Hi  I retired form the Forest Service almost 4 years ago.  I grew up near Newport and have a daughter living there now.  I get to the coast regularly.  

ASTORIA.  Historic place.  Go up to Astor Column, walk to top if you want.  See Lewis and Clark camp, Ft Stevens (good camping here) where portals look out waiting for the Japanese in '41.  Lots of old homes.

SEASIDE.  One of Oregon's first beach resorts.  Nice beach here.  Still a busy place.  Broadway has arcades, shops.  More for the younger crowd.

CANNON BEACH.  Trendy place, nice beach, good shops, nice place to stroll around town.  Costs a bit more.  Downtown is off busy 101.  

N TILLAMOOK CO.  Several small towns, most on bays not ocean.  Fun to poke around in them, more downscale than Cannon Beach.  Rockaway Beach is on ocean

TILLAMOOK.  Tillamook cheese is the best there is.  Visit the cheese factory

S TILLAMOOK CO. Two options here 101 which is not on ocean. Or Three Capes Co Rd.  Go west out of Tillamook toward Netarts, S to Pacific City back to 101 s of there.  Road is a little narrow hangs on the cliff in a couple of places, but nice drive, not too busy.   Sand Lake along here is dune buggy place.  Camping at Cape Lookout SP

NESKOWIN.  Quiet place, beach is a little hard to access, but good one.  Nice motel 

LINCOLN CITY. 10 miles long 1 mile wide.  Town is right on beach but 101 is not.  New Indian Casino n end of town has increased traffic.  

DEPOE BAY.  Named for Chief Depoe.   Very good stop.   Watch the ocean here.  Spouting Horn. 

OTTER ROCK.  Devils Punch Bowl, a good place to see tide pools to north and walk the beach to south. A bit of a walk to them.  This is a favorite spot of mine.   

NEWPORT  I grew up 7 miles w of here.  So may be partial.  Yaquina Head Lighthouse  n of town is open, tide pools here also.     Agate Beach where you turn to LH, once aptly named you could always find agates.  You still can at times.     The waterfront in Newport is good.  Shops, deep sea fishing, lots of boats, big bridge, MO's for chowder. Yaquina Bay SP, no camping but fair access to jetty and beach.  

SEAL ROCK.  State Park  Big rocks in ocean, birds, seals?, tide pools.  Another favorite stop

WALDPORT.  My wife makes us stop at flea market downtown on 101.  Some better buys than other beach towns.  

YACHATS.  Nice little spot, better for motels. but get ready for the next 20 miles.  Some of the best coastline there is. Cape Perpetua, nice visitor center.  FS CG here, not as fancy as SP.  On top was another WWII observation site.  Heceta head Lighthouse and House.  House is haunted goes the story but you can visit it anyway.   Sea Lion Caves.  Costs but you can see the sea lions in their cave home.

FLORENCE.  It has a bayfront old town too, but not a good as Newport.  Parking is better.  Honeyman SP is good camp site.   Near Cleawox Lake but not walking distance to ocean.

OREGON DUNES.  Managed by Forest Service.  They start at Florence run 40 miles along coast. to Coos Bay.  You have to get out of the car to see these.  101 just touches on them.  Dunes Overlook is a very good site.    

REEDSPORT.  Winchester Bay is good site.  You can crab here.  We caught enough for 20 of us last year.  Good stop.  

NORTH BEND/COOS BAY.  The city on the coast.  and not really on the ocean, on the bay.  Charleston w is also a crabbing site and Sunset Bay SP good place to camp, golf nearby.  

SOUTH.  Now we are getting out of what I call my old stomping grounds, so a little less familiar.  Though have been along route several times

BANDON   Only spot from Coos Bay to Port Orford where 101 is along the ocean. 

PORT ORFORD . From here 60 miles of spectacular rugged coast line and you are right on it much of the time.    

GOLD BEACH.  If you have time, the jet boat ride up the Rogue River is great.  The shorter ride to Agness worked just fine for us last summer, takes 5 hours or so

Phil in Oreg

PS  Keiko the Whale is at Newport aquarium.  big star.  from Free Willie movie.