Family Beach Resort West Coast
 

Our family has relocated to Olympia, WA. We usually do a multi-generational family beach vacation every summer at Kiawah Island Resort in South Carolina. We get a condo on the beach and spend most of our time at the beach, biking or cooking great seafood. The trip from Olympia to SC is just too far with three pre-schoolers so we need to find a comparable place on the west coast for this summer.

We like to bike, run, go to the beach, send the grandchildren to day-time kid events, go to museums, and enjoy local culture. We need a condo or beach house rental that is clean, well maintained, and in a family environment.

Does anyone have any suggestions? We are really sad to give up our Kiawah trip but flying with all those kids would be just too much!

The Northwest doesn't have places such as the Kiawah Island Resort, and the water of the Pacific is much colder than the Atlantic.

You may want to investigate something entirely different, such as a dude ranch and Yellowstone NP or a flight to Hawaii.

Since you don't want to fly with the kids, a couple of possibilities to look at would be renting a house in Cannon Beach OR (about 3 hours from Olympia), or in Seabrook, a new vacation community on the Washington coast. But as noted, the experience is not going to be the same as an east coast beach vacation.

It will be hard to find a place like Kiawah - so why not do something different and go to a mountain resort - like SunRiver close to Bend Oregon-
Its a great family resort with biking, rafting, hiking - lots of things to do

I was going to say something similar to sunbum, that is, if you can do without the beach, look into Sunriver or Black Butte. We spent a week each of two summers at Black Butte, three families, two kids each, and had a ball. There's golf, biking, swimming, rafting, horseback riding, etc, along with a variety of accomodation types.

We did an extended family gathering near Cannon Beach one year. It was fine, but after a few days most of us were bored. It IS beautiful and a nice town, but a couple of days is all you need in one spot.

That said, we have been going to Sunriver every year for this gathering instead and it works perfect. Activities for all ages, and so much to do all around the resort itself as well as nearby. Our family heads to Sunriver 3-4 times a year and we never tire of things to do.

I know you said family beach resort, but I am a little confused. You are visiting one of the most beautiful regions in the country, why are you trying to recreate an East Coast Experience (and I love the Oregon Coast). Why not expereience what makes this region unique and so special. We have one of the most beautiful 14,000 foot peaks in the country, and some of the best forests anywhere. Enjoy what makes this place special.

The adults would love to do hiking and climbing. But, with three children under 5 a place with family activities is more feasible.

We did take the advice of a previous responder to visit Seabrook. My husband and I stayed in one of the rental homes and it was very nice. We may try it for the younger members of the family for a long weekend and see how it works out. When little kids get bored the vacation can turn into something else!