Oregon coast resort wins Good Housekeeping Family Travel Award: ‘The location is magic’

Another Oregon destination has earned national attention, with the announcement of the Good Housekeeping 2025 Family Travel Awards. According to the website, “For Good Housekeeping’s third annual Family Travel Awards, we reviewed hundreds of submissions — ranging from luggage and booking platforms to cities, resorts, experiences and much more — to find the best options for every type of family.”

The website also explains how the Good Housekeeping Institute goes about testing candidates for awards, with different procedures for different categories. When it comes to travel destinations, for example, travel professionals “assessed regions, resorts, attractions and more to find the best vacation destinations for every family size and trip preference. Our in-depth application form asked entrants to share everything from their typical guests and ideal times to visit to describing what made their destination award-worthy. Hotels and resorts also specified in-room amenities, pool features, recreational activities and other offerings while providing details around diversity, accessibility and sustainability efforts.”

Next steps involved sending more than 85 “travel testers” to visit the destinations and evaluate them, in areas including the check-in experience, staff, crowds, Wifi reliability, and more.

Among the winners in the “Beach Resorts” category is Surfsand Resort, in Cannon Beach. As the Good Housekeeping site says, some of the attributes that earned Surfsand Resort include sand dollar hunts at the beach, kite-flying lessons, hot dog roasts, shuttles to the Cannon Beach shopping district, bonfires on the beach, and a heated indoor pool that “takes the doldrums out of the locale’s often moody weather.”

A travel tester note says, “The location is magic,” adding that her room faced Haystack Rock. “She suggests booking a ‘Haystack Room,’” the Good Housekeeping site says, “because the view of the 235-foot-tall wonder never gets old.”

A $12 million renovation at Surfsand Resort was completed in June.