01 Edmonds waterfront
Edmonds
30 min Easy day
Ferry watching, the Brackett's Landing dive park and a walkable main street half an hour from Ballard.
Weekend field guide
50 day trips every new Seattleite has to take
Fifty places within a tank of gas, sorted by the kind of day you want, with drive times, passes and the best season for each one.
Drive times are door to door from downtown Seattle on a clear Saturday morning. Ferry crossings are counted. Ferry lines and traffic are not.
Filter the day trips
50 trips match
Saltwater
Ferries, oysters and tide lines. The water is the point.
Closest launch points: West Seattle, Fauntleroy, Ballard, Magnolia
02 Bainbridge Island
Kitsap Peninsula
55 min Easy day
The 35 minute crossing is the best cheap boat ride in the country and Winslow starts at the dock.
03 Vashon Island
Puget Sound
1 hr 5 min Easy day
Farm stands, the Point Robinson lighthouse and an island that still feels like 1985.
04 Point Defiance Park
Tacoma
45 min Easy day
Old growth, Owen Beach and the Five Mile Drive, plus the zoo and aquarium if you have kids.
05 Gig Harbor
Pierce County
1 hr Easy day
A working harbor with net sheds, a waterfront walk and Rainier straight down the bay.
06 Deception Pass State Park
Whidbey Island
1 hr 30 min Easy day
Walk the bridge, watch the tide rip through the pass, then hit the beach at Bowman Bay.
07 Hama Hama Oyster Saloon
Hood Canal
2 hr 5 min Full day
Oysters shucked a hundred feet from the beds they came from, eaten at a picnic table on the canal.
08 Port Townsend
Olympic Peninsula
2 hr Full day
A Victorian seaport, the Fort Worden bunkers and the best used bookstores in the state.
Lake
Cold, clear and quiet. Bring a towel you do not mind getting sandy.
Closest launch points: Madison Park, Leschi, Kirkland, Mercer Island
09 Rattlesnake Lake
North Bend
40 min Easy day
A flat lakeshore loop and the Rattlesnake Ledge climb, 40 minutes from the city.
10 Lake Kachess
Snoqualmie Pass
1 hr 20 min Easy day
A quiet, swimmable alpine lake just over the pass with Cascade peaks on every side.
11 Lake Cushman
Olympic Peninsula
2 hr Full day
Turquoise water, a rocky swimming shore and the Staircase trailhead at the far end.
12 Lake Wenatchee State Park
Leavenworth
2 hr 20 min Full day
A real sand beach on a glacial lake, 20 minutes past Leavenworth and far less crowded.
13 Lake Crescent
Olympic National Park
2 hr 45 min Full day
The bluest lake in Washington, with Marymere Falls and the Spruce Railroad Trail right on the shore.
14 Diablo Lake overlook
North Cascades
2 hr 50 min Full day
Glacier flour turns the lake a color you will not believe until you stand at the overlook.
15 Lake Chelan
Chelan
3 hr 15 min Make it a weekend
Fifty miles of lake, warm summer water and a dozen wineries on the hillsides above it.
Mountain
Volcanoes, passes and the hikes everyone asks if you have done yet.
Closest launch points: Issaquah, Issaquah Highlands, Sammamish, Trossachs
16 Snoqualmie Falls
Snoqualmie
35 min Easy day
A 268 foot waterfall with a paved viewpoint, and the lower trail gets you into the mist.
17 Mount Si and Little Si
North Bend
45 min Easy day
The classic Seattle training hike. Eight miles and 3,000 feet up, or Little Si for the short version.
18 Crystal Mountain gondola
Mount Rainier
1 hr 55 min Full day
Ride to 6,872 feet and eat lunch across the valley from Rainier without hiking a step.
19 Mount Rainier, Paradise
Mount Rainier National Park
2 hr 15 min Full day
Wildflower meadows in August, the Skyline Trail and the mountain filling the whole sky.
20 Artist Point
Mount Baker Highway
2 hr 50 min Full day
The end of Highway 542, with Mount Shuksan on one side and Baker on the other.
21 Mount St. Helens
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
3 hr Full day
Stare into the crater of the volcano that blew in 1980, from the valley it buried.
22 Hurricane Ridge
Olympic National Park
2 hr 55 min Full day
A mile high above Port Angeles with the whole Olympic range in front of you and the Strait behind.
Wine
From the tasting rooms twenty minutes away to the valleys that fill the bottles.
Closest launch points: Woodinville, Hollywood Hill, Kenmore & Bothell, Juanita & Finn Hill
23 Woodinville, Hollywood District
Woodinville
30 min Easy day
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia and forty tasting rooms within a short walk of each other.
24 Woodinville Warehouse District
Woodinville
35 min Easy day
Small producers pouring behind roll up doors. The least pretentious tasting in the state.
25 Rattlesnake Hills
Zillah
2 hr 30 min Full day
The first wine stop over the pass. Hillside tasting rooms, cherry stands and no lines.
26 Prosser
Yakima Valley
2 hr 50 min Full day
Vintners Village puts a dozen tasting rooms in one walkable block in the town where Washington wine started.
27 Red Mountain
Benton City
3 hr 20 min Make it a weekend
The smallest and most serious wine region in the state, where the Cabernet comes from.
28 Columbia Gorge wineries
Lyle and White Salmon
4 hr Make it a weekend
Cliffside tasting rooms above the Columbia with Mount Hood in the background.
29 Walla Walla
Southeast Washington
4 hr 30 min Make it a weekend
Downtown tasting rooms, a real food scene and the best Syrah in the country.
