland coastline wrapping Tillamook Head between Seaside and Cannon Beach, with cliff-edge viewpoints over a string of sea stacks and an offshore lighthouse on its own rock. The southward view from Ecola Point toward Haystack Rock is the one that ends up on Oregon postcards, and Roosevelt elk graze the meadows.

The 235-foot basalt monolith standing in the surf at Cannon Beach, ringed by tide pools and a protected seabird colony that draws nesting tufted puffins in spring. At low tide you can walk right up to the base and the marine reserve; at high tide it is a silhouette you photograph from the dry sand.

A small reconstructed stone cairn and kettle setup tucked into a residential block a few streets back from the Prom, marking where three of the expedition's men boiled seawater for nearly two months in the winter of 1806 to make salt for the journey home. A quiet five-minute history stop, not a destination in itself.

A 20-plus-acre pocket of marsh and tidal channel on the quiet north end of town where the Necanicum, Neawanna, and Neacoxie waters meet, with a short boardwalk and viewing platform over the reeds. This is the local birding spot, busiest with migrating shorebirds in spring and fall and with year-round herons and osprey.

The forested 1,200-foot headland between Seaside and Cannon Beach, cloaked in old Sitka spruce and threaded with the trail Clark himself climbed to reach a whale carcass in 1806. The summit-area overlooks take in the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse offshore, and the whole headland sits inside Ecola State Park.