You Can Stay in Bella Swan’s House from ‘Twilight’

Since 2008, fans of the film series based on the Twilight novels saga have made pilgrimages to the small, rainy town of Forks, Washington to experience the romantically gloomy setting where Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black cross paths. But as any true Twi-hard can tell you, the ultimate sightseeing tour of locations from the first film should actually be centered around and outside Portland, Oregon. That’s the case for one of the most iconic sets, Bella Swan’s house, which is located in the town of St. Helens, about a 30-minute drive north of Portland.

And while some local homes and businesses may find themselves an unwilling tourist destination thanks to their inclusion in a beloved piece of popular culture, luckily for Twilight fans, when the Swan house went up for sale in 2018 it was purchased by one of their own. Since then, Amber and Dean Neufeld have lovingly preserved and decorated the house to match some of the on-screen moments and vibes of movies. And, as of September 2019, they have opened the Swan house up to Twilight fans as a vacation rental.

The home features five bedrooms with accommodations for up to eight guests. The exterior is nearly identical to the state it appears in the film series, and the interior — while not 100-percent film-accurate, includes dozens of thoughtful details down to familiar tchotchkes and a recreation of a painting of a dog that appears in Bella’s room. Other themed rooms include the wolf motif Jacob room (complete with a cutout of Taylor Lautner), and you can have breakfast like Bella’s dad in the sage green eat-in kitchen.

The house is walkable to dining and shopping, as well as the St. Helens waterfront along the Columbia River. It’s also, as the website states, an ideal homebase for a larger Twilight tour which spans from the Columbia River Gorge, up into Washington, and all the way to the Oregon Coast. Some must-see PNW destinations, like Multnomah Falls, also appear in the films, but beyond the movie sets lies the state parks, national forests, rivers and lakes with hiking, skiing and watersports, plus Portland and the Willamette Valley’s many restaurants, wineries, breweries, distilleries and more.

For an extra spooky experience, consider trying to book with Twilight Swan House in late September and throughout the month of October. That’s when the St. Helens hosts the Spirit of Halloweentown each weekend, celebrating Halloween (of course) and the fact that the city was also the filming location of the fan-favorite 1998 made-for-TV movie Halloweentown. The annual event features decorations, live entertainment and celebrity guests.

To book the Twilight Swan House, you might, like Edward, need to move pretty fast. The property only takes reservations up to a year in advance with quarterly opening dates for booking 9-12 months ahead filling up in minutes, Neufeld advises. Check out twilightswanhouse.com for more info and follow on Facebook and Instagram to find out about updates (a replica of Bella’s 1963 Chevy C10 truck is in the works) and, importantly, any last-minute openings.