Outdoors | Manzanita is a laid-back beach burg just right for family fun | Seattle Times Newspaper

Outdoors | Manzanita is a laid-back beach burg just right for family fun | Seattle Times Newspaper: Manzanita

Getting there
Manzanita is on the Oregon Coast, west and slightly north of Portland. From Seattle, take Interstate 5 south to Longview, cross into Oregon on Highway 433 and then take Highway 30 west through Astoria to Highway 101. Manzanita is off 101, about 45 miles south. Total travel time from Seattle is about four hours.

Lodging

There are dozens of vacation homes in Manzanita that are available as short-term rentals. We found our place through the Manzanita Rental Co., at www.manzanitarentals.com. Another company is Sunset Vacation Rentals, at www.ssvr.com. When comparing prices, remember to include the cleaning fee and other charges that come in addition to the nightly rate. Almost all the homes are within a short walk of the beach and the township — and you can save a lot of money by forgoing ocean views and spa pools.

For higher-end accommodation, the Inn at Manzanita offers ocean-view rooms for around $170 a night in peak season and $130 in the offseason (www.innatmanzanita.com). Coast Cabins (www.coastcabins.com) offers high-end wood cabins complete with spas and a communal fire pit. However, these cabins looked better on the high-quality Web site than up close, where they seemed too far from the beach for the price.

Dining

We ate at the Manzanita Seafood & Chowder House, which began as a fish store and still has the original fish counter inside. It proved to be a family-friendly place, offering standard fish-and-chip fare that would satisfy the largest of appetites. Another option for families is Marzano's Pizza Pie, where they make fresh dough daily for their midrange specialty pizzas.

There is an upscale wine bar, Vino Manzanita, and a weekly farmers market during the summer. The Nehalem Bay Pie Company makes fresh pies from locally picked fruit.

All are easily found on the town's main street, Laneda Avenue, or within a block or so.

Things to do

There is some great hiking and biking. Elk and other wildlife can be spotted in Nehalem Bay State Park. Oswald West State Park is home to trails, a surfing beach and old-growth forest: www.oregonstateparks.org/park_195.php.

Manzanita Bikes & Boards rents out beach bikes and regular bikes as well as surfboards and wetsuits.

Tillamook Cheese factory, located in the city of Tillamook, is about 30 miles south of Manzanita (www.tillamookcheese.com). From Tillamook, you can return to Seattle via Portland — although avoid rush-hour because the traffic can be awful.

More information

See www.neahkahnie.net/manzanita.htm