Seaside is the classic Oregon coast beach town — a wide sandy beach, a boardwalk promenade, and a slightly old-fashioned resort atmosphere that has been pulling Portlanders to the shore since the late 1800s. It sits where the Lewis and Clark expedition finally reached the Pacific in 1805, and a turnaround monument on the promenade marks the end of their trail.
The town is unabashedly touristy in the best sense. The Promenade (the Prom, as locals call it) runs a mile and a half along the beach, lined with candy shops, arcades, and fish and chip joints. Broadway, the main street running perpendicular to the beach, has a similar boardwalk energy. It is not the place for solitude — that is what Cannon Beach to the south or the state parks further along the coast are for.
What Seaside does well is accessibility. The beach is broad and flat, good for kite flying and bonfires. Tillamook Head, the forested headland at the south end of town, has an excellent hiking trail that runs six miles to Cannon Beach through old-growth Sitka spruce with views over the ocean. On a clear day you can see Tillamook Rock Lighthouse perched on its rock offshore.