Portland OR to San Francisco CA in 10 days

What time of year and what are your interests?

How do you plan to travel?

Beginning of September, driving…coast, maybe Bend, redwoods, food, wine

I live in Portland, and we frequently head south for long weekends. Some places our family has enjoyed include (in order North to South):

McMinnville - wineries. Oregon is known for its Pinot Noir. https://visitmcminnville.com/

Sunriver - near Bend. Planned resort with golf, bike trials, pool, ect. https://www.sunriverresort.com/

Out and About Treesort - treehouse hotel. Really cool! https://treehouses.com/

Rogue River jet boat tour leaving from Gold Beach. This was so much fun! Suggest you stay in Coos Bay, Gold Beach is pretty run down https://www.roguejets.com/

This state park is right across the Oregon boarder and lovely. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=413

Happy planning!

Thank you!

I would work my way to the coast driving through Yamhill County. Towns to stop in Yamhill are Newberg (1h) and Dundee (5-minutes). From there you can drive to the Oregon Coast Hwy (aka 101 that takes about 3h) and into CA along this route (5h 45m).
Counties to stop in CA are Del Norte and Humboldt and visit the Redwood National and State Parks (another 30-minutes). Continue on 101 until you get to Highway 1 to drive along the coast and check out Glass Beach (3h 45m), Mendocino (30-minutes) and Bowling Ball Beach (1h).
From Bowling Ball Beach, you can drive through Sonoma County stopping in Healdsburg (2h 15m) and continue on to San Fran along Hwy 101 (2h).

Goat Rock Beach, where the Russian River empties into the ocean. Just south of Jenner.

But stay out of the riptides.

I will let others help you with Oregon—-I personally would not try to fit Bend into this trip as it is off the coast—redwoods path, and can be very hot in September. But if you do include Bend, you could either cross back to the coast by going due west through Eugene and down 101, or continue down 97 to Crater Lake, then head to I5 to Grants Pass to pick up 199 back to the coast, meeting 101 at Crescent City. This route will take you right by Jedediah Smith SP, mentioned above. It has some very nice redwoods.

On the other hand, if your path is straight down the Oregon coast, a night in Brookings just before the California border will put you close the the redwoods. Be sure to take the Newton Drury Parkway alternate road parallel to the freeway, and stop at some of the pullouts to walk to some of the biggest redwoods. The parkway ends at the Prairie Creek SP visitor center and the big elk meadow.

https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/drivenbdparkway.htm

There are several visitor centers in the combined Redwood State and National Parks, but this one is convenient for a quiet stop for maps and information.

For a place to stay in the redwoods, I suggest you avoid the towns (Crescent City, Eureka, Arcata) and stay instead near the tiny village of Trinidad, specifically at View Crest Lodge cabins:

https://www.viewcrestlodge.com/

There is a nice grocery store in the village where you can shop for groceries to make meals in your cabin—the kitchens are nicely equipped. If you wish to hike Fern Canyon ( highly recommended), you will have to backtrack to the Prairie Creek visitor center area, but it is only 30 minutes and a beautiful drive. If you want to drive to Gold Beach and the entrance to Fern Canyon, it is another 30 minutes on a very narrow and twisty dirt road, with a stream crossing at the end.

For wine country visits we prefer Healdsburg to anything further south, especially overpriced Napa. Or for “something completely different”, leave 101 at Leggett and take Highway 1 down the coast past Mendocino to highway 128 and the Anderson Valley wineries. There is a wonderful inn at Philo:

https://www.themadrones.com/

I don’t know if you are a tourist beginning a portion of a trip in Portland, or if you are an Oregonian (an Oregonian must have already visited these places). The Oregon Coast is fantastic, but if you want to visit Central Oregon here is an idea. From Portland head East on 26 and checkout Mt. Hood—Timberline Lodge, etc.--and then head to Bend. Visit Smith Rock near Redmond, the High Desert Museum just South of Bend, lava caves, and more in that vicinity. Take in Crater Lake while heading South and over to and through Grants Pass, the home of Dutch Bros. coffee. Then take in Oregon Caves National Monument and proceed to California. Others have and will give you ideas in Northern CA. If you take the road from Leggett on 101 down to CA hwy 1 be prepared for a very winding, curvy road. Have a great trip.

Topping so I can follow this thread.

If you decide to head down I-5, some unique Oregon stops include

• Wildlife Safari near Roseburg
• The Oregon Vortex near Medford
• Harry & David tour in Medford
• Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland
• Jet boat tours on the Rogue River

Then kick over to Cave Junction for the Oregon Caves

I agree with the idea of leaving Bend off your trip. I live in Bend. It's great but there is so much to see between SF and Portland to spend the time coming to central Oregon since you only have 10 days.

Are you coming to Portland from somewhere else or do you live in the area. If you live around the Portland area you should bring your questions to one of the Portland area travel group meetings.