Bandon
Bandon is our favorite Oregon beach town. Our family rented a house for a week, and enjoyed relaxing days exploring the beach and surrounding coast. The town has everything you need for a fun stay, shops to buy kites to fly on the beach, ice cream, bookstores and toy shops, fish markets, supermarkets, coffee and hot chocolate when the weather is misty and gray.
Coquille Point
- Coquille Point is magical. Long sand beach, driftwood forts, spectacular rock formations, nesting sea birds, harbor seals and sea lions, fabulous tide pools.
Tidepools
- Tidepools at Coquille Point are filled with amazing ochre sea stars, leather chitons, giant green anemones, and pink colored aggregate anemones, hermit crabs, mussels, and barnacles.
Tip: Check the tide tables to find out low tide (at high tide the tidepools are all covered up). Also, do not poke the green sea anemones with fingers or sticks, and don't walk on rocks covered with anemones.
Seabirds
- The rocks at Coquille Point are nesting areas for a wide variety of seabirds in spring and summer. We spent hours watching the Common Murre (white front like a tuxedo) and Black Oystercatchers with a downy gray chick. Tufted Puffins also nest here, but none were in residence. Bring your cameras and binoculars.
Interpretive Loop Trail
- On the bluffs above the beach, walk along the loop trail, with signs about plants and animals you'll see, benches, picnic tables, and great place to watch the sunsets.
Driftwood forts
- There's plenty of driftwood on the beach, and people make forts, perfect for kids to crawl inside.
Old Town
- At the
marina
watch the boats go by, or have lunch at outdoor picnic tables. On the boardwalk, kids can play on carved wooden sea lion and turtle, and check out the lovely pavement mosaic, inlaid with colorful beach stones. Farmers Market with local fruits and vegetables is Friday and Saturday 10 - 4pm.
Washed Ashore gallery
- Step into an imaginative world of sculptures created from litter washed up on the beach! A coral reef made from styrofoam, masks, whale skeleton, giant jellyfish, musical sea star, "flip-flop fish." Step into the bio-luminescent sea cave, creatures from the tidepools that glow in the dark.
Bandon City Park
- City Park has a large
playground
with climbing structures, swings.
Beach Loop Rd.
- From Beach Loop Rd. is beach access at four places: Coquille Point (described above), Face Rock, a lovely long beach with scenic “sea stacks” rock formations, and picnic tables, Devil's Bowl also has picnic tables and a hiking trail, at the China Creek parking lot, take the China Creek Trail down to the beach.
Horseback rides
- Bandon Beach Riding Stables will take you for horseback rides on the beach(all the rides are family friendly). Kids 3 and up, kids under 6 ride with an adult. Rides last one - two hours, stables are open year round
Bullards Beach State Park
- Picnic or camp in the trees next to the beach, a nice flat sand beach with tons of driftwood, perfect for building forts. The campground has the usual campsites, plus comfy
green yurts
with wooden floors, lights and heating, evening programs in the amphitheater, and a horse camp.
Coquille River Lighthouse
- This lighthouse, constructed at the end of the 19th century, aided ships sailing up the Coquille River (the sand bar at the entrance to the river is tricky to navigate). The lighthouse is open daily May to October, and there are tours to the top of the lighthouse (wear closed-toed shoes).
Fish hatchery
- At the fish hatchery, steelhead salmon, rainbow trout are raised, and then released into lakes for recreational fishing. When we visited, there were chubby 3 - 4 lb rainbow trout in the ponds. Toss in fish food and watch the trout chow down.
Cranberry Festival
- Bandon is the “cranberry capital” of Oregon, and every fall they have a cranberry festival, with booths, live music, food, barbeque, tractor show and activities for kids.
Here's our own Travel for Kids hand-picked list of Bandon family hotels and vacation rentals, all styles and price ranges, and close to the beach:
