Photo of a still lake with mountains and trees reflecting in North Cascades with the word Washington overlaid

Planning A Trip To Washington State

Washington as a travel destination is all about mountains, volcanoes, waterfalls, hikes and being outside enjoying nature. We lived near Seattle for 6 months in 2021, and we spent every minute of our free time hiking to awesome summits, picturesque Alpine lakes and old-growth forest.

For us, Washington’s three national parks – Olympic, Mt Rainier and North Cascades – offer some of the most amazing scenery in the country. But we also highly recommend adding a few more incredible trails in the Cascade Mountains to your bucket list, which we’ll cover later.

In this Washington travel guide we show you the most popular tourist areas to explore, along with an example road trip itinerary and when to visit.

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Photo of Mark and Kristen Morgan from Where Are Those Morgans standing together on a wooden fire tower at the summit of a mountain in Washington State with far reaching views to the side
Here we are at the summit of Mt Pilchuck
Photo of a hiker standing on a rock with arms stretched out and far reaching views over mountain peak behind

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Unmissable Hikes In Mt Rainier

The hiking trails we love most in stunning Mount Rainier National Park.

Seattle

Okay, before we get lost in nature let’s talk about Seattle. In terms of planning a Washington vacation itinerary, we wouldn’t say it’s absolutely essential to spend time in Seattle, but we do think it’s a cool place to walk around for a day if you have a few extra days.

When we lived there, we decided to get a Seattle CityPASS so we could put our tourist hats on and tick off the top attractions at a discounted rate (here’s our guide on if it was worth it).

Here’s what we did with our passes (all located within easy walking distance of each other):

Outside of our touristy day, we spent plenty of days exploring the rest of Seattle by car and foot. Here are the places we recommend most:

Mount Rainier

We’ve been to almost all the popular US national parks and Mt Rainier is Kristen’s favorite. It’s just a magical place filled with staggeringly beautiful scenery. The two things we love most about travel are hiking and photography, and this volcanic national park has both in abundance.

We actually visited Mt Rainier 5 different times because we couldn’t get enough. Getting around isn’t easy, there aren’t many places to eat and lodging options are sparse. But the trails are so good that none of those things matter.

Here are our favorite hikes:

Olympic

Here’s what we loved about Olympic National Park: In one day we went from hiking an awesome mountain peak trail to lounging by a lake and from walking through old-growth forest to sitting on a beach. There’s nowhere else like it.

When we finally moved out of Washington, we drove a 2 month road trip from Seattle to Sedona and our first 4 days were spent driving around the Olympic Peninsula.

Here are our favorite places in the park:

Cascade Mountains

Close to the border with Canada, North Cascades National Park is the most visually striking and dramatic of the three Washington parks. It’s filled with deep blue lakes and rugged snow capped mountain peaks, so it’s awesome for hiking and photography.

We only went once but we did it properly, hiking a bunch of fantastic trails like Blue Lake and Maple Pass. And we even took the long and slow ferry to Stehekin! Our one regret is that we didn’t make it to Mt Baker, which looks lovely.

But maybe our favorite part about living in Washington was being able to get off the beaten path and find some truly special hikes in the Cascade Mountains.

Here are some of our favorite places to get away from the crowds:

Columbia River Gorge

At first, we associated the Columbia River Gorge with Oregon only. And to be fair most of the best waterfalls and hikes are on the Oregon side, but we did find some amazing spots on the Washington side too.

Falls Creek Falls and Panther Creek Falls were both amazing for photography, plus Dog Mountain and Wind Mountain were great for short hikes. We do recommend prioritizing the Oregon side if you’re short on time, but the Washington side is much quieter.

10 Fun Facts About Washington

  1. Mount St Helens last erupted in 1980.
  2. Lake Chelan is the third deepest lake in America.
  3. The world’s largest building is in Everett (Boeing).
  4. The lower 48’s longest beach is the aptly named Long Beach, WA.
  5. More apples are produced in Washington than any other US state.
  6. Washington produces the second most wine.
  7. There are more than 3,000 glaciers in the state.
  8. Washington is the only state named after a president.
  9. Mount Rainier is the tallest point in the state at 14,410 ft.
  10. Washington produces the second highest amount of wine in the US.

Road Trip Itinerary

If we wanted to road trip around the top highlights in Washington, this is how we’d plan an action packed and hiking heavy 14-day itinerary:

North Cascades – Days 1 to 2

  • Hike Maple Pass and Blue Lake
  • Visit Diablo Lake
  • Hike to Hidden Lake

San Juan Islands – Days 3 to 4

Everett – Day 5

  • Hike Mt Pilchuck
  • Go to Wallace Falls State Park

Seattle – Days 6 to 7

  • Stop at Snoqualmie Falls
  • Go to Bellevue
  • Do the Space Needle
  • Sunset at Kerry Park
  • Go to the arboretum
  • See the Japanese garden
  • Walk around Pike Place Market

Mt Rainier – Days 8 to 10

  • Spend a day in Paradise
  • Next day in Sunrise
  • Final day in Mowich Lake

Olympic – Days 11 to 13

  • Start in Staircase
  • Visit Port Townsend
  • Go to Hurricane Ridge
  • Hike Mt Storm King
  • Visit the beaches
  • Go to the Hoh Rainforest
  • Drive around Lake Quinalt

Long Beach – Day 12

  • Relaxing day on the beach

Columbia River Gorge – Days 13 to 14

  • Spend one day on the Washington side
  • Then spend another day on the Oregon side

This efficient road trip itinerary stops at most of Washington’s touristy highlights and hidden gem spots. It’s exactly how we’d do it if we had 14 days spare, with the last day on Oregon’s side of the gorge because it is better.

When To Visit

The downside to visiting Washington’s most stunning natural areas is that they have very small opening windows. We first went to Mt Rainier in June and its flagship hike – the Skyline Trail – was 10 feet deep in snow.

It’s really only July through September that the national parks and hikes in the Cascades are clear of snow, so plan your trip in summer if hiking is your top priority.

Seattle can be visited year round, but it rains a lot between October and April. So again, we’d say summer is the best time to plan a trip if you’re heading for the city.

Keep Exploring

Are you planning a longer trip with stops in more states? Once you’re finished reading our travel guides for Washington, keep exploring nearby areas by heading over to the following pages:

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Photo of a red rock landscape with swirling sediment laters and the word Nevada overlaid
Photo of a snow capped mountain reflecting in a pristine lake with trees to either side and the word Wyoming overlaid

We hope our Washington State travel guide helps with planning your vacation to the Pacific Northwest!

Happy Travels,

Mark and Kristen

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