I'm planning a road trip to Oregon. But I want to take the train from sacramento into or oregon then rent a car and explore. Then leave Portland by plane.The question I have is would it be better to get off at eugene and rent a car there. Explore area there then head up north to portland. And from there file back. My main concern was missing some scenery on the train from eugene to Portland. Thanks.

You'll also miss most of the scenery between Sacrament and Eugene. The stoooooopid Amtrak schedule has the train traveling through the Cascades in the middle of the night. It leaves Sacramento at Midnight.

oops - didn't mean to hit post.

You will miss Mt Shasta and everything else south of about Ashland.

Do you want to take the train for the experience? Or to save time? Or some other reason? It will not be a time saver -- from Elk Grove (from your other thread) to Eugene is about a 7.5 hour drive. The train takes about 12 hours (if it arrives on time).

But if you just want to ride the train -- you can get off at either Eugene or Portland. It just depends on what you want to see/do.

What month? How many days will you devote to driving around Oregon?
Unless the Coast Starlight is running late (1 hour or more) you probably won't see Mt. Shasta in the sunrise light. The first stop in Oregon after going through 2 tunnels just past Dorris CA is Klamath Falls. If you want to see Ashland and go to the Shakespeare Festival, you should drive up I-5.
The best daylight scenery in Oregon from the train is north of K-Falls along Upper Klamath Lake and from Chemult up over the Cascade Summit on the way to Eugene.
I have seen bald eagles by Upper Klamath and Odell Lakes from the train.
I'll give you another option, take the CS to Chemult and take the shuttle bus to either Bend to rent downtown or onward to the Redmond airport for your rental.
The shuttle bus will arrive at Roberts Field (RDM) about the same time as the train arrives in Eugene.
Which parts of Oregon do you want to see?

I want to see pretty everything popular in Oregon. I don't know anything about it. As far as when I'm thinking July. Spring break in March would be too cold??. Traveling with 5. 3 kids 10, 14,13. What about flying into oregon and take the train from there? Would that make any difference? I like the train experience unless driving is better and save the train for another time. If driving how many days do I need. If i do my original plan how many days do I need. Thanks again. Ps made another similar post as I couldn't find this one. Had to refresh my phone.

Do you live in northern California or are you flying in?
If you are flying in consider flying to San Jose to get on the Coast Starlight earlier in the evening with the kids.
The 10 year old will be half fare. Pack some blankets and a pillow or 2 and you'll be fine in coach.
You can have breakfast before getting to Klamath Falls from either the dining car or the snack bar downstairs in the Viewliner lounge. If you are going north from K-Falls, be in the lounge car past Upper Klamath Lake.
The scenery isn't that great north of Eugene to Portland IMO.
Oregon is such a diverse state that it took me years to see all or most of the popular spots. We have the Pacific Ocean, the Coastal mountain range, The Willamette and Rogue Valley and the Cascades. East of the Cascades, we have the Deschutes and the John Day Rivers and whole lot of High Desert. In the eastern part of the state we have the Wallowa and Blue Mountains and Hells Canyon (Snake River).
I the SE corner we also have the Owyhee River which I never would have discovered if I had not decided to see all 36 counties of Oregon in 2006.

If budget is an issue, the air or train fares for 5 will greatly increase your costs.

>>Ps made another similar post as I couldn't find this one. Had to refresh my phone.

oops -- click on your screen name OR on the 'welcome' at the top of the page.

Are you considering the train for the experience of taking the kids on a train, or are you thinking it would save you time?

The experience is one thing and assuming the extra $$ isn't a problem - could be fun. But the train won't save you any time at all. It takes longer.

I think it comes down to expense. I did not realize from your previous thread that this was a trip with children and not a solo trip.

Getting off the train in Eugene vs. Portland: you won't miss scenery either way. I do that drive every couple of months and it's a snooze. What might matter: check rental car prices in Portland and Eugene, then do whatever is cheapest.

Probably most fun during the summer: Oregon coast, columbia River gorge and Multonomah Falls, hells canyon. I would not visit Hells Canyon though in summer, it's a long hot drive. I grew up near there- locals are in the snake River only because we're too cheap to drive to the coast.

Because you have kids with you, that changes things. Unless they really like to be in the car, I would focus on the north coast, portland, and Mt Hood/columbia River gorge. Then you save yourself some driving. Get off the train in Portland, rent a car, and spend a few days in each location.

Alternatively- you could just rent a car where you live and drive up the coast- make the northern California coast and the oregon coast the whole trip. In summer, most of the inland portion oregon is just unpleasantly hot. Also, with kids, the one rental car rented and returned in Elk Grove may just be the cheapest option.

