Portland to San Francisco 7 day road trip

September puts you in wildfire and smoke season, something to take seriously. Lets hope we get off easy this year, but things have been pretty dry in the northwest this winter and I'm worried about a hot, smokey fire season. Be ready to adapt as needed and stay tuned to local conditions as your trip progresses.

Highway 101 down the coast is breathtakingly scenic and lovely, but slows you down and takes more time (maybe a LOT more time) than one might expect. Plan accordingly.

Yes it could be smoke season, but often the coast is spared from the brunt of it (not always). But September is a very popular time on the Oregon coast as the weather is almost always better in September than it is all summer. Many Oregonians go to the coast then and not in summer. As noted in prior post Highway 101 is slooooow going and definitely not a four lane freeway. You'll definitely want to make hotel reservations in advance if there is somewhere you want to stay. If you were thinking of camping (sounds like maybe not) you will have a significant challenge finding a campsite due to closure of many coastal parks for repair work in 2025 and the fact they book up a full 6 months ahead of time.

Seven days isn't very long to traverse that distance (700+ miles). FWIW, good chunks of the 101 route in Oregon do not actually have scenic views of the coast at all. The northern part of the coast is nice but touristy and even slower gowing. Do you want to see any of Portland or the Columbia Gorge? Or any of San Fran? That would basically eat up half your time, at least.

FWIW, if it were me with that amount of time, I'd skip Portland and SF altogether and focus on the coast and Redwoods. If you book a return flight from Medford, Oregon airport, you could still see the Redwoods but bypass the N. Cali coastline for a future trip. That would cut out 400 miles of driving and make a better paced trip. A very aggressive trip suggestion below, not my ideal trip, just an idea of how it could be routed.

• Day 1: Fly in to PDX, rent car, drive to Pacific City. Watch the dory boats land on the sand from the porch of Pelican Brewery. Sleep Pacific City.
• Day 2: meander the coast and explore sites on the way to Yachats. Sleep Yachats.
• Day 3: meander the coast and explore sites on the way to Bandon. Sleep Bandon.
• Day 4: meander the coast into California, sleep Crescent City.
• Day 5: Visit Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State, then drive to Redwoods National Park, visit park, return to sleep in Crescent City
• Day 6: Drive north through Rogue Valley, visit Oregon Caves or a winery, sleep Medford.
• Day 7: fly home

Here's a prior thread with a similar question but in reverse. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/beyond-europe/pacific-northwest-e6231490-5a05-4d26-b9fd-e19173a4e0d8

And when you decide on your actual route, be sure to ask for suggestions for food, sites, etc. There are a lot of us locals in the forum who might be willing to share a secret favorite or two...I gave at least one away in my suggested route :)

I think in terms of nights. Unless you want to move each night, this is a simplified itinerary. From Portland, spend 2 nights in Newport or Yachats on the central Oregon coast. There's lots to see in that area: Cape Perpetua, Heceta Head, Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, Depoe Bay, Oregon Dunes, whale watching, etc.

Then 2 nights in Trinidad or Crescent City in California for the redwoods. It's a 7+ hour drive from Newport to Trinidad, or 5+ hours from Yachats to Crescent City. There's lots to see in Oregon on this stretch. You may want to add an overnight in Gold Beach for the Rogue River Jet Boats.

Then 2 nights in Mendocino on CA-1. The Oregon Coast is rugged, whereas the Northern California Coast looks more managed with pastures going right out to the top of the bluffs and wind swept trees.

If you have an extra night, it could be spent in Anderson Valley, Sonoma, or Napa Valley for wine tasting.

Note that online drive times are very optimistic. For the coastal US-101 and CA-1, add 20% to those drive times. Here's a Mile By Mile guide for the Oregon Coast you can download: https://www.oregoncoastmagazine.com/mile-by-mile-guide/

For a bit of frame of reference, when I'm doing a just- get-there drive to the bay area I plan on about 10-11hrs for a straight, boring zip down I-5. That just covers bathroom breaks, fuel and a meal, without meandering. It's much more pleasant to do in a relaxed two days, even on I-5.

The coast trip is definitely much more enjoyable! Do check the conditions on 101, it suffers regularly from winter storm damage in both Oregon and California (landslides). They can sometimes take quite a while to repair or require a detour.

galightfoot,
Just coming back to this post. We live in So Cal and have made many a road trip up and down the coast of Calif. and Ore. Leonard has some good suggestions. I would add do not miss Patrick's Point State Park (now called Sue-Meg State Park) with its spectacular fern canyon. It is near Humboldt Calif., close to the Oregon border. And don't miss some of the many redwood forests and groves along the way. You can't go wrong following Hwy 101 all the way on your road trip. You can stay in a different town each night. We have headed north into Oregon, the reverse of your trip, but we have turned inland around Yachats, before Portland, to visit family in the Corvallis/Albany and Bend areas. Thus I can't offer knowledgable advice on points north of there.

