The Olympic peninsula is the extraordinarily beautiful crown of the Pacific northwest. Home to the vast expanse of the temperate rainforest at the Olympic National Park, and to wonderful treks and picturesque towns, it is a favorite weekend getaway for people living in this region. For travelers exploring the Pacific northwest, it however gets difficult to decide on what to see and what to miss given the extraordinary beauty of this region.

Having stayed in Seattle for two years, we ourselves have explored it over multiple weekends. So we will provide a suggested itinerary for exploring this region for 2 and 3 days (3 days would be preferable), as also add-ons if there is more time to enjoy its beauty. Given its unique biodiversity, we will elaborate a little more than normal on the attractions to put them in the right perspective. There are innumerable trails in this region; we cannot cover all of them in this blog. The Washington Trails Association is a great resource for more details on these trails

General tips:

Getting there: If you are traveling from Seattle, the simplest way to reach the peninsula is to catch the ferry to Bainbridge Island (about an hour) and then drive further. You can take your car on the ferry for a minimal cost. For more details on schedule and pricing, visit Washington State Department of Transportation webpage.  If it’s a lovely summer weekend, we would recommend reaching early for the ferry as people do line up later in the day. If you are traveling from Portland or Olympia, you can directly drive up there.

More on the Olympic National Park: The Olympic National Park encompasses the entire peninsula and includes the temperate rainforest, the alpine areas of the Olympic mountains, and the pristine Pacific coastline. Extraordinarily beautiful and diverse, you’ll get a taste of everything that nature has to offer in this region.

As usual, we are sharing our itinerary on our google maps page. Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=19SJaI5kG6-Ad6l3pJR5xsYbg-d4&usp=sharing. Select the label ‘Olympic Peninsula’.

 

2-day itinerary

Day 1: Hurricane Ridge- Lake Crescent- La Push

Leave as early as possible to make the most of the day. After alighting at Bainbridge, drive to the Hurricane Ridge (2 hours); note that the last few miles are slightly windy but with great beauty. Hurricane Ridge gives a fantastic view of the Olympic mountain range as also of the Pacific Ocean upto Victoria, BC, if the visibility is good. The Hurricane Hill Trail is a popular 1.6 mile one-way trail starting from the visitor center. This is one place where you may be lucky enough to see mountain goats.

Next Stop is Lake Crescent: Around an hour away from Port Angeles,  a good 20 miles of the drive is along the pristine Lake Crescent, and you can stop at one of the multiple picnic spots along the lake for lunch if you have packed something accordingly. We stopped near a picnic area around the trail head for Marymere Falls and the view of the lake from here was beautiful. Marymere Falls a popular trail you could do if you have time. Another food option would be one of the restaurants in the quaint Port Angeles.

Be sure to reach La Push before sunset. La Push has three beaches, somewhat imaginatively names First Beach, Second Beach, and Third Beach. The view of the setting sun in the backdrop of the beautiful sea stacks along the Pacific is a sight to behold (Tip: It is a terrific place to click that perfect couple/ family photograph for your shelf).

The First Beach is accessible by road. However, the Second and Third Beaches need an approximately half hour walk along the rainforest; both are awe strikingly beautiful and have different views of the haystacks. Third Beach has a more expansive view of the stacks down south while the Second Beach gives a more close-up view of the norther stacks (the place to click that snap!). We went to Second Beach in the evening and the Third Beach the next morning. We recommend doing all three if time permits, but you may skip any one if needed.

 

Staying at La Push: As soon as you lock on the dates for your trip, be sure to book a room at the Quilette resort (https://quileuteoceanside.com) at La Push. It offers lovely rooms bang along the First beach, and we enjoyed our stay there. It however often doesn’t allow a single day booking in the summer, in which case the other option is to stay at one of the various cabins along Quilette river, or camp on the beach (but be aware that there aren’t great washroom and bathing facilities, and it can get chilly at night). Forks is a town around 15-20 minutes away and has various hotels/cabins too. If you are into it, Twilight was shot in the forests around Forks and there are a lot of Twilight tours available.

Lovely cabins are also available for renting along Lake Crescent, which can make for a pleasant weekend barbeque evening as well. You may also chose to stay at the beautiful Ruby Beach further south.