If I were you, I'd just crunch the numbers on the different options and see what comes up in your budget. Keep in mind that the coast will be gorgeous during the summer- but depending on where you go, much less crowded and inexpensive during the spring break. Inland Oregon will be very hot in July/August: unless you have a specific attraction or location or festival you really want to see, I'd advise sticking to the coastal area and portland.

Other (out of the way) scenic areas good in the summer: St. Joe National forest in Northern Idaho, and san juan islands/western Washington state. Basically beautiful scenic stuff and not too hot if you are in the mountains or near the water. If you are in the more desert inland areas, you will want to be IN the water.

A lot of this really depends on budget. If you tell us how much you want to spend on hotels, or if you plan to camp, you might get much better advice. Hotels in high season are just expensive in Oregon- what's more, you need to make reservations pretty far in advance for the more popular towns.

You can't, (and this is important), get a basic hotel room for 5 people. You have to have 2 rooms or a suite. That's the main reason we started camping on the Oregon coast: because of Fire code, this rule is enforced, and we just couldn't afford to upgrade and go as often as we wanted.

So I guess if the rest of my post is too long winded: I think you need to be clearer on what is important to you. What is your budget? What do you definitely want to see? I'm assuming there's a reason you want to come to Oregon, but right now I'm not clear on anything except that you want spend time on the beach- but there must be something else that attracts you, because you live in CA.

Your cheapest alternative with 5 people on the Oregon Coast is a yurt in one of our state parks. Not too far from Coos Bay we have Sunset Bay and William Tugman. Each have yurts that I have stayed at. http://www.reserveamerica.com/unifSearchResults.do
You are allowed up to 8 people on the yurt site but there are only beds for 5.
There are many other state parks with yurts or cabins in other parts of the state.

Tom- We've stayed in the yurts at Nehalem Bay, and they're great! But also get snapped up fast, because they are so popular. Our summer back up is usually camping cabins at the seaside/warrenton KOA, but I don't recommend that to anyone because I don't particularily like the location. We've given up on high season for the Coast, though, I think. Just too crazy.

OP- yurts are a good option, and a lot of fun for the kids. If there is availability, you could plan a tour of oregon just by going from one state park to the next Some parks also have conestoga wagons or teepees, which I've always wanted to stay in but never got the chance. Oh well, maybe someday.

Here's a general list describing the state parks and their attractions:
http://www.cabinweb.com/menu/oregon/oregon

Wow thanks for all the info. I'm usually very good at doing research of where to go and what to do and always come up with a perfect itinerary. Well at least so far on all my trips. But this one seems a little over whelming. Sounds like I hot a lot to research on. Well I'm not too worry about the budget. Flight and train is covered with points. I thought taking the train would be fun. But sounds like going from Sacramento I would miss quite a bit of scenerey. And if from Eugene to Portland not much scenery then I would get off there. Get a car spent few days there and check out near by area. Then head up to Portland stay few days to explore and fly back home.maybe 10 days. But sounds like much more to explore. What about 4 days on southern Oregon and 5 days northern Oregon? Yurt sounds fun. But would that be in some park away from the city? The Amtrak I was thinking of getting couple of bedroom.or a bedroom and a roommette with points it's cheap than paying cash. Why is going from San Jose better? Would it just end up in Sacramento by midnight? Same train? I live in Sacramento/elk grove.if I drive I would not get to see same scenery as the train? And driving from elk grove through high way 1 would take too much time away from exploring Oregon.To cut f own driving time I would need to stay around near the border. What I need to know is how much time needed to explore southern Oregon and how much time for northern.Oregon doesn't seem as big as California but many more place to explore? This is getting too complicated.oh but glad to have u guys help me out

I think I just focus on north area

Oh spring break star March 19. Would that be too cold and snowy?

Oregon coast would not be snowy, just rainy and windy. In the rest of the state, it's unlikely there would be snow then either. Maybe in the mountains, but for instance, Eugene's average high for March was 56, while low was 37. And the coast is beautiful any time of the year, but the most fun in July and August when it is most likely to be warm. Most of the scenic places are popular for a reason in the summer- there's a whole lot more to do in the gorge then, for example. A lot more is open on the coast (or open later) tourist attraction wise as well. So I would recommend summer over spring break unless you are after peace and quiet the prom in seaside that someone else mentioned- I know the rides and minigolf are closed down during the week off season. That doesn't matter much to adults, but that's a minus for the kids.

With the yurt: I'm not sure what you mean by some drive away from the city? Oregon coast towns are small to begin with and I don't really consider any town in Oregon other than Portland a "city". If you mean distance between services- yurts are put in the most popular state parks, so are likely close or on the way to many of the attractions you would want to see. For example- Nehalem bay state park is about 3 miles from Manzanita and that's probably the closest place for food and gas. Then it's another 12 or so miles to Cannon Beach, one of the major resort areas. (I use that as an example because although we have camped at Nehalem, we actually eat and shop and play in Cannon Beach). So you're not in the middle of a town, but you aren't far from anything you want to drive to. If you have the money, I'd say definitely get a hotel suite in town, on the beach, because then you don't have to drive to everything.

