7 Best Lighthouses on The Oregon Coast to See

While there aren’t that many lighthouses on the Oregon Coast, the good news is that they’re all easy to find and the ones on this list also have other attractions to see nearby, and in this post I’ll show you all of that info.

Here are the 8 lighthouses on the Oregon Coast (used to be 7):

1. Cape Blanco Lighthouse.
2. Coquille River Lighthouse.
3. Umpqua River Lighthouse.
4. Heceta Head Lighthouse.
5. Yaquina Head Lighthouse.
6. Cape Meares Lighthouse.
7. Tillamook Lighthouse.
8. Cape Arago Lighhouse.

This list is organized to show you these lighthouses from south to north so if you’re looking to do a road trip to see all of them, you can select which end of the Oregon Coast to start on, and just visit each one in order.

There’s 2 things to know about these lighthouses along the Oregon Coast:

1. Most of these lighthouses close before 5 pm (each one varies so check before you get there). 
2. There are more lighthouses deeper into Oregon, near Columbia River Gorge but this list only sticks to the ones on the coast.

1) Cape Blanco Lighthouse:

Location: 

Southern Oregon Coast (1 hour north of Brookings).

Free to enter?

No, it’s $2 per person.

Description:

Cape Blanco is the southern most lighthouse on the Oregon Coast and it’s easily accessible by car. The lighthouse itself is located on a giant pleateau mountain that has great views of the Pacific Ocean and it only takes about 2 minutes to walk from the parking lot to it.

Things to do nearby:

Other than the lighthouse, you can also check out the giftshop and museum nearby. In the same exact area you will also find the famous Cape Blanco State Park where you can go hiking, down to the beach and see famous spots like Needle Rock.

I would also recommend seeing the famous Secret Beach Oregon spot as well as another famous location there called Natural Bridges Oregon too and Cape Sebastian Trail all of which are 15-20 minutes south of this area.

2) Coquille River Lighthouse:

Location: 

In Bandon (southern Oregon coast).

Free to enter?

There’s no fee but you can’t get inside the actual lighthouse to my knowledge. You can walk around it.

Description:

This lighthouse is pretty small but is located right by the edge of the ocean near Bandon Oregon. There isn’t as much to see here as with the Cape Blanco option, but it’s still a beautiful area if you visit it during sunset.

Things to do nearby:

There’s a place called Facerock Scenic Viewpoint 10 minutes away which is a nice Oregon beach with great views. There’s also a place called Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge which has a lot of starfish and exotic animals to see. The town of Bandon is also pretty large with many restaurants and attractions.

3) Umpqua River Lighthouse:

Location: 

Middle of the Oregon Coast near the town of North Bend.

Free to enter?

No, it’s $2 for kids and $3 for adults.

Description:

This is another awesome and gigantic lighthouse to check out and it also offers tours from inside which are available until 6 pm. This lighthouse also closes at 7 pm which is better than the other times on this list, so I would say it’s one of the best choices to visit if you’re looking to get there around sunset.  

Things to do nearby:

There is a Umpqua River Lighthouse State Park right in the area with beautiful forest hikes, a lake, campgrounds and a few beach access spots. About 5 minutes south is also another park worth checking out called William M. Tugman State Park.

4) Heceta Head Lighthouse:

Location: 

Middle of the Oregon Coast.

Free to enter?

No. $5 for a parking fee but you can’t drive up to the lighthouse, you have to park in an area south of it and that’s where the fee is.

Description:

While this is one of the most photogenic lighthouses on the Oregon Coast, it is also a little bit annoying to reach. There is a gift shop area very close to it where you can ask for directions, but the direct road into the lighthouse is private. To get to it, you will need to park your car in the viewpoint area and then hike a little under a mile to get to the lighthouse on a trail.

Things to do nearby:

There is a viewpoint of the lighthouse 10 minutes south on the 101 called Lighthouse and Sea Lion beach viewpoint. South of that are sea lion caves, and I also have a list of other Oregon sea caves worth seeing.

5) Yaquina Head Lighthouse:

Location: 

Northern Oregon Coast.

Fee to enter?

No, depending on the vehicle you have it’s either $7 or more.

Description:

This is one of the easiest and best lighthouses to access on the Oregon Coast. It’s also possible to go inside.

Things to do nearby:

The entire area surrounding this lighthouse is worth checking out. There’s at least 2 beaches nearby, a few hikes and even an area called Quarry Cove where you can see seals. There is also a pretty large town called Agate Beach where you can stay.

