Manzanita with kids is one of the easier trips we recommend, and that's because the town doesn't try very hard. One main street, one enormous beach, a state park next door with a paved bike loop, and a mountain to climb when the sand gets old. Nobody is hustling you toward an attraction. The kids just go outside.
The beach is the whole point
Manzanita's beach runs about seven miles from Neahkahnie Mountain south to the Nehalem jetty. It's flat, wide, and dog-friendly the entire length. Park at the end of Laneda Avenue where it meets the sand, or walk from town in a few minutes. The north end near the mountain has the best tide pools and rock scrambling. The middle stretch is kites, sandcastles, and fetch.
Wind comes up most afternoons in summer, which is great for kites and less great for small kids in the water. Mornings are calmer. Bring a shovel; the sand is perfect for digging.
Nehalem Bay State Park
Five minutes south of town, this is the secret weapon for families. A two-mile paved bike path loops through the park with almost no elevation, so kids on training wheels can manage it. The bay side is sheltered and shallow enough for wading and kayak rentals in summer. In the right season you can rent crab rings in Nehalem or Wheeler and drop them off the boat launch. Pulling up a Dungeness with a seven-year-old is a core memory.
The park also has horseback rides in summer and a long, quiet stretch of ocean beach that's often emptier than the town beach.
Short Sand Beach and tide pools
Ten minutes north at Oswald West State Park, a flat half-mile trail through old-growth spruce drops to Short Sand Beach. It's a sheltered cove where surfers learn, and at low tide the rocks on either side hold anemones, starfish, and small crabs. Check a tide chart and arrive an hour before low. The trail is stroller-doable if your stroller has real wheels.
Older kids who want a real hike can do Neahkahnie Mountain from the south trailhead: about 1.5 miles up, 1,600 feet of view, and a summit that looks straight down at the beach you were just on. Our Manzanita things-to-do page has more on both.
Laneda Avenue: food, ice cream, and rainy hours
Manzanita's main street is walkable end to end in ten minutes. Kid-relevant stops: Bread and Ocean for morning pastries, the Manzanita Sweets shop for saltwater taffy and ice cream, and Cloud & Leaf bookstore, which has a solid children's section for the inevitable rainy afternoon. Left Coast Siesta does build-your-own burritos that picky eaters tolerate.
Rain plan, in order: bookstore, a board game from the cabin, the Tillamook Creamery 30 minutes south (free tour, ice cream, cheese), and if all else fails, Cannon Beach's indoor spots 20 minutes north.
Where to stay
Puffin Lane is our Manzanita house, and it was set up with families in mind: four bedrooms, three baths, sleeps seven, about a ten-minute walk from the beach so you can walk back for a forgotten towel. The cedar hot tub is for parents after bedtime. There's a yoga studio room that, in practice, becomes the kids' fort. It backs onto the golf course, which is quiet and green and occasionally features a deer.
Dogs are welcome. Manzanita is one of the most dog-friendly towns on the coast, and the beach has no leash restrictions on most of its length, so the family dog gets a vacation too.
A sample day
- Pastries on Laneda, then beach until the wind picks up around noon
- Lunch at the house, quiet hour, then bikes at Nehalem Bay State Park
- Early dinner in town, ice cream, back to the beach for sunset
- Hot tub for adults, movie for kids
If you're piecing together a longer trip, our 48-hour Manzanita weekend has a fuller schedule, and the Manzanita rentals page has current availability.
Manzanita rewards families who don't overplan. Pick a low tide, pack the shovel, and let the beach fill the day.