Immediately south of Yachats is Cape Perpetua Scenic Area. Sites within the scenic area include Devil's Churn, Cook's Chasm, Spouting Horn, and Cape Perpetua Overlook, the highest point on the Oregon Coast. A short walk from the Overlook parking lot to the West Shelter viewpoint rewards the visitor with an unsurpassed panoramic ocean view that is ideal for whale watching. The U.S. Forest Service maintains the Cape's 26 miles of hiking trails through coastal mature and old growth rain forest, to breathtaking vistas, tide pools and the beach. The viewpoints and trails are open to the public year round. Some of the trails are wheelchair accessible, one is suitable for mountain biking, and all provide opportunities for birding. The Forest Service at Cape Perpetua also offers guided walks and operates a visitor center with natural and cultural history exhibits, an interactive children's corner, and a theater with nature films.


Heceta Head Lighthouse signals to seafarers from atop a magnificent forested promontory just eight miles south of the resort. This working lighthouse, circa 1894, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world. It is open for public tours Memorial Day through Labor Day and again in December when the beautiful Keepers' House is decorated for its annual Victorian Holiday Open House. Travel south an additional mile to visit Sea Lions Caves, home to hundreds of wild sea lions and the world's largest sea cave.


Watch a sunset along the historic Yachats 804 Trail. This ocean front trail begins at Smelt Sands State Park and winds north 3/4 mile where it meets a 7-mile stretch of sandy beach. Along this wheelchair accessible trail, you find Sitka Spruce and Shore Pine forest, ocean front meadows, riparian and wetland areas, and a small pebble beach. There are benches and picnic tables. This trail has also been recently extended one mile south along the village coastline.