Pacific Northwest

Home to Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, and a thriving arts scene, Seattle rewards group visitors with world-class food, iconic waterfront views, and easy access to mountains and ferries all within the city limits.

Olympic National Park protects 922,000 acres of temperate rainforest, glacier-capped peaks, and undeveloped Pacific coastline. The Hoh Rain Forest receives 12 feet of rain annually, producing a cathedral of old-growth Sitka spruce draped in brilliant green moss.

Mount Rainier is Washington's highest peak at 14,411 feet, and its national park protects the most glaciated peak in the contiguous United States. July and August bring the Paradise meadows alive with subalpine wildflower fields that rival any alpine landscape in North America.

The Washington Cascades stretch from the Columbia River to the Canadian border, offering year-round recreation across alpine zones. Snoqualmie Pass and Stevens Pass anchor the western slopes, while the Cascades Scenic Loop connects mountain towns, orchards, and wineries across the range.

Whidbey Island stretches 60 miles through Puget Sound, offering ferry-accessible escapes to artist villages, dramatic suspension bridges, lavender farms, and some of Washington's finest seafood. Deception Pass State Park anchors the north end with sheer cliffs and tidal channels.

The San Juan archipelago clusters 170 named islands at the northern end of Puget Sound. San Juan Island the largest offers the best land-based orca viewing in the world from Lime Kiln Point, alongside Friday Harbor's restaurants and Roche Harbor's historic resort.

North Cascades National Park protects more glaciers than any other park in the continental US. The North Cascades Highway (SR-20) is closed in winter but opens each May, revealing Diablo Lake's turquoise water, Washington Pass, and peaks that rival the Swiss Alps in scale.

Port Townsend is the best-preserved Victorian seaport on the West Coast, its ornate uptown mansions and waterfront commercial district both on the National Register of Historic Places. The town serves as a ferry gateway to Whidbey Island and a cultural hub of unusual depth for a city of 10,000.

Leavenworth is a former timber town that reinvented itself in the 1960s as a Bavarian-themed village. The Wenatchee River foothills setting is genuinely spectacular the town draws more than 2.5 million visitors annually for its summer festivals, Christmas markets, and year-round outdoor recreation.

Bellingham anchors the northern edge of Puget Sound between Seattle and Vancouver, BC. Its compact Fairhaven historic district, Chuckanut Drive coastal route, and direct access to both the San Juan Islands ferry and North Cascades Highway make it one of Washington's most practical touring hubs.

Hood Canal is a glacially carved fjord extending 60 miles along the eastern base of the Olympic Mountains. The cold, clear water produces world-renowned oysters, shrimp, and Dungeness crab harvested by small family operations that sell directly from roadside stands along US-101.

The Snoqualmie Valley lies just 30 miles east of Seattle but belongs to a different world, river farms, 270-foot Snoqualmie Falls, the Salish Lodge, and the small town of North Bend that doubled as Twin Peaks' fictional town of Snoqualmie.