6) Cape Meares Lighthouse:

Location: 

Northern Oregon Coast.

Fee to enter?

Yes!

Description:

This is a small but beautiful lighthouse you can also access easily. The park around it is also stunning and that doesn’t include the amazing coastal views you can also get here.

Things to do nearby:

Other than checking out the park itself, I’m going to recommend seeing the beaches slightly south of it especially one called Tunnel Beach.

7) Tillamook Lighthouse:

Location: 

Northern Oregon Coast.

Fee to enter?

No fee, but the lighthouse is actually inaccessible due to it being out in the water.

Description:

You can see this lighthouse from the Tillamook viewpoint. This is also one of the more remote areas on the list as there are a lot of hiking trails and less touristy things to do.

Things to do nearby:

The number 1 thing I recommend seeing in this area is Ecola State Park which an extremely beautiful area and one of the best state parks in Oregon in my opinion.

8) Cape Arago lighthouse:

Location: 

This lighthouse is closer to the southern Oregon Coast (located near Sunset Bay State Park).

Free to enter?

This lighthouse is unfortunately closed and you can only see it from several viewpoints including the one above.

Description:

Cape Arago is a lighthouse that can be easy to miss because it’s listing is often shown to be a giant beach rather than the lighthouse itself. Getting here is easy though and as long as you enter view Sunset Bay State Park or Yoakam State park (it’s in between them), you’ll be able to get amazing views of it from there even though you can reach it directly.

Things to do nearby:

For starters, seeing the 2 state parks around this lighthouse is highly recommended. There’s great trails there and I’ll likely be adding some of them to my best hikes on the Oregon Coast list soon. Other than this there’s the town of Barview where you can stay afterwards (it’s 5 minutes north of these parks). One thing that is highly recommend is seeing the sunset at Sunset Bay State Park for obvious reasons).

Other questions about Oregon Lighthouses:

How many lighthouses are in Oregon?

There are over 10 lighthouses and most of them are on the Oregon Coast.

What lighthouses in Oregon can you go inside?

You can go inside most Oregon lighthouses and with regards to the ones on the coast, you can go into Yaquina Head, Cape Meares, Umpqua River Lightouse and Cape Blanco.

Here is a map of the Oregon Coast lighthouses above:

As you can see, this lighthouse on the Oregon coast map lists all of the above options and their corresponding number so you can decide if you want to visit all of them or just a few. My personal favorites are Heceta and the Yaquina Head Lighthouses. The only lighthouse I forgot to add to the above map is Cape Arago and it’s located not far from the 2nd lighthouse location above.

Besides seeing lighthouses on the Oregon Coast, here’s other amazing places there:

1) Exploring more of the Oregon Coast:

I have a whole post on the best places to visit the Oregon Coast where you can learn about more iconic spots to visit. My personal favorites are Natural Bridges Oregon and another right near it called Secret Beach Oregon (but there’s way more amazing things to see there than these 2 places).

2) Oregon Coast hikes:

There are tons of Oregon Coast hikes to explore and some of them are easily accessible from the lighthouses you read about above, but the list in the post I just linked provides different locations for more awesome trails.

3) Eastern Oregon:

The Eastern Oregon area is totally different from anything you see on the Oregon Coast and it’s well worth exploring too!

4) Columbia River Gorge:

I’m a big fan of the Columbia River Gorge area because of all the waterfalls, hikes and much more (there’s even more lighthouses here).

5) The Washington Coast:

The last lighthouse on the list above is close to the Washington Coast and I would strongly recommend checking out that area too if you have the chance, and even going as far as Port Angeles, Port Townsend and doing many stunning hikes in Olympic National Park (doing a whole Pacific Coast Highway road trip basically). There’s a lot of other lighthouses in that state too.

6) Scenic drives in Oregon:

The 7 lighthouses above are right by the 101 highway but there are way more incredible Oregon scenic drives you can see.

More awesome lighthouses to see in the US:

This is a list that’s going to become very large since every coastal state in the US has many lighthouses to see, but so far here are the following places:

1) The North Shore of MN. There’s a few options there, but one of the most iconic ones is called Split Rock Lighthouse (it’s incredible).

2) There is also a post I created on the best lighthouses along the Maine Coast as well.

3) There’s also an update for the best Washington Coast lighthouses to see that I’ll be adding soon.