Cannon Beach

Overview

Located in the Oregonian city of Cannon Beach, the beautiful Cannon Beach is a large four-mile-long beach with light brown sand. Cannon Beach has been named the 2nd Best Beach in the Top 50 Beaches in the United States list in 2022 by Randall Kaplan, the world’s foremost beach expert who is known as "Mr. Beach." Portions of this popular beach are situated below oceanfront bluffs. This beach has a magnificent backdrop of oceanfront hills and residential houses. Many offshore rock formations are present in the water near Cannon Beach and the most iconic offshore rock formation along the Cannon Beach shoreline is a 235-feet tall intertidal basalt sea stack named Haystack Rock - this rock is the third largest intertidal rock formation in the world. This beach was named as the sixth best beach in the United States by TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards in 2020. In addition, the beach was also listed by the travel division of the American media company U.S. News & World Report as one the 27 best beaches in the United States. Renowned academic Dr. Stephen Leatherman has listed Cannon Beach as the "Best Overall Beach" in Oregon in his book America’s Best Beaches. The city of Cannon Beach was also listed by National Geographic as one of "America’s Best Beach Towns." A creek occasionally flows through the beach into the Pacific Ocean. As an interesting fact, the beach and the city of Cannon Beach are named after a cannon from the 19th century United States Navy schooner Shark - this cannon was discovered near Cannon Beach’s current location in 1898 and it sparked the name change of the city from "Elk Creek" to "Cannon Beach." Cannon Beach has lifeguards on the beach daily from Mid-June through Labour Day between 11 am to 7:15 pm. During May and September, lifeguards only operate on Cannon Beach on weekends. Public restrooms are present near Cannon Beach at 195 North Spruce Street and 1188 South Hemlock Street and you can find picnic areas and another restroom with a showering hose in a nearby park named Les Shirley Park (which is present near 208 East 5th Avenue). Getting to Cannon Beach is easy - the beach is easily accessible from the downtown area of the city of Cannon Beach and Oregon Coast Highway (which is a part of United States Highway 101). Public parking lots for the beach are present near the Cannon Beach City Hall (located at 163 Eat Gower Avenue), Cannon Beach’s post office (present near 163 North Hemlock Street), and at Les Shirley Park. If you are planning to stay at this beach for more than two hours, we recommend parking at the parking lots near Les Shirley Pas and Cannon Beach’s post office. You can easily walk to Cannon Beach from the parking lots. 

Cannon Beach offers many fun activities including sunbathing, beachcombing, wildlife watching, picnicking, fishing, swimming, surfing, kitesurfing, windsurfing, bodyboarding, tidepooling, skimboarding, jet-skiing, surf-skiing, water-skiing, kayaking, canoeing, wakeboarding, boating, and parasailing. The water near Cannon Beach offers small and manageable waves, especially during summers - this makes the beach ideal for beginner surfers and swimmers. However, if you are planning to enter the water near Cannon Beach, we recommend being careful as the water here is known to have dangerous unpredictable rip currents and it is also known to be occasionally cold. Depending on the time of the year, you can view many animals in the water near this beach including dolphins, seals, and migrating whales. Cannon Beach is a great fishing spot - depending on the time of the year, you can catch many kinds of fish in the water here including surfperch, lingcod, and salmon. However, if you are planning to fish in the water near Cannon Beach, please make sure that you follow the local fishing regulations. 

The 235-feet tall Haystack Rock is an iconic landmark that is present on Cannon Beach - this exquisite rock formation is protected by both Federal and the state governments and it is millions of years old. The area around this rock formation has exquisite tidepools which can be explored at low tide and are home to many kinds of wonderful creatures including crabs, starfish, and limpets. The rock is also an amazing birdwatching spot and you can view many kinds of birds here including gulls, black oystercatchers, and harlequin ducks. In addition, the rock is also used as a nesting spot by tufted puffins between early spring and mid-summer. Haystack Rock has been featured in many forms of popular media including the movies The Goonies and Kindergarten Cop. If you like shopping, the city of Cannon Beach has many exquisite shops, galleries, and restaurants. 

Attractions

There are many great attractions near Cannon Beach. Ecola State Park preserves a nine-mile long stretch of Oregonian shoreline which has many natural and cultural landmarks including beautiful sitka spruce forests, an abandoned lighthouse, and offshore rock formations, along with an immensely popular beach. The state park has many amenities including hiking trails with observation areas, restrooms, and picnic areas and you can also view many kinds of animals in this state park including elk, deer, and eagles. Cannon Beach History Center & Museum has interesting exhibits which offer a unique insight into the history of Cannon Beach and Northern coastal Oregon - this museum also organizes many fun and educational events including concerts and lectures. This museum also has the original cannon from the United States Navy schooner Shark, which sparked the name change of the city from "Elk Creek" to "Cannon Beach." If you are looking for another attraction near Cannon Beach, Hug Point State Recreation Site is a state-managed recreational area that has a vibrant coastal landscape - the state park has caves, forested hills, a seasonal waterfall, and a popular beach and it also has picnic areas and restrooms. A part of this state-managed area was used as a stagecoach path in the 19th century - stagecoach drivers had to carefully stick close to or "hug" a rocky headland in order to drive safely on this path and this resulted in this headland and the state park around it being named "Hug Point ." 

Restaurants

If you get hungry, there are many restaurants near Cannon Beach. Newmans at 988 is an upscale restaurant that offers amazing fusion French-Italian cuisine with local coastal culinary influences. Pelican Brewing – Cannon Beach is a popular restaurant and bar which serves delicious seafood, burgers, sandwiches, flatbreads, soups, salads, and poultry dishes. The modestly priced Mo’s Seafood and Chowder offers amazing seafood, burgers, soups, and salads - this restaurant is especially known for serving outstanding chowder. If you are looking for a good and affordable restaurant near Cannon Beach, Tom’s Fish & Chips serves delicious seafood and is famous for its fish and chips. This restaurant also serves amazing burgers, fries, and salads. 

Hotels

If you are looking for a hotel near Cannon Beach, there are many great nearby options. The 4-Star Stephanie Inn & Dining Room offers many amenities including a library, a restaurant, a spa, shuttle service to the downtown area of Cannon Beach, a seasonal beach cruiser bicycle loaner facility, massage services, and complimentary breakfast, afternoon wine receptions, and evening drinks. A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star Tolovana Inn which offers many amenities including a fitness room, a sauna, an indoor saltwater pool, and complimentary shuttle service to the downtown area of Cannon Beach. If you are looking for another good and affordable hotel near Cannon Beach, the 2-Star The Waves Cannon Beach offers many amenities including a hot tub, a barbecue area, and a loaner facility for beach toys, games, and books.