Things to Do in Astoria, OR
Astoria's attractions reflect its actual history -- maritime, immigrant, and film -- rather than a manufactured resort-town amenity list. Here's what's real, documented, and worth understanding before a visit or a move.
The Astoria Column
Built in 1926 atop Coxcomb Hill, the Astoria Column is a tower offering panoramic views of the Columbia River meeting the ocean, the coastal plain south toward Tillamook Head, and, on a clear day, the snowcapped Cascade Range. A hand-painted frieze depicting local history wraps around the tower like a ribbon, and a spiral interior staircase climbs to an observation deck at the top. It's one of the most recognizable landmarks associated with Astoria and a genuine, longstanding civic monument rather than a recent tourist addition.
The Column sits within a public park setting on Coxcomb Hill, providing free public access to the grounds (with typical fees for climbing the tower itself) -- a real, accessible local landmark for residents as much as visitors.
Fort Clatsop and Lewis and Clark History
Fort Clatsop, part of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, is a reconstructed replica of the log fort where the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1805-06, six years before the Pacific Fur Company established Fort Astoria in 1811. Visitors can explore exhibits and take guided tours covering the expedition's history and the fort's inhabitants during that winter. This site anchors Astoria's status as one of the earliest points of documented American westward exploration on the Pacific coast, distinct from but closely tied to the city's own founding story.
This page does not have confirmed current admission fees or seasonal hours for Fort Clatsop, since National Park Service fee schedules and hours are set and updated by the park directly -- check the National Park Service's own website for current visiting information.
The Columbia River Maritime Museum
The Columbia River Maritime Museum, one of Astoria's top-rated attractions, showcases the region's seafaring history through interactive exhibits covering shipwrecks, Coast Guard rescue operations, and the Columbia Bar itself -- one of the most treacherous stretches of coastal water in the world, and the subject of this site's Hurricane & Storm Risk page. A boarding tour of the lightship Columbia, moored next to the museum, offers direct access to a working vessel from the era before modern navigation technology tamed the bar crossing. This museum is the single most direct, comprehensive place to understand the real, documented danger that shaped Astoria's entire maritime identity.
This page does not have confirmed current admission pricing or hours for the museum, and recommends checking directly with the Columbia River Maritime Museum's own website before visiting.
The Flavel House Museum
The Flavel House Museum is a preserved Queen Anne Victorian mansion completed in 1885 by Captain George Flavel, one of the finest examples of the style in the Pacific Northwest, featuring 14 rooms, original period furnishings, wraparound porches, and a corner tower originally used to watch ships enter the Columbia River. Flavel himself was a Columbia River bar pilot, and his fortune from piloting ships across the treacherous bar and later shipping ventures funded the home's construction -- a direct, tangible link between Astoria's maritime economic history and its historic architecture.
This page does not have confirmed current admission pricing or tour hours for the Flavel House, and recommends checking directly with the museum's own website or the Clatsop County Historical Society, which operates it, before planning a visit.
The Goonies House and Film Locations
Astoria was the primary filming location for The Goonies (1985), and the private home used as the Goonies family house, at 368 38th Street, remains perhaps the city's single best-known landmark, drawing an estimated 1,500 visitors a day at its peak. The property remains a private residence not generally open for public tours, though owners have at times offered limited tours benefiting the local film museum. The former Clatsop County Jail, another filming location from the movie, now operates as the Oregon Film Museum, offering a more accessible, purpose-built way to engage with the film's Astoria connection. The film's 40th anniversary in 2025 renewed a fresh wave of visitor interest in these locations, per regional tourism coverage.
A visitor specifically drawn by Goonies tourism should be mindful that 38th Street is an ordinary residential street with real neighbors, not a designed tourist attraction -- respectful, low-impact visiting (viewing from the street, not trespassing) matters here more than at a purpose-built attraction.
The Peter Iredale Shipwreck at Fort Stevens State Park
A few miles west of Astoria at Fort Stevens State Park, the rusted skeleton of the Peter Iredale -- a four-masted steel barque that ran aground in 1906 while en route to the Columbia River -- remains visible on the beach today, one of the most accessible and recognizable historic shipwrecks on the Oregon coast. It stands as a genuinely tangible, dated illustration of the Columbia Bar's real, documented danger, part of the same 'Graveyard of the Pacific' history covered on this site's Hurricane & Storm Risk page. Fort Stevens State Park itself, a former military installation guarding the mouth of the Columbia, offers additional historical exhibits and recreational access to the actual sandy beach that Astoria itself lacks.
This page does not have confirmed current park hours or fees for Fort Stevens State Park, and recommends checking directly with Oregon State Parks for current visiting information.
Ready to talk to a local Astoria agent?
Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data sourced from: general Oregon coast tourism guides (Princess Cruises, Visit Oregon, Road Trip USA) for descriptions of the Astoria Column, Fort Clatsop, Columbia River Maritime Museum, and Flavel House Museum; Wikipedia and the National Park Service for Fort Clatsop's status within Lewis and Clark National Historical Park; Travel and Tour World, OPB, and Portland Monthly for The Goonies' filming history, the Goonies House's tourism impact (~1,500 visitors/day at peak), and its 40th-anniversary (2025) renewed interest; and Oregon State Parks and beachconnection.net for the Peter Iredale wreck (1906) and Fort Stevens State Park. Facts not independently confirmed and not invented here include: current admission fees and hours for Fort Clatsop, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, the Flavel House, and Fort Stevens State Park. Confirm current hours and admission pricing directly with each attraction before visiting. Nothing on this page is a paid endorsement.