LOCATED CONVENIENTLY by car or ferry from all major Washington ports, the Kitsap Peninsula holds something in store for every visitor. Here, the nature lover finds hundreds of miles of trails through cedar forests and along the Puget Sound coastline; the aesthete discovers artist studios and galleries around every corner, especially in hamlets such as Poulsbo; and the romantic delights in a candlelit dinner at Winslow’s Four Swallows or a walking tour of Port Gamble, a former company mill town with preserved, mid-19th-century Victorian architecture and home to one of the peninsula’s most vibrant, open-air Sunday Markets from May to October.
Avid kayakers will want to paddle the Cascadia Marine Trail (wta.org/trails/cmt), a route from Olympia to Canada that follows much of the 230 miles of Kitsap shoreline, with numerous specially designated campgrounds. Cyclists pedal onto terra firma in large numbers, drawn by organized rides such as Bainbridge Island’s “Bike the Bloom,” a combination 25-mile ride and garden tour, with a dozen established loops of varying challenge. For an independent ride, there are sparsely traveled roads and trails that dip past lavender fields and local wineries, through historic towns, and past naval bases and marinas filled with swaying white masts. Bike shops in the larger towns offer rentals for the spontaneous ride. —CB
Read More About Peninsulas & Coast
It's a warm September afternoon on the Long Beach Peninsula, and I'm up to my waist in Pacific Ocean waves. Pointers from my Skookum Surf instructor ping through my head as I clamber onto my board and attempt to ride the tide.
Don't Miss
Part of the allure of Kitsap County is the oh-so-picturesque way of getting there: gliding across expanses of water aboard a Washington State Ferry.
Fifteen miles south of Port Townsend, a red barn looms at the end of a dirt road.
Across the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas, port towns nestle like jewel boxes on the shore.
From our Archives
OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK (www.nps.gov/olym) is a collage of superlatives. Inside the park, youll find the Northern Hemispheres largest temperate rain forest...
LIKE SEASHELLS decorating a wave-kissed beach, each of Washington’s coastal towns offers its own special seaside vacation—no two are alike. So whether you’re seeking a romantic getaway, a family adventure...
Heed the call of the arts in Port Townsend.
Washington's beaches invite year-round rambles.
WEREWOLVES and sea stacks and rain forests are just a few of the quirky characteristics of the Olympic Peninsula and Pacific Coast. Here are a few more unusual sights not to miss...
SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of a landmass known as the Olympic Peninsula, bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, and Hood Canal, is the vast, 922,650-acre Olympic National Park...
WITH COUNTLESS REASONS to visit Port Townsendincluding an enclave of Victorian architecture so well preserved its one of only three Victorian seaports in the U.S.selecting one seems impossible.
LOCATED CONVENIENTLY by car or ferry from all major Washington ports, the Kitsap Peninsula holds something in store for every visitor.
THE HOOD CANAL is not a canal at all, but a fjord, and one of the only fjords in the continental United States.
WITH 157 MILES of coastline, theres a beachand beach townfor everyone.
HIGHWAY 101 is a twisty, mostly two-lane road that wends its way fromthe state capital to Washingtons western shoresis a picturesquebackdrop for an epic road-trip experience. Buckle up for a highwayadventure through the Olympic Peninsula and along the coast.
A FREEWAY OF ROCKS, worn smooth by millennia of Pacific Ocean waves, crunches underfoot.
From the ferry, Port Townsend seems to perch along a hairline shelf above the harbor. Victorian houses stick out from the bluffs, a stark contrast to the modern, earthy architecture that seems to occupy so many Washington shorelines.
Explore...
No matter which coastal community you choose to explore, lifes always a beach.
Find Out More
Please visit our Tourism Partners
Clallam Bay/Sekiu Chamber of Commerce
877-694-9433
Forks Chamber of Commerce
800-443-6757
Hood Canal Visitor Information Center
360-877-2021
Kamilche Visitor Information Center
360-432-0921
Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau
800-451-2542, 360-642-2400
North Mason Chamber of Commerce
360-275-4267
Ocean Park Chamber of Commerce
888-751-9354
Ocean Shores Visitors & Convention Center
360-289-4411, 866-60-COAST
Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce
360-452-2363
Port Townsend Visitor Center
888-EnjoyPT
Quilcene/Brinnon Chamber of Commerce
360-765-4999
Sequim/Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce
800-737-8462
Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce
800-576-2021
Westport-Grayland Chamber
800-345-6223
Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce
360-385-7869