Seaside vs Cannon Beach: Which Oregon Coast Town Should You Visit?

The Oregon Coast is filled with beautiful beaches and beach towns, but most travelers just don’t have enough time to visit them all. Seaside and Cannon Beach are only 15 minutes apart, and they are two of the most visited towns, but if you are short on time, which one should you visit?

Visiting Cannon Beach should be your top priority, but you should stay in Seaside.

I’m Cheryl, and my husband and I have been writing travel guides since 2020. We recently spent three days thoroughly exploring Cannon Beach and Seaside, and I’m excited to break down the reasons for visiting each of these great coastal towns to help you make the best choice for you!

Visit Cannon Beach if…	Visit Seaside if…
You like small-town charm	You like the hustle and bustle
You are traveling with your sweetheart	You are traveling with your family
You love scenic beaches	You like beaches with amenities
You like art galleries	You like family-centered activities
You enjoy nature and wildlife	You like the amenities of a larger city

A Quick History of Each of the Towns

Seaside was established in the mid-1800s. The area was first visited by members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, who set up a salt-making camp nearby. It became a resort destination in the 1870s, when railroad access brought vacationers from Portland. It got its name after the “Seaside House,” a grand hotel built by railroad tycoon Ben Holladay. Tourism really took off here in the early 1900s as one of Oregon’s first coastal towns.

Cannon Beach was established in the late 1800s. It was originally a small village called Ecola, based on a Chinook word. It was founded when a post office opened in 1891, and the name changed to Cannon Beach in 1922, after a cannon from a shipwreck washed ashore. Cannon Beach grew more slowly than Seaside, developing into a more artistic, upscale destination in the mid-20th century.

FUN FACT: There is a statue at the roundabout in Seaside honoring the Lewis and Clark Expedition. There is also the NPS Lewis and Clark Saltworks on the Seaside Promenade that shows how members of the expedition boiled seawater to get salt.

Which Town Has A Better Vibe?

Cannon Beach is a quieter, smaller, and more charming town. There are lots of art galleries and homes of locals. It’s upscale in a comfortable and inviting way. It’s not like some of these rich tourist towns where you feel out of your element. Every restaurant, hotel, and shop is locally owned. You feel happy and relaxed when you visit Cannon Beach.

Seaside is bigger, busier, and has lots of things going on, including a ropes course, helicopter rides, a great fun center (arcade and activities), and even some national chain grocery stores and restaurants, but of course, some local ones as well. It has a fun vibe and it’s fun to people-watch.

Verdict: Cannon Beach. But, we do think it matters who you are traveling with. If you are bringing your family, we choose Seaside. If this is a romantic getaway, Cannon Beach for sure.

Which Town is More Crowded?

Both of these towns are crowded, but the beaches are big and there is plenty to do in both towns, so the crowds are dispersed well.

We also never had a hard time parking. In both towns, we parked in one spot for the day and walked to the places we wanted to visit.

Verdict: Tie. But we don’t think either town is so crowded it’s unenjoyable. In fact, we think that few sites along the Oregon Coast are too crowded (well, maybe the Tillamook Creamery).

STATS: Cannon Beach gets ~750,000 visitors a year, and Seaside gets over 1 million.

Which Town has the Best Beach?

Seaside Beach is most like a typical beach. It’s large and sandy and has lots of amenities, including showers, a playground, and volleyball nets. You’ll see lots of families building sandcastles or flying kites, and even some people getting in the water. It’s less rocky than typical beaches along the Oregon Coast. It also has a promenade that’s around a mile long that you can walk along the beach (though it’s kind of far away from the ocean and doesn’t have the best views). The beach is also very close to Broadway, the main shopping area, and you can easily walk there from the beach.

Cannon Beach is farther away from its shopping district, but it has more beautiful scenery, like sea stacks, tidepools, and bird-watching opportunities. It’s home to the famous and photogenic Haystack Rock, a 235-foot sea stack. This is often the #1 reason people visit the Oregon Coast.

WHAT ARE SEA STACKS AND TIDEPOOLING? A sea stack is a tall rock that sticks up out of the ocean near the shore. Waves slowly wear away the land around it, leaving the big rock standing by itself. A Tide pool is a little pool of water left behind on the beach when the tide goes out. Tiny sea animals like starfish, crabs, and anemones live there.