Food tips:

Mora Ice cream at Bainbridge is a 5 min walk from the ferry terminal and serves amongst the most delicious ice creams in the Seattle area. Be sure to try it at least once.

Beyond Bainbridge (disclaimer: we never tried the restaurants in Port Angeles) though, there is not much to anticipate in terms of good food. Planning a picnic lunch or two and packing some sandwiches etc along to enjoy Lake Crescent/Hoh would be a good idea.

Day 2: La Push- Hoh Rainforest- Bainbridge

Get up early and enjoy the dawn unfold over a cup of coffee. You may go to Third Beach first, or head directly to Hoh Rain Forest (1 hour). There are two trails in Hoh; the Hall of Mosses trail and the Spruce Nature Trail. Both are worth doing and give a good overview of what makes Hoh a rainforest, so to speak. If you are in time for a ranger tour, do not miss it. They explain things beautifully, and show many more nitty-gritties than we can appreciate on our own.

Enjoy lunch at the Picnic Area and then head back towards Bainbridge. Depending on how much time and energy you have, you can either head directly to the ferry (3.5 hours) and of course enjoy Mora Ice cream before getting on the boat, or make a pit stop on the way at one of the lavender farms at Sequim (more on that ahead). Alternatively, you can also drive along US101S and then drive to Seattle via Olympia (similar time but avoids the ferry).

More places to explore:

If you are planning a longer trip, here are some other attractions worth visiting.

Sequim: The lavender capital of North America does live upto its name in lavender season and hosts the famous annual lavender festival usually in July. There are beautiful lavender farms and cute gift shops along the entire stretch, with most also having a short tour for the visitors on how they process lavender to make all the products. It is conveniently en route and highly recommended. One can easily spend 1-2 hours shopping and clicking snaps and simply enjoying the lavender fragrance wafting through the breeze. There is usually enough to do even early or late into the summer; so if you have the time, certainly go for this.

Dungeness Spit: America’s largest natural sand spit at 5.5 miles, it is seen as a narrow stretch of land jutting out of the northern aspect of the Olympic peninsula in an arch shape. It leads to the Dungeness National Wildlife Reserve and the New Dungeness Lighthouse. Also conveniently located, it would certainly make for an interesting detour. We haven’t gone along the spit ourselves, but did drive upto it and clicked some snaps for memory.

Lake Crescent: For the repeat visitor, Lake Crescent makes a perfect relaxing weekend getaway on its own. Rent a cabin here, kayak on the lake, have a barbeque, lie down on the large meadows and picnic areas for a nap; it is indeed idyllic.

Ruby Beach: Another beautiful beach with lovely sea stacks; repeat visitors might prefer going here instead of La Push. It would also be on the route for a quick photo-op if one returns back to Seattle driving along US101S and Olympia.

Quinault Rain Forest Ranger Station: A third option to explore the Olympic rainforest, we enjoyed an extremely informative ranger guided trail when we went there. Quinault holds home to six of America’s largest conifers, namely the largest western hemlock, sitka spruce, western hemlock, mountain hemlock, western red cedar, and yellow cedar respectively.

 

Cape Flattery: If you have one additional day, this is a beautiful hike and view point. It is the northwesternmost point in the contiguous United States and would be an interesting trip to make! (Disclaimer: We have unfortunately never gone there ourselves.)

3-day itinerary:

If we were to organize everything into a 3-day itinerary, we would suggest this:

Day 1: Seattle- Bainbridge- Sequim- Drive along Dungeness Spit- Hurricane Ridge- Lake Crescent (stay overnight along the lake).

Day 2: Lake Crescent- Hoh Rainforest- La Push- Explore the third and second beaches – Stay overnight at La Push

Day 3: La Push- Ruby Beach- Quinault Rain Forest- Drive back to Seattle along US101S and Olympia, or go further south to Portland.

You can also continue along US101S along Cannon Beach and the Portland coastline if you wish to continue exploring the exquisite Pacific Northwest coastline.

If we were asked to choose two between the three Olympic National Park visits to save time for a longer hike, we would choose Hurricane Ridge for sure (given it gives a glimpse to the majestic Olympic mountain range) and one of the two rainforests (although both are beautiful, they have relatively similar vegetation and habitat).