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Frommer's Guide to Oregon

The Frommer's Guide to Oregon has good information on hotels, restaurants and what to see in Portland, and along the Pacific Coast Highway.

Rock formations off the Oregon coastThe Oregon Coast

This Frommer's Guide to Oregon is researched and written by experienced author and Oregon resident, Karl Samson. He and Frommer's try to pack the Beaver State into about 380 pages from the Abacela Winery in the Roseburg Area Wine Country through to Zumwalt's Myrtlewood Factory near North Bend – right there on the Pacific Coast Highway. Oregon is almost 100,000 square miles, the 9th largest state in the United States, and that's a lot of ground to cover.

Update!
This guide has not been kept in print by Frommer's, so instead for driving the Pacific Coast Highway we recommend their more recent guide to Seattle, Portland and the Oregon Coast.

The Author

Frommer's Oregon book coverFrommer's Oregon

Author Karl Samson lives in Oregon and is also the author of the Frommer's Seattle and Washington State guides. He's clearly a Pacific Northwest expert, and his interests in outdoor sports and wine certainly add something to his knowledge of the region.

Oregon produces some of the best wine in the world, and with its unspoilt coastline and great places where you can go skiing, fishing, hiking, biking, and windsurfing (amongst many other things), it's also one of the best areas in the nation for outdoor activities. No wonder the author lives there.

The Book

Frommer's books are written to a pattern, and if you like that pattern – and we do – you go back to them again and again. And if you do go back to them again and again, a useful feature all books have is a 'What's New' section right at the front. If you had an older issue of the guidebook and have updated it, you get a quick summary of what changes have taken place – new hotels and restaurants, and sights that have opened or changed location.

Mount Hood in OregonMount Hood

The Best of Oregon

Frommer's Guide to Oregon follows the What's New section with its 'Best of Oregon' pages. This is a section we really like, listing as it does the author's pick of the half-dozen or so highlights in various categories, including hotels, restaurants, and sight-seeing. The Pacific Coast Highway fares well, of course, along with the whole of the Oregon coast.

In fact the Oregon Coast is the first selection in the very first category, The Best Natural Attractions, followed by the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, Mount Hood, Crater Lake National Park, the Central Oregon Lava Lands, and Hells Canyon (deeper than the Grand Canyon, the author reminds us.)

Crater Lake in OregonCrater Lake

The Best Scenic Drives in Oregon

One stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway is also the author's choice of one of the best scenic drives in Oregon. He calls the short 30-mile stretch from Gold Beach to Brookings 'Oregon's single most spectacular stretch of coastline', and suggests you allow a full day to cover it because you're sure to want to make lots of stops. His other choices of scenic drives are the Historic Columbia River Highway, the Santiam and McKenzie Pass Loop, Crater Lake Rim Drive, and the Cascades Lake Highway.

Salt Creek Falls in OregonSalt Creek Falls

The Oregon Coast

The Frommer's Guide to Oregon includes a 73-page section on the Oregon Coast, and though we might be biased, we don't think this is enough! But the author is as enthusiastic about this part of Oregon as he is about the rest of his home state. He calls it a 'shoreline of jaw-dropping natural beauty.... with its drama and grandeur. Wave-pounded rocky shores; dense, dark forests; lonely lighthouses; rugged headlands – these all set this shoreline apart.' And it's descriptions like this that set this writer apart from many other guidebook authors – this guy can write.

Oregon's Sand DunesOregon's Sand Dunes

On the Road with Frommer's Oregon Guide

We're about to hit the road ourselves and will use this book to help guide us along every mile of that Oregon Coast. If the book has any major faults we'll report back here, but for the moment it's certainly whetting our appetite to get going – and that's a plus point in itself.

Buying the Book
If you want to get a copy of the Frommer's Guide to Oregon, there are more recent versions than the one reviewed here, though they're still a little dated. You might want to check out some other more recent Oregon guides instead.

Other Oregon pages

  • Cannon Beach is a small town on the Oregon coast on the Pacific Coast Highway and with its coastline, state parks and beaches among its attractions.

    Cannon Beach

    Cannon Beach is a small town on the Oregon coast on the Pacific Coast Highway and with its coastline, state parks and beaches among its attractions.

  • Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews five Astoria hotels in the budget, moderate and expensive categories and all taken from their guide to PCH accommodation.

    Astoria Hotels near the Pacific Coast Highway in Oregon

    Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews five Astoria hotels in the budget, moderate and expensive categories and all taken from their guide to PCH accommodation.

  • Tillamook in Oregon is prime cheese and dairy country with the County Creamery and Blue Heron French Cheese Company among the visitor attractions.

    Tillamook

    Tillamook in Oregon is prime cheese and dairy country with the County Creamery and Blue Heron French Cheese Company among the visitor attractions.