When we visited, we rented recumbent bikes and cruised around Cannon Beach at low tide. It was fun and enabled us to see even more sea stacks. We also loved learning about the marine life at the tidepools. We saw several purple and orange sea stars. It was one of the most memorable things we did on our trip.

Verdict: Cannon Beach, easy.

We visited dozens of beaches on our trip to the Oregon Coast and wrote an article 10 Best Beaches on the Oregon Coast (+ the Ones You Can Skip)

Which Town is Prettier?

This is a hard question because they are both beautiful and filled with gorgeous flowers! Hydrangeas, rhododendrons, and azaleas, just to name a few!

It’s common to see potted plants and hanging flower baskets in pedestrian areas, and it is one of our favorite things about both of these towns.

Seaside has its beach area and shopping district (which is pretty), but then also has quite a bit of the town that looks like a typical city with box stores (which isn’t pretty at all).

When we visited Cannon Beach, we actually chose to walk the mile between where we parked to see Haystack Rock to get to the Old Town shopping district, just because we wanted to look at the cute homes and enjoy the flowers.

Verdict: Cannon Beach. 

Which Town has the Best Wildlife?

Cannon Beach had tons of birds hanging out on Haystack Rock. We saw black oystercatchers, common murres, and seagulls. Puffins are there as well, but we didn’t see any. It’s really important to bring your binoculars if you want to see the birds because they are small and the seastacks are tall. The binoculars allow you to see the details and make the experience so much better. You can check out our favorite (and inexpensive) binoculars here.

We also loved looking for bunnies at Tolovana Park in Cannon Beach. There are dozens of them, and they are so cute!

We didn’t see any wildlife at all in Seaside.

Verdict: Cannon Beach

Which Town is the Best Place to Stay?

Seaside has tons of places to stay. Chains, locally owned, Airbnbs, time shares, resorts… There are tons of options even during peak season. There are also many places to stay right along the beachfront with views. It’s more utilitarian than charming, but I bet staying at a beachfront resort would be really nice.

Cannon Beach has boutique inns, B&Bs, and romantic getaways. Any place in town is in a charming neighborhood and you really can’t go wrong.

Easy way to think about this: Seaside is quantity, Cannon Beach is quality. Plan on paying quite a bit more for lodging in Cannon Beach.

Location	Low Budget	Average Range	High Season Peak
Cannon Beach	$120–$160	$300–$350	$600+
Seaside	$90	$135–$180	$325–$600

Verdict: Seaside. But it really depends on style. We prefer having lots of options and decent hotels that don’t break the bank, so we opted for Seaside. 

WHERE WE STAYED: We stayed at the Sandy Cove Inn (book here) in Seaside. It was affordable and charming. It’s locally owned and has 18 boutique rooms. We stayed in the Garden Room. We liked that we could easily walk to the beach and that the owner had games and beach equipment to let guests borrow. Plus, it was under ~$150 a night.

Which Town has the Best Access to Nature?

Seaside has the Necanicum River that runs through it. The beach here is wide and flat, and there isn’t very much nature. Cannon Beach is close to Ecola State Park, which has wonderful nature.

When we visited, we watched the sunset at Indian Beach in Ecola State Park. It was one of our very first experiences on the Oregon Coast and was absolutely magical! The road through the park was like a rainforest. We saw tons of ferns and purple foxgloves. We could hear the birds chirping and even saw two big elk. We hiked down to the beach and loved seeing people roasting hot dogs over their beach fires. We walked along the beach and enjoyed the sunset. It was great!

Verdict: Cannon Beach

Which Town has the Best Activities?

Both towns have a few fun things to do, but Seaside really is a blast, especially when visiting the Funland Arcade. My husband and I became obsessed with the old-school game of Fascination. It’s a mix between skeeball and bingo, where you compete against everyone in the room. It was really fun. I also appreciated that they had a bunch of pinball machines. We both loved that our $20 arcade card actually lasted us over an hour.

The Carousel Mall is a two-story entertainment complex featuring a mini golf course and several kiddie rides.

The Seaside Aquarium is very small, but you have the opportunity to feed seals and it only costs ~$12. It looked like a great little stop for young families.

At Cannon Beach, we enjoyed riding our bikes on the beach and tidepooling. We didn’t get to see a play at the theater in town, but it looks great, and we will do it next time we are in town.

