The Salishan Resort–Oregon Coast

I am a self-proclaimed OREGON COAST addict. I have been visiting since I was a little kid and LOVE sharing the magic of Oregon with my own kiddos. There’s just NOTHING like it!! After years of driving down the coast, we FINALLY had a chance to stay at the Salishan Resort, and CANNOT wait to go back.

This was our first time staying at the Salishan Resort and Spa, but it seems like a great place to return to year after year. It was just such a fun family-friendly experience with EVERYTHING our kids could want ALL right on site. And it is located SMACK dab in between two of my favorite beach towns…Lincoln City and Depoe Bay. We crammed A LOT into just a couple of days and STILL didn’t get a chance to do EVERYTHING offered. BUT we did a lot, so let me give you a quick rundown of our favorites.

The Salishan Resort

The Salishan Resort sits on 250 acres of GORGEOUS Oregon forest land overlooking the Siletz Bay. You get the best of Oregon with the picturesque evergreen trees AND beautiful panoramic views of the Pacific ocean. The buildings are built to blend in to the surrounding Douglas firs, and the entire resort resembles a giant high end Summer camp…but in the best way. There is SOOO much to do and see at the Salishan Resort that we could not DO IT ALL, but we darn sure gave it our best effort.

The rooms

We enjoyed our room so much. We loved waking up each morning to the GORGEOUS view of Siletz Bay from our private balcony…it was dreamy. The room was also such a great reflection of Oregon and the beauty surrounding the resort with high timber ceilings, a huge stone fireplace, and GIANT windows showcasing the pine trees all around us. Our room felt like a cozy cabin retreat and it was easy to forget we were actually in a large resort with hundreds of other people.

Salishan Resort Spa

The Spa at Salishan was TOP of the line ALL THE WAY. We were lucky enough to get a tour by the resort manager, and I was BLOWN away by EVERY detail from the infinity pool to the relaxation room to the ocean view. Everything was stunning and SOOOO relaxing. And the spa is open to ANYONE. So even if your Oregon Coast trip does not include a stay at the resort…you can ditch the kiddos (no judgement from me…we all know traveling with kids cannot REALLY be called a “vacation”) for a few hours and enjoy the stunning beauty of the Salishan Spa. Just sitting and enjoying the sea views lowered my blood pressure and relaxed my body and spirit…I cannot imagine a more beautiful setting for a spa!!!

Unfortunately, if you know me well, you know that I am NOT a massage girl (I have tried…it is just not for me). So Todd took one for the team and enjoyed our complimentary massage. I am not gonna lie, I was a little jealous leaving him behind while I spent the morning wrangling the kiddos. Maybe next time I will give massages another try…or maybe they will just let me nap on one of the massage tables and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Nature trails

I was so pleasantly surprised by the amazing nature paths RIGHT on the resort property. We were able to get the kids OUT and INTO nature and NEVER have to leave the resort…it was PERFECT. While Todd enjoyed the spa one morning, I was able to take the kids on a beautiful walk through the forest and RIGHT down to the beach. We enjoyed searching for mushrooms, spotted some fun wildlife, and had the beach ALL to ourselves.

The resort sits on 250 acres, so there is A LOT to explore. It was amazing to me that ONCE you step on to the nature trails, you feel like you are in the forest…not in the middle of a resort. And each trail is JUST manicured enough to be visible, but also rugged enough to feel like you are truly trekking through the woods. The kids loved the bridges, steps, log bridge, etc that added to the adventure aspect of the hikes as well. All in all, I think the trails were honesty my favorite part (minus the ocean of course…but WHAT can compete with the ocean right??).

The beach

Another pleasant surprise for us, was that one nature trail lead us RIGHT to an almost TOTALLY isolated beach. We spent HOURS down at the beach and only saw a handful of other people over the 2 days…most of which were just walking by with their dogs. After spending time on Waikiki beach, the thought of having an ENTIRE beach to ourselves was marvelous. The kids were able to splash in the waves, dig in the sand, build castles, and run and play to their hearts content without worrying about the people around them…because there were NO people around them.

The Salishan Marketplace

Right by the Salishan Spa, is the cutest little group of shops…which are also a part of the resort. The kids especially enjoyed the candy shop and the toy store of course, but there was also a coffee shop, salon, clothing boutique, art gallery, outdoor store, and even a gym (too bad I have a strict NO WORKING OUT ON VACATION rule…or really a NO WORKING OUT AT ALL rule if you want to get technical :). But the shops were a great place to grab some souvenirs and a quick treat without heading all the way into Depoe Bay. We truly could have NEVER left the resort and had everything we needed for our weekend getaway.

Kid Friendly Activities

Although you could TOTALLY enjoy the Salishan without your kids, we had a blast taking our kids with us…and the resort created a kid friendly experience RIGHT from the start. Our HANDS DOWN FAVORITE for the kids was the Dive-In Movie. At night, a movie was projected on to the wall in the resort pool and was a fun experience for the kids after a LONG day of playing. They could just sit back in the un-believably large indoor resort pool and enjoy a fun movie night. AND it was nice for me, because instead of them wanting to be entertained (by Todd and I) while swimming, they were watching The Secret Life Of Pets instead. So I could lounge poolside and enjoy my book (secretly nap) while they swam their little hearts out. It is the small things when vacationing with kids that make all the difference right??

A few other kid friendly favorites were the GIANT Jenga game, firepits (complete with s’mores), outdoor playground, volleyball and basketball courts, the aerial park, searching for hidden floats (this is a fun tradition, but my kids came home empty handed despite their best efforts), and of course playing on the beach.

Salishan Resort Aerial Park

We had such a blast at the Aerial Park that I think it deserves a blog post ALL to itself. So stay tuned to hear about how I freaked out…maybe cried a little…and had to be talked down by the guide. But let me just say that it was AMAZING…and I would TOTALLY do it again…despite the major panic attack. You can watch us run (or in my case walk slowly with tears streaming down my face) through the tree-tops and enjoy all of the fun obstacles of the Salishan Aerial Park over on YOUTUBE as well…so don’t miss that.

And more…

What didn’t we do??

GOLF. We did not get a chance to try out the golf course…although we traveled over, around, and through it to get to each area of the resort.

TENNIS. We also ran out of time and missed trying out the HUGE indoor tennis courts.

FOOD. We were able to order breakfast to our rooms every morning (which was yummy, convenient, and hard to give up when we came home), but we did not get a chance to try out ALL of the great food establishments at the resort. On my list to try NEXT TIME are Shannon’s Pub ( I saw it and it reminded me of Ireland) and The Attic.

EXPERIENCES. The Salishan has recently added new LIMITED EDITION EXPERIENCES like a complete adventurer package and a catch and cook experience. How fun would it be to catch your own crab and then have the resort chef cook it up for you?!?! I love when a vacation is ALL planned before you even arrive…less thinking and MORE doing!!

We had such a wonderful time at the Oregon Coast and our stay at the Salishan was the icing on the cake. If you want to see more of our trip, head to youtube, OR check out my Instagram story highlights listed under SALISHAN RESORT to see it all!!! We had amazing food, experienced new things (like crying while in a tree), visited some of our favorite sites and shops, and cannot wait to go back. I am already planning for Oregon Coast 2020…Here we come!!! Let’s chat soon. JESS

You can check out a few of our other fun adventures HERE, HERE, and over HERE.

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