If you've spent any time driving Highway 101, you already know the Pacific Coast has a specific kind of magic. The light is different here. The towns are smaller. The hotels, the good ones, anyway, feel like they were built by people who actually love this place.

I've been photographing and staying at boutique properties along the Washington and Oregon coast for years, and these are the ones I keep coming back to. Some of them I've shot professionally. Some I've stumbled into on a birthday weekend with nothing but dresses packed and a slightly impaired cornea. All of them are worth it.

The Tokeland Hotel | Tokeland, WA

The Tokeland Hotel is the oldest resort hotel in Washington State, and it has absolutely earned that title. Built in 1889 on a small peninsula jutting into Willapa Bay, it's remote in the best way. The kind of place where you arrive slightly stressed and leave wondering why you don't live like this all the time.

The rooms are simple. The hallways are a little crooked. The dining room serves one of the best Sunday brunches on the Washington coast, and the light in the afternoon through those old windows is something I have never gotten tired of photographing.

If you want somewhere that feels genuinely historic, not "historic" as a marketing word, but actually, unmistakably rooted in another era, Tokeland is it.

Good to know: It sits on the edge of Willapa Bay about 20 minutes from Westport. Bring binoculars if you're into birds or moody water views, because there are plenty of both.

The Shelburne Hotel | Seaview, WA

Built in 1896, the Shelburne is the longest continuously operating hotel in Washington State, and somehow it manages to be both soaked in history and genuinely fun to stay at. It's part of the Adrift Hospitality family now, which means the thoughtfulness you'd expect from that brand is very much present.

The rooms have that old-inn quality. Claw-foot tubs, stained glass details, slightly theatrical charm. But it doesn't feel like a museum. The pub is lively, the garden is beautiful, and the Long Beach Peninsula is endlessly walkable. There are also, reportedly, some ghosts. Whether you take that as a selling point is between you and your travel companion.

I've been here as a guest and I've been here with a camera, and both versions of the experience are good.

Good to know: Seaview sits right next to Long Beach, which means easy access to the beach, the Discovery Trail, and several excellent places to eat.

The Adrift Hotel | Long Beach, WA

The Adrift Hotel in Long Beach is what happens when people genuinely think about what a coastal hotel should feel like. It's comfortable without being fussy, design-forward without being cold, and the location puts you right in the middle of everything Long Beach has going on.

The rooms are well-appointed, the service is solid, and if you're the type of traveler who wants to be able to walk everywhere, coffee, dinner, the beach, this is your spot. It's also where I got my start in hospitality photography, so it holds a specific place in my heart. They may have even changed my mind about boutique hotels as a category, which is saying something from someone who used to sort hotels by lowest price and just pick the first one.

Good to know: Adrift Hospitality is a B-Corp certified company. It shows in the way they operate, and it's part of why their properties feel the way they do.

Inn at Manzanita | Manzanita, OR

Manzanita is one of those Oregon Coast towns that people discover once and immediately start scheming about how to move there. Small, walkable, good food, beach that goes on forever. The Inn at Manzanita fits the town perfectly. It's tucked under towering spruce and pine trees, surrounded by gardens, with rooms that have fireplaces and big tubs and the general sense that you are doing the right thing with your life.

The property recently joined the Adrift Hospitality family, so a refresh is underway while the bones of what made it special stay intact. Fourteen rooms, a short stroll to the beach, and that unmistakable Oregon Coast smell when you open your window in the morning. I've been here with a camera and I've been here as a regular person trying to decompress, and I can confirm it works for both purposes.

Good to know: Manzanita is about 15 minutes from Cannon Beach, so you can easily day-trip north without fighting Cannon Beach's parking situation from your home base.

The Pitchwood Inn | Raymond, WA

Okay, I'll be transparent: Raymond is my hometown. But I'd be telling you about the Pitchwood regardless, because it's genuinely good and unlike anything else on this list.

The Pitchwood Inn is attached to the Pitchwood Alehouse, which means you have one of the best meals in Pacific County approximately steps from your room. The rooms are individually designed with reclaimed materials and their own distinct personalities. One of them has a cedar burl headboard the size of a small car. It's cozy in the way that only small-town Pacific Northwest places can be cozy, with the kind of staff who actually want to know where you're headed the next day.

Raymond is a working timber town on the Willapa River, and there's something about staying here that feels different from the polished coastal resort experience. It's real in a way that I appreciate more the longer I work in hospitality. If you're road-tripping Highway 101 and want a stop that's a little off the usual path, this is it.

Good to know: Keep an eye on their events calendar. There's often live music next door at the Alehouse, and the open mic nights have a way of turning into unexpectedly good evenings.

The route from Raymond down to Manzanita is one of the more underrated road trips in the Pacific Northwest. You'll pass through fishing towns, old-growth timber country, and some of the quietest beaches in Oregon and Washington. None of these hotels are trying to be the Four Seasons, and that's the whole point. They're trying to be here, specific to this coastline, these communities, this particular quality of light on a grey afternoon in November.

That's what makes them worth the drive.