Seaside	Cannon Beach
Funland Arcade	Beach bike rentals (recumbent & surrey)
Seaside Aquarium	Tidepooling at Haystack Rock
High Life Adventure Park (ropes & zip line)	Coaster Theatre Playhouse
Helicopter tours
Seaside Amusement Park (carousel & games)
Paddle boats on the Necanicum River (local rentals)
Bike rentals

Verdict: Seaside. There are more activities for families, but we personally had more fun in Cannon Beach because we don’t have little children anymore. 

Which Town has the Best Shopping?

Seaside has a shopping district near the beach that runs along Broadway Street. The pedestrian area is packed and there is fun energy in the air. The shops tend to be quirky and there are plenty of tacky gift shops- but not in a bad way. We loved seeing the pithy t-shirts and creative gifts. The World of Gifts was our very favorite. I’ve never seen a store so packed with interesting things to look at, including merchandise hanging from the ceiling.

Old Town, Cannon Beach’s shopping district, runs along Hemlock Street. It’s a charming street filled with quaint and lovely shops and art galleries. We aren’t super into art, but we thought these small, specialty shops were fun. They included a toy shop, yarn shop, and soap shop.

A little outside of Old Town is an interesting stop. The Icefire Glassworks is our favorite. You can watch people blow glass from Wednesday to Sunday until about noon. They aren’t on a strict schedule, but the husband and wife who own the store are fascinating to watch as they create the glass sculptures together and explain the process. We want a glass octopus!

Verdict: Cannon Beach, mostly because we love the glass shop so much.

Which Town has the Best Food?

You are not going to lack for good food in either of these beach towns. We usually only eat one meal out a day when we travel, but we made an exception here because the food was so good!

Bruce’s Candy Kitchen (Cannon Beach)	Fudge, chocolate, saltwater taffy, plus a really cool taffy wrapping machine- fascinating to watch!
Mo’s Seafood and Chowder (Seaside and Cannon Beach)	People love to hate on this place, but there are always great views of the ocean and we thought their clam chowder was great!
Sea Star Gelato (Seaside)	Homemade gelato and the best we’ve ever had (and we’ve been to Italy!) We love their unique flavors
Tom’s Fish and Chips (Cannon Beach)	Inexpensive and had amazing fish tacos
Pizza a’fetta (Cannon Beach and Seaside)	Ranked in the top 50 pizza places in the country! Crust is perfect- soft and crunchy at the same time. Buy a whole pie or by the slice.

Verdict: Tie. Both have great places to eat!

Final Verdict: Should You Visit Seaside or Cannon Beach?

Cannon Beach should be your priority. The beach of Cannon Beach can’t be missed. You have to see Haystack Rock and go tidepooling. You haven’t done the Oregon Coast properly until you have done those two things. Cannon Beach is absolutely charming, in a non-smug way! Plus, its proximity to Ecola State Park makes it an incredible one-two punch! But I am glad that we had time to visit Seaside because both towns were enjoyable.

Check out my Perfect One Day Itinerary for Cannon Beach (+ Ecola State Park)

Because Seaside is only 15 minutes away from Cannon Beach and has tons more lodging options that are less expensive, for me, it’s a slam-dunk to stay here.

Visit Cannon Beach if…	Visit Seaside if…
You like small-town charm.	You like the hustle and bustle.
You are traveling with your sweetheart	You are traveling with your family.
You love scenic beaches.	You like beaches with amenities.
You like art galleries.	Like family-centered activities.
You enjoy nature and wildlife.	Like the amenities of a larger city.

We stayed three nights in Seaside and were able to visit Cannon Beach, Astoria, and Seaside. It was a perfect home base for these three great coastal towns.

Check out my Perfect One Day Itinerary for Astoria

Going on a Road Trip?

If you’re serious about doing this Oregon Coast trip and don’t want to spend 20+ hours stitching it together from blogs and Google maps, our PNW Road Trip Bundle gives you a tested loop you can follow.

It includes step-by-step itineraries for Olympic National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, the Columbia River Gorge, and the Oregon Coast, with suggested overnights, daily plans, and realistic drive times so you’re not wasting days in the car. We specialize in Western road trips, spend 70+ days a year on the road, and more than 24,000 travelers have used our guides for their trips.

Click the PNW Bundle to see all the amazing things you can do. If you’re only visiting the Oregon Coast, you can also grab just the Oregon Coast guide.