Long Beach Peninsula, Washington
Things to Do on the Long Beach Peninsula
Beaches, lighthouses and small towns along this stretch of the Washington coast.
Twenty-eight miles of sand, two lighthouses, an oyster bay and a working port, all inside a half-hour drive.
Seaview and Long Beach
The Discovery Trail
A paved path running roughly eight and a half miles between Ilwaco and the north end of Long Beach, tracing the route Lewis and Clark walked in 1805. You can pick it up near the lodge and walk as much of it as you want.
Flat the whole way and good on a bike. There are bronze sculptures along it, including a grey whale skeleton and a replica of Clark’s tree carving.
2 min walk
The beach approach
Walk out of our gate and the Seaview beach approach is about thirty yards up the road. Long Beach town starts five minutes north. The beach here is open to vehicles in most sections, which surprises people the first time. It is open to dogs year-round, and so are we.
5 min walk
The dunes
Grass-covered dunes sit between our grounds and the open sand. Good at golden hour, and the quietest part of the walk down.
5 min drive
The boardwalk
Half a mile of elevated boardwalk above the dunes at Long Beach, with interpretive signs and views straight out to the surf.
Cape Disappointment and Ilwaco
This is the one we send everyone to, and the one we go back to ourselves.
Cape Disappointment State Park
A little over 2,000 acres where the Columbia River meets the Pacific. Two lighthouses, old coastal artillery batteries, forest trails, and beaches you can have to yourself in winter.
12 min drive
North Head Lighthouse
The one on the headland, with the view north up the whole peninsula. One of the windiest places on the west coast, and gusts have been recorded above 120 mph.
14 min drive
Cape Disappointment Lighthouse
Lit in 1856 and the oldest still operating on the west coast. A short, steep walk up from the interpretive centre.
14 min drive
Waikiki Beach & Dead Man’s Cove
Two small protected beaches tucked inside the cape, both completely different from the open sand at Long Beach.
Ilwaco
A working fishing port on the Columbia rather than an ocean town, and quieter than Long Beach. The marina, a handful of galleries and studios, and a Saturday market through the season.
Up the peninsula: Ocean Park to Oysterville
20 min drive
Ocean Park
Fewer people, a good general store, and long stretches of empty beach. The further north you go on the peninsula, the less you see anyone.
25 min drive
Nahcotta & Willapa Bay
The other side of the peninsula entirely: mudflats, oyster beds and no surf. Willapa Bay is one of the most productive oyster-growing waters in the country.
30 min drive
Oysterville
A handful of preserved nineteenth-century houses and a church at the north end, the whole village on the National Register. There is nothing to do there, which is the point.
Leadbetter Point State Park is forty minutes, at the very tip, with dunes, salt marsh and forest, with part of it closed seasonally to protect nesting snowy plovers. It is the best birdwatching on the peninsula by some distance.
Astoria, Oregon
Across the bridge
Over the Astoria-Megler Bridge, which is four miles long and worth the drive on its own. Astoria is the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies and has more going on than anywhere else within an hour of here. There is the Columbia River Maritime Museum, the Astoria Column, the waterfront, and more places to eat than the peninsula has.
Fort Stevens State Park is another fifteen minutes past Astoria, near Warrenton. The wreck of the Peter Iredale has been sitting in the sand there since 1906 and is still the most photographed thing on this stretch of coast.
Further down the Oregon coast
Seaside, Oregon is about forty-five minutes and Cannon Beach about an hour, both south along the Oregon coast. Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock are the postcard, and busy accordingly.
Worth knowing: the rest of the Washington coast is a long way north. Westport is around two hours, Ocean Shores about two and a half, and the Olympic coast beaches nearer four. They are fine destinations but we would not call them day trips. Almost everything within an hour of the Sou’wester is either on this peninsula or in Oregon.
By what you feel like doing
- Hiking. Coastal trails across the peninsula and the cape.
- Lighthouses. Four within reach, two of them ten minutes away.
- Wildlife watching. Elk, seals, and grey whales on migration.
- Birdwatching. The peninsula sits on the Pacific Flyway.
- Rainy days. What to do when the weather turns, which it will.
- Hidden gems. The places visitors usually miss.
- Where to eat. Our guide to the peninsula and Astoria.
Dates worth planning around
The Washington State International Kite Festival takes over Long Beach for a week in August and is the largest event of the year here. what to expect and where to stay. Rod Run to the End of the World brings several thousand classic cars up the peninsula in September. Our own Arts Week runs in spring.
All three fill lodging across the whole peninsula, not just here. Book months ahead for those weekends.
Back at the Sou’wester
You do not have to leave the grounds to have a day. There is a wood-fired Finnish sauna in the garden, live music through the year, a tea trailer, a thrift-store trailer and an arts programme running alongside all of it. The grounds map shows where everything is, and the calendar has what is on while you are here.
Where to stay while you do all this
We are in Seaview, five minutes from the beach & twenty from Astoria.
Also tent & RV spaces with full hook-ups, or see all lodgings.
Photography: Sou’wester Lodge, except where noted. Photo: Brenda Bonebrake (CC0). Via Wikimedia Commons. · Photo: Oregon Department of Transportation (CC BY 2.0). Via Wikimedia Commons.