Things to Do at Ocean Shores
Ocean Shores' activity list is genuinely distinctive among this site's markets -- you can legally drive a car onto the beach, dig your own dinner during a state-regulated razor clam season, fly a kite at one of the West Coast's premier kite festivals, and watch storm-driven waves from a spit with water on three sides, all within the same small peninsula town.
Drive on the Beach
Ocean Shores is one of a small number of Washington beaches where driving a vehicle on the sand is legal, on the “driveable beach” -- the hard-packed sand area between the upper limit of dry sand and the clam beds, not the soft “sugar sand” near the dunes and not in the surf itself. Washington rules of the road apply, including a 25 mph speed limit, and a valid Washington driver's license is required; fishtailing, circling, figure-eights, racing, and driving in the surf are specifically prohibited, and ATVs are not permitted on the beach or beach approaches at all. The stretch between the Chance A La Mer and Pacific Avenue beach approaches closes to all vehicle traffic seasonally, from April 15 through Labor Day, so confirm current access before planning a beach drive outside the main off-season window.
Razor Clam Digging
The beach fronting Ocean Shores sits within the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's official Copalis razor clam management zone, one of just four state-regulated razor clam beaches, and it's a genuine, popular Pacific Northwest coastal tradition rather than a tourist novelty -- WDFW announces dozens of tentative dig days across fall, winter, and spring each season, each one confirmed individually based on marine toxin testing. This site's Fishing Guide covers licensing, limits, and access points in full detail.
The Grays Harbor Festival of Colors Kite Festival
Billed as one of the premier kite festivals on the West Coast, the Grays Harbor Festival of Colors takes place on the beach off the Chance A La Mer approach, typically in early June (the 2026 edition ran June 4-7), drawing kite fliers from across the United States and internationally, with dedicated programming for kids and fliers of every skill level. It's worth distinguishing this from the separate, larger Washington State International Kite Festival held near Long Beach, Washington -- a different town roughly two hours south, running since 1981 on the third weekend of August and hosted by the World Kite Museum. Ocean Shores' own Festival of Colors is a genuine, real, June-dated local event in its own right, not a marketing rename of the Long Beach festival.
Damon Point State Park and Storm-Watching
Damon Point State Park sits on a spit at the peninsula's southern tip with water on three sides, making it a genuinely well-suited spot for both storm-watching during the winter Pacific storm season and quieter beachcombing and birdwatching the rest of the year. It connects on foot to the broader Oyhut area, and reaching it typically means a walk along the beach rather than a direct drive-up parking lot experience -- part of what keeps it a quieter, less commercially developed part of town relative to the main oceanfront strip.
Birding at the Oyhut Wildlife Recreation Area
The Oyhut Wildlife Recreation Area, a 600-plus-acre unit of Washington's Johns River Wildlife Area, is recognized as an official Washington State Birding Trail site and ranks among the top shorebird destinations on the Washington coast. It's one of just four remaining Washington nesting sites for the western snowy plover, a state-endangered and federally threatened species, and it's best visited at medium to fairly high tide (not fully high tide) for shorebird viewing. Access is via a parking lot at the end of Tonquin Avenue, and a Washington Discover Pass is required to park.
Quinault Beach Resort & Casino
Beyond dining, covered on this site's Dining Guide page, the Quinault Beach Resort & Casino -- owned and operated by the Quinault Indian Nation, open since May 22, 2002, and expanded in 2016 -- offers over 500 slot machines and six table games (blackjack, craps, roulette, Pai Gow poker, and 3-card poker among them), plus a spa, indoor pool, and fitness center, functioning as a genuine year-round entertainment anchor independent of the summer beach season.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data sourced from: the City of Ocean Shores' own beach-driving rules (via osgov.com) for driveable-beach boundaries, speed limits, prohibited activities, and the seasonal April 15-Labor Day closure between Chance A La Mer and Pacific Avenue; the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for razor clam season and zone information, covered in more depth on this site's Fishing Guide; Tourism Ocean Shores' own materials and Daily World coverage for the Grays Harbor Festival of Colors' description, location, and June dates, cross-checked against the Washington State International Kite Festival's own history (via Wikipedia and the World Kite Museum) to correctly distinguish the two separate events; general state-park and tourism descriptions of Damon Point State Park's spit geography and storm-watching character; the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's Oyhut Wildlife Area Unit page and Birding Hotspots' Ocean Shores-Oyhut entry for the site's size, official Washington State Birding Trail status, western snowy plover nesting significance, tide timing guidance, and Tonquin Avenue access point; and Quinault Beach Resort & Casino's own materials for its opening date, 2016 expansion, and current amenities. Facts not independently confirmed and not invented here include: current specific festival dates beyond the cited 2026 example, which should be reconfirmed each year; and current specific casino gaming-floor details beyond what the resort's own materials describe. Confirm current event dates, park access, and casino amenities directly with the City of Ocean Shores, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Quinault Beach Resort & Casino before planning a visit. Nothing on this page is travel advice.