Crater Lake
 

We will driving from portland to crater lake in july.
Our plan is to stay for 1 night in/ near crater lake. Does anyone recommend which route to drive to crater lake and also accommodationo places in/around crater lake?

I would stay at Crater Lake Lodge

Get your reservations early. And drive in from one side (north?) and leave from the other.

You can drive south on 5 and then over 138 (along the scenic Umpqua river) - or you can also drive out to Mt. Hood and then down 97 and see some of the other cinder cone mountains such as Mt. Jefferson (most people don't know about it) and the 3 Sisters by Bend.

If the lodging is full at Crater Lake - check out the cute/rustic Diamond Lake lodge and maybe even catch some trout there as I did. :)

The north entrance off Rt. 138 will open sometime in the first week of July. You will see snow at the edge of the road.
The south entrance is open all year. There are some parts of the park right now that have more than 4 feet of snow on the ground.
Depending on when you get out of PDX with a rental car it may be wise to head east on I-84 and see Multnomah Falls and then get off in Hood River to go up the east side of Mt. Hood on Rt. 35 and then SE on US 26 to Madras and south on US 97 to Bend or LaPine (Best Western) and spend the night there. Plan to get in the north entrance by about 10AM. If you are headed back to Portland just plan on going all the way around the lake and back out the north entrance if you can't get your reservation at Crater Lake Lodge.
There are also some cabins along Rt. 62 at Union Creek if you use the south entrance.

We camped so I can't personally recommend this location, but I know there is also the Prospect Hotel, more a B& B: http://www.prospecthotel.com/ The lodge hotel should be your first choice if you can get it.

I have stayed at the Prospect several times. There are 2 types of accommodations- the inn part is furnished with antiques and more B&B like. There are a couple of other building behind which are motel like- but clean. Have always enjoyed staying there- the food is great!!

Thanks you everyone for the quick response. I managed to get a confirmation in Crater Lake Lodge and we are super excited.

That's very good. Have you decided which route you are taking to the north entrance? Are you going to the coast first or after Crater Lake?
Unless your flight into PDX is quite early, I favor spending a night somewhere between PDX and Crater Lake so that you can enter the park early in the day. (Cottage Grove or Roseburg on I-5 or Bend or La Pine on US 97)

We will be in portland for 2 days at a cousins place and leave early morning for Crater Lake on the 3rd day.

I-5 south or US 26/US 97? Try to get out to see the waterfalls off I-84 sometime in the 2 days in Portland.

we are taking the I-5 route. We will be planning to see th columbia river gorge one day and spend half day at cannon beach.