I'd say it depends on your interests, but you could:

Fly into portland, rent a car. Spend at least 3 nights in Portland. Drive to the gorge (Multonomah falls and hood River are my favorite place to stop.) if the gorge area appeals to you, spend two nights in Hood River if you want to just eat and shop, three nights of boating appeals to you.

Then: you could go up to mount hood if you wanted. You could also drive to see mt. st Helens (2 h 20 min). You could even go down to crater lake (5 hours), although I'd only do that if you wanted to spend 2 nights at Crater Lake. Of the inland towns, I don't find Eugene or Corvallis very interesting, but I did enjoy Salem's food scene, so maybe that's worth 1 night. If it were me, I'd choose the 2 nights at crater lake, though.

So. That's 6 or 7 days accounted for. From Mt. Hood, Cannon Beach is 3.5 hours. From Crater Lake, Newport, OR, is 4.5 hours. There are other towns, those are just the two tourist areas I am most familiar with. 4 nights, three days would be the minimum I'd recommend for the beach because I think that's the part of the trip the kids would enjoy the most. I would just pick the town that attracts you the most, and stay in one place.

You can do the gorge in just 1 night if necessary. If you are city people, I'd devote another day to portland. If you are all about the beach, spend 2 nights in portland, 1 night in the gorge then head to the coast and spend 3 nights in the north (cannon beach or seaside) a day driving down 101 and exploring, and then 2-3 nights somewhere further down like newport. Both seaside and newport have a lot of activities kids would enjoy. I think cannon beach is the most scenic, but it's picturesque with boutiques and small restaurants while the other two are more child friendly and touristy.

Then finally, you leave to go up I-5 and fly out of Portland. The above is just a general outline- if you want to drive less, do more in depth research of places within 2-3 hours of Portand. Stay in that range. That's what I would do. But I've seen a lot of Oregon, and I'd rather just veg out in a beach town or roam around portland than do all that driving.

Can't misses in Portland: rose garden, voodoo donuts, the zoo, powells books, and Saturday Market. If you can afford it, the Benson Hotel in Portland is my favorite place to stay. If you are more budget minded, lloyd center is also a good location, because you can leave your car at the hotel and ride the max (rail) downtown.


Hope that was at least a little helpful!

In an attempt to also promote eastern OR...because I feel my familiarity with it has biased me against it...you could also drive east on I84 from hood River to Baker City. That's about 4 hours. That would be a nice drive along the Columbia River, Pendleton is probably worth a stop, but the real attraction is the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City which is a great field trip for regional schools (and probably very educational for your family if you've never been to Oregon.)

So in this version:

3 nights in Portland
1 night in hood River
2 nights baker city
4 nights on the northern coast
Maybe 1 night in Portland before flying out in the morning.

I like that plan the best, possibly, because it does give you a look at the other side of the state as well as the history. Only downside, of course, is that drive from baker city to cannon beach area which Google maps says is 6 h, 40 min. Might be too long a day in the car for the kids.

Yes too long a day for the kids and too many days in Portland IMO. Here's my plan for central and northern Oregon Leave SAC at midnight on the CS. arrive about 10AM in Chemult with a shuttle bus to Bend before noon. Drop your luggage at a hotel and then go out to lunch. Spend some time at the High Desert Museum after renting your car.
The next morning go to Redmond (get gas there) and head east on US 26 stop and see some fossils at one of the Fossil Beds near John Day. 26 takes you to Baker City to see the OT Center.
From Baker City go back to Hood River with a stop in Pendleton. From Hood River I like the drive up Rt 35 on the east side of Mt. Hood to US 26 and then down through Sandy to get to Portland. I would only spend 1 night in Portland because there is so much other stuff to see in the rest of the state. From Portland, head for the northern coast. High budget-Cannon Beach, lower budget Seaside.
See Haystack Rock and Ecola in Cannon Beach.
Get some cheese and ice cream at the Tillamook cheese factory. Drive down to Newport and go over the big bridge over Yaquina Bay to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
From Newport take US 20 all the way back to Bend to turn in the car. If you don't want to ride the train back you can get to the Redmond airport for a flight back to Sacramento or a flight to Portland if you are continuing your trip.
If you liked the Oregon Trail center near Baker City, there is an "end of the Oregon Trail" center in Oregon City which I like a little better.

Thank all so much this is great help. I'm less over whelm now.i think since lots of driving I probably fly both ways. Although still contemplating the train.As I want the experience. But it is quite a long ride.

Just checked- Flying from SMF to RDM is $144 to $220 per person one way. The 5 of you can get to Bend for $400 in about 12 hours.