Small-town
One main street, one bakery, one reason to stay for dinner.
Closest launch points: Kenmore & Bothell, Green Lake, Phinney Ridge, Fauntleroy
30 Snohomish
Snohomish County
40 min Easy day
First Street antiques, pie from the Snohomish Bakery and hot air balloons over the valley.
31 Poulsbo
Kitsap Peninsula
1 hr Easy day
Little Norway on Liberty Bay, with Sluys Bakery and a waterfront boardwalk.
32 La Conner
Skagit Valley
1 hr 15 min Easy day
A channel front main street, the Museum of Northwest Art and tulip fields in April.
33 Roslyn
Kittitas County
1 hr 30 min Easy day
The Northern Exposure town, with the Brick tavern and a historic coal mining cemetery.
34 Coupeville
Whidbey Island
1 hr 35 min Full day
Penn Cove mussels on an 1890s wharf in the second oldest town in Washington.
35 Leavenworth
Chelan County
2 hr 15 min Full day
A Bavarian main street at the foot of the Enchantments. Corny and worth it.
36 Winthrop
Methow Valley
3 hr 55 min Make it a weekend
A western false front town with 120 miles of trails and the darkest skies on this list.
Wild coast
Sea stacks, driftwood and weather. The Pacific, not the Sound.
Closest launch points: West Seattle, Fauntleroy, Downtown, Magnolia
37 Ocean Shores
Grays Harbor
2 hr 30 min Full day
The closest drive on sand beach to Seattle, with kites, razor clams and a six mile walk.
38 Westport
Grays Harbor
2 hr 40 min Full day
The surf town. A jetty walk, a marina full of charter boats and fish and chips at the dock.
39 Ruby Beach and Kalaloch
Olympic National Park
3 hr 20 min Make it a weekend
Sea stacks, driftwood logs and the Tree of Life, all steps from Highway 101.
40 Long Beach Peninsula
Pacific County
3 hr 20 min Make it a weekend
Twenty eight miles of beach, oysters in Oysterville and the Discovery Trail.
41 Rialto Beach
Olympic National Park
3 hr 45 min Make it a weekend
Walk to Hole in the Wall at low tide past the biggest driftwood on the coast.
42 Hoh Rain Forest
Olympic National Park
3 hr 55 min Make it a weekend
The Hall of Mosses. Twelve feet of rain a year and trees you cannot see the top of.
43 Cape Flattery
Makah Reservation
4 hr 30 min Make it a weekend
The northwest corner of the lower 48. Sea caves, puffins and Tatoosh Island off the point.
Big sky
Cross the pass and the trees stop. Basalt, wheat and a horizon.
Closest launch points: Issaquah Highlands, Sammamish, Mercer Island, Newcastle Golf Club
44 Vantage and the Wild Horse Monument
Columbia River
2 hr 10 min Full day
Where the trees stop. Steel horses on the ridge and the Columbia a thousand feet below.
45 Frenchman Coulee
Quincy
2 hr 20 min Full day
Basalt columns, climbers on the Feathers and a desert that feels like Utah.
46 Ancient Lakes
Quincy
2 hr 40 min Full day
A flat coulee hike to a string of desert lakes and a waterfall off the rim.
47 Dry Falls
Sun Lakes State Park
2 hr 55 min Full day
The cliff where a waterfall ten times the size of Niagara once ran.
48 Grand Coulee Dam
Grand Coulee
3 hr 35 min Make it a weekend
The largest concrete structure in the country, and the laser show on its face in summer.
49 Palouse Falls
Palouse Falls State Park
4 hr Make it a weekend
A 198 foot waterfall in a basalt canyon in the middle of nowhere. The official state waterfall.
50 Steptoe Butte
The Palouse
5 hr Make it a weekend
A 3,600 foot island in a sea of rolling wheat. Sunset here is the best photo in Washington.
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Before you go
Passes and seasonal roads
Most of these trips need a pass, and a third of them sit behind a road that closes for the winter. Sort it out the night before.
Passes
- Discover Pass State parks and DNR land. $30 a year or $10 a day. Buy online or at the trailhead kiosk.
- Northwest Forest Pass Forest Service trailheads. $30 a year or $5 a day. The America the Beautiful pass covers it.
- National park entrance Rainier and Olympic charge per car. The $80 America the Beautiful pass covers both for a year.
- Sno-Park permit Required November through April at plowed winter lots.
- Makah Recreation Pass Cape Flattery and Shi Shi Beach. Buy it in Neah Bay.
- Ferries Reserve the Port Townsend and San Juan routes. Everything else is first come, first served.
Seasonal roads
- Highway 20 past Newhalem Closed roughly November through May. Diablo Lake and the scenic route to Winthrop go with it.
- Chinook Pass and Cayuse Pass Highways 410 and 123 close November through late May.
- Rainier Sunrise road Open early July to early October. Paradise stays open year round with chains in the car.
- Artist Point The last three miles of Highway 542 open late July to early October.
- Hurricane Ridge Daily in summer. Winter weekends only, weather permitting, with chains required.
- Snoqualmie and Stevens passes Traction tires advised and chains sometimes required November through March. Check WSDOT before you leave.
From day trip to doorstep
Pick your vibe. I'll pick your neighborhood.
The vibe you keep driving toward says a lot about where you should live. Choose it below and I'll send back the three neighborhoods that put it closest.
Personal reply from Jeff. No mailing list. No pressure.
Printable guide
All 50 on paper, sorted by vibe
Drive times, passes and the best season for every trip. Keep it in the glovebox.