Top Places to Visit in Washington
Washington State rewards both urban visitors and wilderness seekers — often in the same trip.
Olympic National Park is one of the most ecologically diverse parks in the US, encompassing three distinct ecosystems: temperate rainforest (the Hoh and Quinault Rainforests), mountain wilderness (the Olympic Mountains including Mount Olympus), and 73 miles of wild Pacific coastline. The Hoh Rain Forest is one of only four temperate rainforests in the world. The park has no road access through its interior — it can only be seen from its edges or by backcountry trails.
Mount Rainier National Park features the most glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. Mount Rainier has 26 named glaciers and over 35 square miles of permanent snowfield. Paradise (5,400 feet elevation) on the south slope offers stunning wildflower meadows in late summer and is the starting point for most summit attempts. Sunrise is the highest point in the park accessible by road (6,400 feet).
North Cascades National Park is the least visited of Washington's national parks and perhaps its most dramatic — jagged peaks, over 300 glaciers, and deep valleys accessible primarily by the North Cascades Highway (closed in winter). Ross Lake and Diablo Lake glow an impossible turquoise color from glacial sediment.
San Juan Islands — accessible by ferry from Anacortes — are a peaceful archipelago in the Salish Sea. Orca whale watching (J, K, and L pods of Southern Resident Killer Whales inhabit these waters seasonally), cycling on car-free Orcas Island, and kayaking are the primary draws.
Seattle — Pike Place Market (one of the oldest continuously operating farmers' markets in the US), the Space Needle, the Museum of Pop Culture, the Seattle Art Museum, and the thriving Capitol Hill neighborhood. The ferry commuter system crossing Puget Sound offers spectacular views of Mount Rainier on clear days.
Palouse Falls State Park in eastern Washington protects a 185-foot waterfall plunging into a basalt canyon — a legacy of the catastrophic Ice Age floods.
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