That’s a difficult one. I can tell you that we parked in the well-signposted car park and walked to the beach. We spent about half an hour walking towards and near Haystack Rock then another half hour or so walking back. To be honest you could spend all day watching the waves and scenery - or just a few minutes depending on how you feel about that. They are actively discouraging visitors to climb the rock, but it looks pretty reachable if the tide were out.

Hug Point beach has a small parking lot. Go at low tide.

If you park on the Main Street near Haystack Rock, it’s a really short walk down to the beach.

Best to check the internet, as it varies day to day.. enjoy...!

Haystack Rock was featured in the film at the end on the beach. The cave however was a set. The cave at Haystack Rock is part of the Reserve and is off limits for entry. During super negative tides it is visible and can be viewed from the south side of the rock.

We spent almost 2 weeks! Wanted to move here! Was glorious!

Hello, Waves Motel is one mile from Haystack Rock. Pretty long walk. Enjoy Cannon Beach, it is a very nice place to visit and see.

On the south end of Cannon Beach is Tolovana State Park with a parking lot next to the beach. It can handle your RV but the lot fills early . There is also an RV parking area in downtown Cannon Beach behind the visitors information center.

If you are looking to explore the tide pools the best practice is to check with the Haystack Rock Awareness Program for their beach schedule and tide tables and plan to come two hours in advance of low tide so you have sufficient time to explore before the tide comes back in. The group also accepts volunteers of all ages with no time commitments. Volunteering as a family is a great way to get to know the Rock and surrounding Marine Garden!

As most of the answers state, the beach is completely open at night. On decent evenings, there are a lot of bonfires; it's great to look up and down the beach and see all of the fires. The chamber of commerce states that it is illegal to camp on the beach. I've seen the police cars patrol the beach at night and stop and tell some tenters that they had to remove their tents and no camping. And the police are very, very strict about no fireworks. There is no fence around Haystack, but it is very illegal to climb anywhere on Haystack Rock, day or night. The closest you can get to the Rock is the tidal pool at the foot of Haystack. I'm a photographer, and nighttime photography near Haystack is a real treat, especially at New Moon time. And sunsets around Haystack are spectacular.