  • The Mill Casino Hotel and RV Park in North Bend and Coos Bay on the Pacific Coast Highway is Native-American owned and with waterfront views.

    North Bend Casino Hotel

    The Mill Casino Hotel and RV Park in North Bend and Coos Bay on the Pacific Coast Highway is Native-American owned and with waterfront views.

  • The Oregon Coast's hotels, inns, guesthouses, b&bs and other places to stay include 5-star luxury hotels and resorts, motel chains, RV parks, and camping.

    Oregon Coast Hotels and Inns

    The Oregon Coast's hotels, inns, guesthouses, b&bs and other places to stay include 5-star luxury hotels and resorts, motel chains, RV parks, and camping.

  • The Florence Sea Lion Caves are one of the best wildlife attractions along the Pacific Coast Highway, north of Florence and south of Yachats.

    Florence Sea Lion Caves

    The Florence Sea Lion Caves are one of the best wildlife attractions along the Pacific Coast Highway, north of Florence and south of Yachats.

  • Unique Inns on the Pacific Coast Highway include some of the best independently-owned boutique hotels, spas, and lodges in California, Oregon and Washington.

    Unique Inns on the Pacific Coast Highway

    Unique Inns on the Pacific Coast Highway include some of the best independently-owned boutique hotels, spas, and lodges in California, Oregon and Washington.

  • Florence is a small city on the Oregon coast, famous for its sand dunes and sea lion caves, and with the Pacific Coast Highway going right through the centre.

    Florence in Oregon

    Florence is a small city on the Oregon coast, famous for its sand dunes and sea lion caves, and with the Pacific Coast Highway going right through the centre.

  • The Ocean Lodge in Cannon Beach, Oregon, is a romantic ocean front accommodation near the Pacific Coast Highway that is pet-friendly and family-friendly too.

    Ocean Lodge Cannon Beach Oregon

    The Ocean Lodge in Cannon Beach, Oregon, is a romantic ocean front accommodation near the Pacific Coast Highway that is pet-friendly and family-friendly too.

  • The small port of Astoria in Oregon sits right on Highway 101, the Pacific Coast Highway, at the mouth of the Columbia River.

    Astoria in Oregon

    The small port of Astoria in Oregon sits right on Highway 101, the Pacific Coast Highway, at the mouth of the Columbia River.

  • Brookings in Oregon stands on the Pacific Coast Highway at the southern end of the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor.

    Brookings

    Brookings in Oregon stands on the Pacific Coast Highway at the southern end of the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor.

  • The small town of Bandon on the Oregon coast is big in what it can offer visitors, including some of the finest golf along the Pacific Coast Highway.

    Bandon

    The small town of Bandon on the Oregon coast is big in what it can offer visitors, including some of the finest golf along the Pacific Coast Highway.

  • Gold Beach is a small town on the Oregon coast at the mouth of the Rogue River with the Pacific Coast Highway running right through it.

    Gold Beach Oregon

    Gold Beach is a small town on the Oregon coast at the mouth of the Rogue River with the Pacific Coast Highway running right through it.

  • The Pacific Coast Highway Travel guide to where to eat in Yachats, Oregon, focussing mainly on places with local organic produce, and mostly along Highway 101.

    Where to Eat in Yachats

    The Pacific Coast Highway Travel guide to where to eat in Yachats, Oregon, focussing mainly on places with local organic produce, and mostly along Highway 101.

  • The Pacific Coast Highway Travel guide to Yachats in Oregon, with a brief history of the town, what to do and see, where to stay, and how to pronounce Yachats!

    Yachats

    The Pacific Coast Highway Travel guide to Yachats in Oregon, with a brief history of the town, what to do and see, where to stay, and how to pronounce Yachats!

  • The Overleaf Lodge in Yachats, Oregon, is an oceanside hotel accommodation, right by the ocean, just off the Pacific Coast Highway and with spacious rooms.

    Overleaf Lodge Yachats

    The Overleaf Lodge in Yachats, Oregon, is an oceanside hotel accommodation, right by the ocean, just off the Pacific Coast Highway and with spacious rooms.

  • If you’re looking for good Gold Beach Oregon lodging check out the Tu Tu Tun Lodge a few miles inland along the Rogue River on the Southern Oregon coast.

    Gold Beach Oregon Lodging

    If you’re looking for good Gold Beach Oregon lodging check out the Tu Tu Tun Lodge a few miles inland along the Rogue River on the Southern Oregon coast.

  • Depoe Bay is on the Oregon coast, a little village that's noted for whale-watching, for its spouting horns and has the smallest navigable harbor in the world.

    Depoe Bay

    Depoe Bay is on the Oregon coast, a little village that's noted for whale-watching, for its spouting horns and has the smallest navigable harbor in the world.

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