Visiting Tillamook, Oregon

Tillamook is a small city in northwestern Oregon. The city is nestled in between the Oregon Coast Range and the Pacific Ocean. Tillamook, Oregon is also a popular stop for roadtrippers taking US Highway 101, otherwise known as the Pacific Coast Highway.

For day-trippers from Portland or travelers passing through on the Pacific Coast Highway, Tillamook is an easy stopping point with tasty and picturesque attractions for visitors.

Getting to Tillamook, Oregon

For roadtrippers taking the scenic Pacific Coast Highway, Tillamook is easy to find. The highway passes directly through the city.

For visitors coming from Portland, the easiest way to reach Tillamook is by car. Take US Highway 26 west, then turn off on Oregon State Highway 6 at Banks. From there, the road winds through the Oregon Coast Range and Tillamook National Forest before terminating right in the middle of Tillamook.

Public transportation from Portland is tricky, but possible. From Union Station in Downtown Portland, there are a few buses each day going to Tillamook. The bus takes slightly longer, about two hours, but it only costs $15 each way.

Tillamook Creamery

Tillamook is most widely known for its dairy industry. The Tillamook area has been in the dairy business since mid-19th century, and the Tillamook Cheese Company has been around since 1909. Today, their ice cream and cheese is in stores across the United States.

The Tillamook Creamery is a perfect place to visit not only for cheese-lovers, but also for anyone who is curious about the cheese manufacturing process. Seeing dozens of workers and the multi-million dollar equipment in action, making products we use on a daily basis, is an interesting and educational encounter.

The second floor of the creamery has loads of information on cheese-manufacturing from step one to the packaging and distribution. Visitors can observe the Tillamook Cheese manufacturing process through windows from a walkway above the production lines.

After learning about cheese manufacturing, there is a station with samples for visitors to try several varieties of Tillamook cheese. The line is long, but free cheese is always worth the wait.

On the bottom floor of the Tillamook Creamery, there is a large gift shop that sells all sorts of locally-made products. The shop has every kind of Tillamook cheese imaginable, including aged cheeses not available anywhere else and, my personal favorite, cheese curds.

Opposite the gift shop on the ground floor is the restaurant and ice cream shop. The restaurant has a wide variety of options, each incorporating Tillamook cheese. The fried cheese curds are a fantastic guilty pleasure, although they are a heavy, heart-stopping option. The ice cream shop is the perfect choice for a summer day, or any day for that matter, with dozens of options as close to the source as possible.

The Tillamook Creamery is one of the top tourist attractions in the Pacific Northwest, with over one million dairy fiends visiting each year. The creamery is an easy choice for spending a few hours in Tillamook.

Tillamook, Oregon Beaches

Technically, there are no beaches in the city of Tillamook. However, there are plenty of options for coastal wandering.

Netarts and Oceanside are small coastal villages a short drive (about fifteen minutes) from Tillamook. The area is a stunning example of Oregon’s coast, one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in the world.

Oceanside is a tiny village consisting of more homes than permanent residents. The large beach is hardly busy, even on rare, warm and sunny days. The offshore rocks, Three Arch Rocks, are beautiful examples of the power of the ocean. They are also protected wildlife areas and quite photogenic.

A few minutes up the road from Oceanside is Short Beach, a hidden beach most Tillamook visitors never see. It is noted only by a small sign travelers miss unless specifically looking for it. The rocky beach is less than a mile long and rarely has more than a few guests, if any at all. There is no parking lot for Short Beach, just enough space on the side of the road for a few cars.

Continuing past Short Beach, at the end of the road is Cape Meares Lighthouse. This is one of the best places to watch the sunset on the Oregon Coast.

For more tips on Cape Meares, read my post on Natural Wonders of Oregon.

If you’re looking for a long beach hike, head to Bayocean Spit. It was once a resort and town, but now the area is Bayocean Peninsula Park. The skinny peninsula is surrounded by water, with the Pacific Ocean on the west side and Tillamook Bay to the East. Surprisingly, this long, sandy beach rarely has many visitors.

The entire 362-mile Oregon Coastline is open to the public, and the beaches around Tillamook are some of the most naturally beautiful beaches without large crowds.

Pelican Brewpub

After eating too much cheese, it’ll be time to wash down the salty snack with a famous Oregon craft beer. Like most places in Oregon, beer from the source is easy to come by in Tillamook, too.

Pelican Brewing has three locations on the Oregon Coast. The original beachside brewery is in Pacific City, a short drive south from Tillamook. Fortunately, the second location is on the edge of Downtown Tillamook. Pelican has several beers that are found around Oregon, but the taproom has even more brews that are only available on site. They also serve a root beer that is so delicious you’ll be questioning whether to order an adult brew.

After a cheese-gorging or a fun day on the beach, the Pelican Brewing taproom is the perfect place for a quality beer in Tillamook. Think twice about ordering food, though. It is horrendously overpriced and excessively bland.

Delicious ice cream and cheese are reasons enough to visit Tillamook. The beautiful Oregon Coast makes Tillamook an ideal small city to spend time in Oregon. The city has enough to offer roadtrippers for a day or two, and it is a fun, easy day trip from Portland.