Florence, OR Summary

Florence is a center for business, medical care, and education. Its restored Old Town offers shops, boutiques, and coffee houses, as well as a picturesque marina along the banks of the Siuslaw River.

Florence (population 6,000) is ideally situated along the coast off US-101 at the northern tip of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, which stretches down the Oregon coast to Coos Bay, 50 miles to the south. The largest expanse of coastal dunes in the United States, these range up to 500 feet high with banks of up to 3 miles.

Ten miles north of Florence, along a dramatic stretch of Oregon coast, lie the Sea Lion Caves—an enormous grotto containing the only mainland rookery of Stellar’s sea lions in the lower 48 states.

Visitors descend a 208-foot elevator carved through basalt cliffs and into the grotto itself, occupied by up to 200 sea lions during fall and winter.

Seventeen lakes surround this lovely seaside town, and activities include crabbing, fishing, clamming, and jet-boat trips up the Siuslaw River during the summer.

The American Museum of Fly Fishing, in the Old Town, includes thousands of hand-tied flies mounted in frames dating back to the 1800s. Dinner cruises are available on board an old-fashioned sternwheeler on the Siuslaw River.

North Bend Regional Airport is south of Florence via Hwy 126, and Mahlon-Sweet Regional Airport is east. Buses also service the area.