7 Florence Oregon Day Trips You Won’t Want To Miss
A great place to use as a starting point for exploring the Oregon Coast is the town of Florence.
We found lots of options for Florence Oregon day trips that are all fairly nearby or under a couple hours away. There are even some add on activities you can do to make it even more exciting, like canoeing or riding dune buggies!
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Devils Punch Bowl State Park
Drive north of Florence a little less than an hour and half and you’ll find Devils Punch Bowl State Park. It’s basically a giant bowl that was naturally carved out of the sandstone cliffs on the coast. There are tide pools and trails to explore.
Sea Lion Caves
The next day we went to check out the Sea Lion Caves. It’s a bit of a tourist trap but still worth a visit. It was another site that I had seen when I was much younger and interesting to see again.
It’s the largest sea cave in the US and is also a year round home to hundreds of very noisy sea lions, along with lots of coastal birds and other critters.
Here you can see the cliff side right in front of the main opening to the cave. You can see quite a few sea lions down below, and yes, all of that white stuff is evidence of a large bird population…
You can go down to look inside of the cave itself. You can see a few sea lions swimming in the middle in the picture below. During their breeding season, this room is packed full of them.
Another cliff side view from the northern entrance to the cave:
From up above you can see a lighthouse in the distance.
Hobbit Beach Hobbit Trail
Afterward, we went down to Hobbit Beach via the Hobbit Trail. I don’t know the history behind the name, but there are enough places that you have to duck through that it doesn’t take too much imagination to see why it was named that.
Bandon By The Sea
On our third day in the area we drove south for a little over an hour to check out Bandon by the Sea and Shore Acres State Park. These were the furthest away from Florence Oregon day trips we took.
Bandon by the Sea was yet another nice beach with lots of interesting rock spires on the beach and out in the water.
While we were standing on the beach taking pictures, a rather large seagull pulled a dinner plate sized crab out of the surf and onto the beach. So of course, we documented the battle that ensued.
Seagull 1, crab 0. Afterward all of the other scavengers moved in and made short work of the leftovers.
Shore Acres State Park
Next, we moved on to Shore Acres State Park. The cliffs overlooking the ocean were spectacular! There was also another large colony of noisy sea lions just offshore.
Oregon Dunes
For our last day in the area we started by going on a dune buggy ride through the Oregon Dunes. The buggy tour was a lot of fun, but we were absolutely covered in sand by the end of it!
Honeyman State Park
In the afternoon, we rented a canoe in Honeyman State Park. My family used to go camping in Honeyman State Park when I was little, so it was a bit of a trip down memory lane since this was my first time back here in 15 years or so.
Where To Go Next
When you’ve exhausted your Florence Oregon day trips options and want to go a bit further, check out Crater Lake National Park or the city of Eugene!
