Central Oregon Road Trip from San Jose — Bend, Portland, Eugene, Crater Lake National Park and Klamath Falls
5 days and 4 nights Oregon road trip
Scenic Oregon road trip itinerary covering waterfalls, lakes, mountains, hikes and amazing food. We drove from San Jose-Bend-Portland-Salem-Eugene-Crater Lake National Park-Klamath Falls. Since we have already covered places in California like Lake Shasta, Redding, Burney Falls, Larsen volcanic park etc, this itinerary does not cover any places in California, and so, we drove directly to enter Bend, Oregon from San Jose.
Day 1: San Jose to Bend through Cascade lakes scenic bypass. Stay the night in Bend.
We wanted to do most of the driving on day 1 as we could start fresh and since, both me and my wife drive, we decided to cover most distance on the first day by taking turns. Since we did this trip in July, we had longer day and sunset in Bend was around 9pm. I would highly recommned to take last one hour of the drive through Cascade lakes scenic bypass (see map below for details) which takes you through several cascaded lakes around Mount Bachelor. Bend has some of the finest food places in Oregon. We have decided to visit Bend again to spend few days around the lake on scenic bypass and to try out some more lovely food places. If you have more time during the trip, adding a day or two in Bend is worth it.
Food recommendations in Bend: Spork (try their peanut tomato curry — it’s one of the best, I promise!!!), Ariana, Pine Tavern, wild rose northern Thai eats, Chow (breakfast), McKay Cottage (voted best breakfast), The sparrow bakery.
Day 2: Smith rock state park and Portland. Stay the night in Portland.
We started our day around 10am by visiting Smith rock state park which is on the way to Portland from Bend. We did Misery ridge and river trail (Hard, 3.5miles, estimated time 2 hours). We carried picnic cooler and did a nice picnic after the hike in Smith rock state park. The park is very popular for scenic deep river canyons, hiking and rock climbing.
We started around 2pm from the park and drove to Portland. Take highway 26 which goes through a very scenic drive at the foothills of Mt Hood (also on the same route you will find Trillium lake, Mirror lake, Burnt lake and if you have time, a slight detour to get a glimpse would be worth it). Things we did in Portland:
- Powell’s city of books (This is the largest new and old bookstore in the world!!!)
- Walk around downtown riverfront
- Dinner in Portland
- Vodoo donuts after dinner (very popular donut place — I must confess I did not like it and found it quite hyped, get ready to wait in line for an hour or so)
- Food recommendations in Portland: Popular food trucks (Tortas, Bing Mi, Koi Fusion, Matt’s BBQ, MF Tasty Food Truck and Nong’s Khao Man Gai), Vodoo donuts, Blue star donuts, Bollywood theatre, Imperial for brunch, Screen door — east side, Afuri izakaya for ramen, Matt’s bbq tacos, The grilled cheese grill, The waffle window, Luc lac, Lechon, The observatory, Andina, Potatoe champion — palak paneer French fries, Mediterranean exploration company, Tusk (Mediterranean ), Proud Mary’s Coffee
Day 3: Explore Portland. Stay the night in Eugene.
We did the below things on day 3 in Portland:
- Multnomah Falls — 0.2miles hike to the bridge for taking amazing pictures, full hike is 2.4 miles hike (we skipped full hike as we wanted to save energy for a longer waterfalls hike later in the afternoon).
- International Rose garden
- Pittock Mansion —Go right behind the mansion for spectacular view of the entire city
- Silver Fall State Park: Drive to south falls lodge trailhead and pick any hiking trails based on your convenience. I would recommend Trail of ten falls (If going clockwise, you’ll pass the falls in the following order: South Falls, Lower South Falls, Lower North Falls, Double Falls, Drake Falls, Middle North Falls, Twin Falls, North Falls, Upper North Falls, and Winter Falls). If you want to skip trail of ten falls hike, few waterfalls can be accessed by walking a short distance from different parking lots as well. South falls can be viewed by walking 0.2mile from south falls lodge trailhead parking and both North falls and upper North falls can be accessed by walking a short distance from North falls parking.
- Dinner in Eugene: slice pizzeria (Margarita pizza- this turned out to be a pleasant surprise and we loved it)
- Other things to do around Portland if you have more time (please note most places are over an hour drive from Portland downtown so plan accordingly): Trillium lake, Burnt lake, Mirror lake, Mount hood, hood river (30 mins east of Multnomah falls), Forest park etc
Day 4: Crater Lake National Park. Stay the night in Klamath falls.
We drove from Eugene to North entrance station in Crater Lake National Park and started around 10am from Eugene. Travel time was around 2.5 hours and we took the beautiful highway 58. Total time we spent in Crater Lake (with stop time and hike time) was around 5 hours. Guided boat tour is a must — Have to go to cleetwood cove trail and hike down a mile to get to boat. Unfortunately, boating was not available when we visited in the month of July. Please note that network connectivity is an issue in the park and it comes on and off. I would recommend to enter all the spots in the map before you start driving (going around the lake should not be an issue as its a loop around the lake but loading places to stop would avoid missing any view point)
Pro tip: Restrooms in Crater lake are a pit and really bad except for the one next to Rim village visitor centre so plan your water intake accordingly!!!
Stops around the lake (Enter from North and exit from South)
- Cleetwood cove trail
- Cloudcap overlook
- Pumice castle
- Victor view
- Phantom ship overlook
- Plaikni falls trailhead (easy hike, flat, 2 miles, total hike time is around an hour)
- Vidae falls — no hike, can be seen from the road
- Rim village visitor centre (has food)
- Discovery point (right next to rim village visitor centre — best view point)
- Watchman overlook (best view point)
Drive back to Klamath falls and stay for the night.
Food recommendations in Klamath Falls: Thai Orchid cafe, Rodeoes Pizza, A Leap of Taste, Nibbley’s cafe for brunch, the waffle hut
Day 5: Drive back to San Jose
Stop in Redding for lunch — I would highly recommend Thai hut for lunch (lovely basil fried rice and green curry). This was like a hole in the wall spot and it turned out to be one of the best thai restaurants we have tried.
Share, like and let me know about your trip. Have a great trip !!!
