Crater lake
 

We're planning a trip to Crater Lake in July. Any recommendations on where to fly in? What to do in the area? Must sees?

The only large airports are PDX (about a 5 hour drive) and SMF (6-ish hours). Medford is the closest airport but it is small/limited service and a 2-ish hour drive

How long is the trip - What you can do/see really depends on how many days/weeks the trip is.

We are planning to stay 3 nights at the lodge and are flexible around that for how long we make the trip.

I'd consider making Crater Lake part of a larger itinerary. You could do a loop of Oregon that includes other highlights of the central and eastern parts of the state, for example google Smith Rock State Park and the John Day fossil beds and painted hills (map - https://goo.gl/maps/R4D48v1YQHtfeb5z8 .) Or you could head out to the coast and return to Portland that way (map - https://goo.gl/maps/zmqCyTje4JLAqMhs9 .) There are also options that include the redwoods on the northern California coast, all depending on how many days you can include in the trip.

By the way, welcome to Fodor's!

I agree with janisj and Gardyloo. There is a lot more to see in Oregon than just Crater Lake.. If you do fly into Sacramento you could take the Amtrak Coast Starlight north to Klamath Falls overnight. The train leaves the Sacramento station at about midnight. Currently it is only running 3 days/nights per week but if demand increases next summer it should go back to a daily schedule. If you take the train north, get a roomette.
There is a bus in the summer which takes visitors from the Klamath Falls station to Crater Lake lodge. The train arrives in KFS shortly after 8AM on the days that it runs.
If you fly to PDX, you can rent a car at the airport or get a slightly cheaper deal if you rent in downtown Portland. The Trimet light rail station (red line) is right outside baggage claim at PDX.
The airline that I am familiar with that flies into Medford is Allegiant. Check to see it flies to Medford from an airport you are able to fly from.

re Medford - Airlines like Delta, Alaska, United and American have more service from more places than Allegiant for sure - but just almost all flights in to MFR will be from a major hub in the western US (Phoenix, Denver, LAX, Seattle etc)

IMO Crater Lake isn't really a 'three day destination'. Two nights is really more than sufficient - and especially if your trip is in July since it is very likely only the west rim drive will be open.

Another small airport to consider depending on what else you want to see in Oregon is the Redmond (RDM) airport. They have several airlines flying there besides Allegiant. I/we fly from there when going to Las Vegas or Phoenix-Mesa. The north entrance of Crater Lake NP is USUALLY open on July 1 but not always. The south entrance (off OR62) where the visitor center is is open at least 360 days per year. Expect to see snow at the edge of the roads for most of the month of July. The north entrance is 90 miles via OR 138 and US97 from the south end of Bend.
If the boat is running when you are there, buy the tickets at the visitor center and go out to Wizard Island.

You can also fly in and out of Eugene- it is a nice airport. You could stop in the Roseburg area to do some wine tasting. There are many nice wineries in the area. Hillcrest Winery is the home of Pinot Noir in Oregon. Its small and if the owner happens to be there, you will learn a lot about wine.

Hy 138 between Roseburg and Craater Lake has many beautiful waterfall hikes. Some are just short walks from the parking lot. Others like Watson Falls are longer and very beautiful. You can spend a day just doing that.

We stayed at Crater Lake lodge for two nights last July. They had just opened back up after being closed for COVID. The road around the lake was open for about 80% of the loop. From the lodge, we drove one way as far as we could and the next day we drove the other way. If you like to hike, it would be easy to fill the two full days you'll have there. We stopped at every turnout so I could take photos. It is so beautiful! I even went out before sunrise one morning and got some amazing shots as the sun came up. We also drove to nearby Diamond Lake which was nice. The elevation is high so expect cool nights. It was even a bit cool to sit on the somewhat shady patio of the lodge with a glass of wine admiring the lake. It's only a couple hour drive from central Oregon (Redmond, Bend, Sunriver, etc.) which have a lot of fun things to do and see as well as more biking, hiking, rivers and lakes. As mentioned above, the Redmond airport is easy to fly in or out of. You might check out flying into Redmond or Medford and flying out of the other one. Jet boat rides on the Rogue River out of Grants Pass are fun and you're also not that far from the Redwoods. Southern Oregon has lots of wineries and central Oregon has lots of craft breweries and golf if you're interested in that. You're going to have a great time!

I'm hoping that Oaktreehugger comes back to read our thoughts on what else to see. I am hoping that Amtrak is running a 7 day per week Coast Starlight by July. Currently it is only running 3 days per week in each direction. If you chose to fly into Sacramento (SMF) you can ride the YOLO bus into the city and spend many hours in the city seeing the capitol and the capitol grounds. The northbound Coast Starlight leaves Sacramento at midnight on the nights that it runs. Ride to Klamath Falls and rent a car there to go to Crater Lake. Depending on the amount of snow that falls and how much melts you might be able to exit the park by the north entrance and get on Rt. 138. East to Roseburg down the Umpqua or west to US 97 to go to Bend. If you choose to come to Bend, see the High Desert Museum and the Lava Lands Visitor center.

Eugene is a good option to fly into and actually, a nice place to visit. Agree with Janis that 2 nights at the lodge is sufficient. I'd suggest a visit to Bend, Oregon . . . a lovely place! At Crater Lake itself, make sure you make reservations for dinner there in advance. The best part of the visit for us (and we spent 2 nights there) was, of course, the hike down to the lake and back up (and I'm saying this as a person who hates to hike), super easy with switchback trails. Oh, and the night sky. Best I've ever seen, anywhere!