The drive north of San Francisco into Oregon is so beautiful, that you can enjoy each day's leg and stop somewhere further along each night. Beside Patrick's Point, I especially like Yachats, Ore., Crescent City and Mendocino, Calif., among many scenic spots on this route. I suggest you get a AAA type paper map and look at the towns along your route (Hwy 101, I hope) and pick your towns to stay in based on how many miles you want to travel each day. Of course, that figure will depend on what you want to stop and see/experience that day. You may want to explore further into the redwoods along a trail, shop for cheeses at local creameries and farms, buy jams and confitures at orchards in Ore, collect some sand dollars or shells at Oregon beaches, where allowed (they seem to have more than the Calif. beaches), walk along the headlands near Mendocino, explore some of the older towns along the way. There are forests, fishing towns, scenic ocean views, historic sights, botanical gardens, some wineries (slightly inland), and I believe Mendocino has a mushroom festival in September. The scenery is spectacular on this route. I hope you have a wonderful trip!

Thanks everyone! Great details! We are only flying into Portland and flying out of San Francisco. Not planning to spend time in those cities. Focused on the Coast and seeing the Redwoods. Our travel dates are flexible, so what's best time to go?

Also excited about potentially spending a day at the dunes on the coast.

Thanks everyone! Great details! We are only flying into Portland and
flying out of San Francisco. Not planning to spend time in those
cities. Focused on the Coast and seeing the Redwoods. Our travel dates
are flexible, so what's best time to go?

late September is a good time to go, but you will still need to plan ahead for some places with reservations. It sounds like you are stuck with the flight situation? And only have 7 days? You will have to move with pace down the coast to make it to SFO to fly home.

Also excited about potentially spending a day at the dunes on the
coast.

Are you ATV/dune buggy riders or sand surfers? If not, peaceful dunes can be a challenge to find in some parts of the coast, so it would be helpful to know what activities you're interested in.

The Fern Canyon hike mentioned above is in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Up until Sept. 15 a timed entry parking permit is required for this site.

Yes, Leonard, you are correct. My bad! I guess I am getting too old, and my many road trips up north from home are all beginning to blend together, especially the various redwood groves and forests! Prairie Creek is where to go. Don't miss Fern canyon.

We have chosen to fly into Portland and out of SFO because Southwest flies non stop from Baltimore to these cities. We could add 1 or 2 days to our trip, but have animals/young adult at home and don't want to be gone longer. Regarding the dunes, we would definitely do the ATV/dune buggy thing. The speedboat ride on the river is something we would also like to do. Thanks everyone.

I highly recommend spending at least one night in Marin County (biased because I live here). You can hit Napa / Sonoma wine country first, then spend the night in either Sausalito or Tiburon. The biggest draw is seeing Muir Woods and if you have time, Point Reyes National Seashore. Also the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Battery Spencer / Marin Headlands is breathtaking. You can hit that before you drive into the city.

I'm also from the East Coast and every time I have friends/family visit, we take them to Muir Woods and Point Reyes. They're always blown away.

I haven't made it to much of the Redwoods myself yet but we've traveled down on the 101 from Portland several times. We love Newport, OR. And I'm a bit obsessed with tide pools. Research those a bit but you can see them in Yaquina Head and Cape Perpetua for sure. In Newport we ate at Moe's, which may be touristy now but it's a long-time Oregon favorite
I know you're not into hiking but try to walk out to a viewpoint from a great forest to a huge cliff...it's pretty awe-inspiring. There were lots of little paths off 101 as I recall.

The dune buggies will be best out of Florence which is west of Eugene down I-5. You can Google dune buggies Florence Oregon and find what best suits you.

The boats you are looking for are jet boats not speed boats. They are on the Rogue River. Probably the best known is Jerry’s out of Gold Beach. The company has been around for years. Reliable and know what they are doing. The Rogue River is amazing and nothing like you will see on the East Coast.

I should add that both of these options will each take a day out of your trip. If I had one to do, I would do the jet boats. I did that one probably 55 years ago. The Rogue River is gorgeous but all of my recent experience (25 years+) has been on the upper Rogue fly fishing for steelhead from a drift boat.

You have chosen a very diverse and gorgeous part of the country to visit. You really need to pick and choose what you want to experience. 7 days might have you spending most of time in the car as previous posters have mentioned. Travel is 2-lane roads, curvy and can be slow.

To Edit:

With your limited time and what you want to see and do, I go would straight down I-5 to Eugene, and over to Florence which is on 101. Decide if you want to do the dunes or jet boats or both.

Go south to the Redwoods.

Thanks everyone and so excited! Love tide pools and love jet boats!

And dune buggies!

With your limited time and what you want to see and do, I go would
straight down I-5 to Eugene, and over to Florence which is on 101.
Decide if you want to do the dunes or jet boats or both.

I agree that you're going to need to skip the north part of the Oregon coast to make your timeline work. You'll miss some of the iconic beaches but you will still see plenty of beautiful spots. Since you like tidepools, I'd modify the above suggestion to take I-5 to Corvallis and cut over to Newport, allowing you to see some of the tidepool action, along with some great ones south of there (Cape Perpetua/Yachats). Florence is indeed one of the best spots for dune buggy trips.

Once you come up with your specific itinerary, pop back on and let us know so we can give more specific recommendations for sights and food (no offense to Moe's, but that is far from my first pick for good west coast chowder).