Pacific Coast's Best Small Towns for a Weekend Escape
The best Pacific Coast weekend hides in the towns too small to make the highway signs. Elephant seals bark on the sand just north of Cambria. Orcas cut through the water off Friday Harbor. In Ojai, the mountains flush pink at sundown and stop the whole town in its tracks. Two days in any one of these towns beats a week almost anywhere else.
Cambria, California
Cambria hides in a pocket of Monterey pines on the Central Coast, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, about 6,000 people and in no hurry. Moonstone Beach is the draw, a boardwalk along the bluffs where gray whales pass offshore. Just north, thousands of elephant seals haul out on the sand at the Piedras Blancas rookery, close enough to hear them bark.
Fiscalini Ranch Preserve threads trails right along the ocean bluffs, steep enough to earn the view. In town, Moonstone Cellars pours a local merlot on Cornwall Street. The pace never picks up, which is the whole point of coming.
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Carmel-by-the-Sea packs galleries, courtyards, and a Michelin-starred kitchen into one square mile with no street addresses. Chez Noir turns out oysters and coastal California cooking a few blocks from the water. The Carmel Art Association, Bennett Sculpture Carmel, and Galerie Plein Aire carry the town's art trade.
The real prize is south of town at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, a headland of coves and cypress that ranks among the best of California's roughly 280 state parks. Carmel Beach closes the main street with white sand and a clean line of surf. Both are a short walk or drive from downtown.
Astoria, Oregon
Astoria has been here since 1811, the oldest American town west of the Rockies, home to about 10,000. The Astoria Riverwalk follows the old railroad line along the Columbia, past working docks and canneries turned breweries. Portway Tavern has poured drinks since 1925 and, by local account, still answers to its founder's ghost.
The water here is called the Graveyard of the Pacific, where the Columbia bar has taken more than 2,000 ships. The Columbia River Maritime Museum tells those stories in full. Nearby, the Flavel House Museum was the mansion of George Flavel, the bar pilot who steered ships across that water and made a fortune doing it.
Friday Harbor, Washington
Friday Harbor lives on orca. The town is the hub of San Juan Island, in the far northwest corner of Washington, a ferry ride across the Salish Sea. Between April and October, the whales work the water offshore. Outfitters like Discovery Sea Kayak paddle out to meet them, some on night trips through bioluminescent water that lights up with every stroke.
Lime Kiln Point State Park, on the island's west shore, is one of the best places in the country to watch whales from land, gray whales and porpoises included. Roche Harbor, up the coast, sends boats out around the archipelago. The island moves on its own quiet clock.
Solvang, California
Solvang is Denmark dropped into the Santa Ynez Valley, a town of about 6,000 that Danish immigrants built and never stopped celebrating. The street names give it away, Atterdag and Copenhagen and Kronborg. The bakeries turn out real Danish pastry. It goes by the Danish Capital of America and earns the title, with the traditions of Denmark alive downtown.
Copenhagen Sausage Garden works the pretzel and sausage angle downtown. Just outside town, past OstrichLand, Highline Adventures flies what it bills as the biggest and fastest ziplines in California, three lines topping 50 miles an hour. The Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum and Hans Christian Andersen Park fill out a slow afternoon.
Carpinteria, California
Carpinteria calls its beach the world's safest, with the gentle surf and offshore reef to back the claim up. The town is an easy drive down the coast from Santa Barbara, low-key and largely overlooked. Carpinteria City Beach brings the swimmers who want calm water and a lifeguard in the chair.
The small downtown eats simple, a few family kitchens a short walk up from the sand. The beach and the shops are a few blocks apart, which is most of the appeal. A weekend here asks for nothing more than a towel and an appetite.
Port Townsend, Washington
Port Townsend went up in the Victorian boom and never tore it down. A whole seaport of 1880s brick and gingerbread still stands on the Olympic Peninsula, about 10,000 people strong. Fort Worden State Park, on the bluff above town, played the backdrop for An Officer and a Gentleman in 1982.
The Palace Hotel dates to 1889, a block from the Rose Theatre, which has shown films since 1907. The Ann Starrett Mansion shows off the fussiest Victorian woodwork in town. The Fire Bell Tower looks out over the water. Port Townsend is a town best seen on foot.
Ojai, California
At sunset, the Topatopa Mountains above Ojai turn pink, a few minutes of alpenglow the locals call the Pink Moment. The town lies about 80 miles up from Los Angeles and bans chain stores. Downtown is all independent shops and galleries. Rose Valley Falls Trail climbs to a two-tier waterfall in the Los Padres backcountry nearby.
Lake Casitas, just west, has campsites and quiet water. The Ojai Valley Museum lays out the valley's history. The Naturalist pours natural wine downtown. The whole place is built for doing very little, well.
Morro Bay, California
Morro Rock owns the skyline here, a 576-foot volcanic plug that has steered sailors into the harbor for more than three centuries. It rises at the mouth of the bay as its own protected preserve. Shine Cafe and Taco Temple handle the eating, spring rolls and smoothies at one, Mexican at the other.
Morro Bay State Park is the other half of the visit, a marina, a natural history museum, and an estuary where otters and seals turn up in the eelgrass. The Elfin Forest boardwalk loops through a pocket of pygmy oaks just outside town. Two days here fill themselves.
Poulsbo, Washington
Poulsbo goes by Little Norway, a waterfront of Nordic storefronts on Liberty Bay, on the Kitsap Peninsula side of Puget Sound. The historic district is walkable end to end, heavy on locally owned shops and small museums. The Maritime Museum, Poulsbo Heritage Museum, and SEA Discovery Center tell the town's fishing past and the life in the bay.
Liberty Bay itself is the main event, calm enough to paddle a kayak all afternoon. Poulsbo's Fish Park lays elevated boardwalks over a salmon estuary at the edge of downtown. It makes a fitting last stop on a slow coastal weekend.
Two Days on the Coast
None of these towns needs more than a weekend. Most reward exactly that. Port Townsend hands over a whole Victorian seaport on foot. Morro Bay puts a 576-foot rock at the end of the street and otters in the bay. Solvang serves Danish pastry in a town that looks airlifted from Europe. The coast does the rest.
