Pacific City Beaches

Hit a Pacific City Beach

One of the best beaches in the Pacific Northwest, Pacific City has many miles of beautiful sandy shore to walk. If you want to make the full trek, leave from Pelican Brewing at Cape Kiwanda, take a couple of bottles of water and a snack and head out for one of the most lovely beach walks you’ll ever make, heading south along the shore until you get to the Nestucca River. Here you’ll usually see an eagle or two and you’ll nearly always find a squad of seals and sea lions lounging in the sun. The beach can be accessed from several points:

+ Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area

At the north end of Cape Kiwanda Drive, there is a large public parking lot adjacent to the Pelican Pub & Brewery. There are restrooms up near the road and there is a vehicle ramp where the dory boats go down to launch. If you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, you can also use the ramp but beware that you may get stuck in the soft sand and have to call a tow truck to get out.  If you do decide to drive down to the beach, do not park north of the beach ramp, an area reserved for dory boat launching and landing. You can park south of the ramp—look for a sign indicating how far you can go.  Be aware that the surf may come in while you’re there so don’t park too close to the water. This is the busiest beach area in Pacific City as the location of Pacific City’s Haystack Rock and Cape Kiwanda. Yes, you should climb the sand dune and see the view from the top, but do not go past the fence as it can be extremely dangerous.

+ McPhillips Beach

Climb over the very tall sand hill at Cape Kiwanda, and you’ll see another gorgeous long stretch of beach heading north to the Sandlake Estuary. It takes some effort to get there, but because of this, will be uncrowded in most seasons. Sometimes you’ll see paragliders launching off the top of the sand hill either to the north or to south, depending on the wind direction.

+ The Turn-Around

Located at the west end of the main bridge on Pacific Avenue in Pacific City, the Turn-Around has a small parking area where you can walk over the dune and enjoy the beach.  This area will be less crowded than at Cape Kiwanda, but takes a tiny bit more effort to walk from the parking area over the dune to the beach.

+ Bob Straub State Park

Located at the south end of Sunset Drive in Pacific City, this 484-acre park has restrooms and a good parking area where you can head to the beach via foot paths and enjoy a much less visited stretch of beach.

 

More Things to Do in Pacific City Oregon

If you’re looking for more things to do in Pacific City, check our guide of things to do in Pacific City.

Beaches in Pacific City