This Manzanita 2 day itinerary is the one we actually run when friends visit, not a list of everything within an hour's drive. Manzanita is small, the beach is enormous, and the best version of a weekend here leaves room to do nothing on purpose. Bring layers. Here is the plan.
Day 1, morning: arrive, coffee, beach
Most people drive in from Portland, which takes about two hours via Highway 26 and 101. Aim to arrive by late morning. Park the car at the house and do not touch it again until tomorrow. From Puffin Lane, the beach is two blocks west, so the first stop is coffee on Laneda Avenue and then sand.
Manzanita's beach runs seven miles from Neahkahnie Mountain south to the Nehalem jetty, and dogs can be off leash under voice control. Walk north toward the mountain for the views, or south for the quiet. Either way, this first walk sets the pace. Slow.
Day 1, afternoon: Short Sand Beach
Drive ten minutes north on 101 to Oswald West State Park. The parking lots are on both sides of the highway, and they fill on summer weekends by noon, so a 1pm arrival on a Saturday means circling. Walk the half-mile trail through old-growth spruce down to Short Sand Beach, known as Shorty's. Surfers work the cove year-round. You can rent a board and wetsuit in Manzanita if you want to try it, or just watch from a driftwood log.
If the lots are full, skip it and hike the Neahkahnie south trailhead instead, then come back to Shorty's tomorrow morning when it is empty.
Day 1, evening: Laneda Avenue
Manzanita's whole downtown is Laneda Avenue, about five blocks from the highway to the beach. Dinner options rotate, but there is reliably a good pizza place, a wine bar, a seafood spot, and a taqueria. Reservations help on weekends in summer. Afterward, walk to the beach for sunset. It is right there. Then home to the cedar hot tub, which is the correct way to end a coast day.
Day 2, early: Neahkahnie Mountain
Set an alarm. The Neahkahnie Mountain south trailhead is off a gravel road from 101 just north of town, and the hike is about 1.5 miles each way with roughly 900 feet of climbing. Switchbacks through salal and spruce, then a rocky summit with the whole coastline laid out south past Manzanita and Nehalem Bay. Go early for the light and to beat the crowd. Bring a layer for the summit wind. Dogs on leash.
Back down by 9:30, and you have earned a proper breakfast in town.
Day 2, midday: Nehalem Bay
Nehalem Bay State Park sits on the sand spit between the ocean and the bay, ten minutes south. Options, pick one or two:
- Kayak or paddleboard the bay. Rentals are available in Nehalem or Wheeler. Go on an incoming tide so the current helps you home, and watch for seals hauled out on the sandbars.
- Bike the park. A paved trail loops through the spit, flat and easy for kids.
- Crab. In season, drop a ring off the Wheeler or Nehalem docks. The bay is one of the better crabbing spots on the north coast. You need a shellfish license.
- Walk to the jetty. From the park's beach access, walk south to the end of the spit for a rougher, emptier beach.
Day 2, afternoon: your call
Two good options. Option A: drive 25 minutes north to Cannon Beach, walk Haystack Rock at low tide, fight for parking, come home. Option B: stay put. Browse the bookstore and shops on Laneda, get ice cream, hit the beach again, nap, hot tub. We usually pick B. If you are golfers, the nine-hole Manzanita course is right there, and Puffin Lane sits on it. More in our coast golf post.
If you have a third day
Tillamook Creamery is 40 minutes south for cheese and ice cream, and it is more fun than it sounds. Storm season, roughly November through March, turns the whole itinerary into beach walks between squalls and long afternoons by the fire, which is its own kind of perfect. See everything we like in Manzanita for the longer list.
Practical notes
- Cell service is decent in town and drops at Oswald West and on the mountain.
- Fog is common on summer mornings and often burns off by early afternoon. Hike in it anyway.
- Pack a real jacket even in August. The wind off the water is honest.
- The grocery store on Laneda covers basics. Stock up in Portland for anything specialty.
That is the weekend. It is not ambitious and it is not supposed to be. Manzanita does one thing extremely well, which is a very long beach with a dog on it, and two days is about right to remember that.