Just a short hour outside of Seattle, you’ll find this beautiful road trip loop through the mountains and forests of western Washington. This charming road trip loops its way to the Bavarian town of Leavenworth after visiting the the 268-foot Snoqualmie Falls. The Snoqualmie Falls road trip is a great day trip from Seattle and is a great way to escape the city for the day. Continue reading to see our exact route and suggested stops.
Getting There and Around
This Snoqualmie Falls road trip is a great little loop that is just a short drive from Seattle. As such, this is the perfect day trip from Seattle. We recommend staying in Seattle overnight or just adding this as a short addition to your Washington road trip. You will need a car to explore this section of the Cascades. If you need to rent one, there are plenty of car rental options in Seattle.
Snoqualmie Falls Itinerary
Snoqualmie Falls
First, start your day at Snoqualmie Falls. Stop at the falls and take the short walk to the viewpoints taking in the morning mist from the 268-foot waterfall. At the waterfall, you’ll see that there are two parking areas. One is free and the other is paid. We parked in the free lot and walked the few extra feet.
Once at the falls, there are several well paved paths and viewpoints from the top of the falls. If you would like to do some extra walking, you can walk down to the lower falls area and take in the view from the bottom of the falls. This was a fun little walk on a trail with lots of steps but it was worth it. We visited early in the morning and it was perfect. However, we’ve heard that Snoqualmie Falls gets crowded on weekends and mid-day so beware you may have to wait for that perfect photo op.
Snoqualmie Falls are part of a hydropower plant that is still used today. We were unaware of this and were pretty surprised to see a bunch of fencing and wires at the top of the falls. It does kinda take away some of the beauty of the falls to see all of the man-made stuff at the top. This is also why we enjoyed the sights from the bottom of Snoqualmie Falls a bit more. From the lower perspective you didn’t see as much man-made stuff cluttering up the view of the falls.
Leavenworth
After visiting the falls, head east on I-90. While this is highway driving, this road will take you through Snoqualmie Pass and you’ll enjoy both a fun drive and some beautiful forests and mountain lakes. Stop along the way when you feel like it to enjoy the scenery.
When you arrive in Thorp, turn off the highway and head north on highway 970. This road will take you to the absolutely charming town of Leavenworth. Leavenworth was our favorite stop along this Snoqualmie Falls road trip. It is a town reminiscent of a Bavarian resort village. And it has the touristy shops to prove it.
Enjoy some fun local breweries and wineries in Leavenworth along with a nice lunch. Additionally, check out some of the neat features of the buildings like the cuckoo clocks and fun outfits employees wear. However, parking here can be a nightmare so just plan to park where you can and walk the town.
Next, head west on highway 2 as this Snoqualmie falls road trip look circles back toward the Seattle area. Along the way, you’ll enjoy more fun mountain driving and more charming small towns. Stop at a few of these to stretch your legs and enjoy the sights. You’ll end your journey in Monroe and then you can make your way back to Seattle from there.
Want to Adjust the Itinerary
If you want to complete this itinerary in a half day, you definitely could. We were back to the Seattle area by 4PM and that’s with spending an absurd amount of time in Leavenworth. By cutting back on time spent in towns, this could be done in 4-6 hours.
If you want to spend more time on this Snoqualmie Falls road trip, I’m really not sure what you’d want to do. If you’re really into touristy towns and shopping, you could spend a full day shopping in Leavenworth. Other than that, this Seattle day trip really doesn’t require any more than a full day.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about this great Seattle day trip to Snoqualmie Falls and more! It really was a great little addition to our Washington vacation. Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions in the comments section below.
In my book, the most fun driving experience in the world is to get a Volkswagen or else its Audi sibling, drive it through that stretch of Interstate 90 from Issaquah to Cle Elum, with either the Bach Concerto 1052 or its related Sinfonia 146. Something to engage all the senses working together in perfect harmony like few other experiences in the world.