The Olympic Peninsula is home to a variety of landscapes including temperate rainforests, rocky beaches and ice-capped mountains. The unique location provides photo worthy views and experiences at every turn of the road. We enjoyed an adult family trip to this area that has something for everyone. Enjoy this 3 Day road trip in the Olympic Peninsula yourself!
Planning your Route
Seattle is the easiest/cheapest airport to fly into for a road trip to the Olympic Peninsula and planning your trip from there is easy. After flying into Seattle, we got our rental car and headed straight to the Olympic Peninsula. I suggest using a Washington state map to plan your route as the map highlights the states scenic byways. By following several of these scenic byways you can create a loop around the peninsula following the best roads the state has to offer. We traveled this loop in a counter clockwise direction.
Day 1 – Olympic Peninsula – Rainforest and Ocean
Lake Quinault – Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is the main attraction of the Olympic Peninsula and offers several different sections. The first stop in our Olympic Peninsula road trip was at Lake Quinault. We drove the North and South scenic roads of Lake Quinault, stopping to do a short hike down to the lake where we spotted an otter and enjoyed the dense forest.
Pacific Ocean – Olympic National Park
Next, we made our way to the Pacific Ocean. Once there, we headed North on the amazing Highway 101, stopping at several scenic overlooks along the way. For those with dreams of swimming in Olympic National Park, it is possible but the water is incredibly cold and the waves can be rough in areas. Most of the beaches we stopped at were excuses to stretch our legs and dip our toes (only) into the water. One of our favorite beaches we stopped at was Kalaloch Lodge where a small river meets the Ocean and you can grab a bite to eat. The views and bird watching from the patio were amazing.
Hoh Rainforest – Olympic National Park
Afterwards, we headed inland and hiked the Hoh Rainforest. This was the first temperate rainforest we had been to and it is truly an otherworldly experience. It was also our favorite thing to do in Olympic National Park. The two main hiking loops are 2 miles in total and they lead you into a green landscape. Most of us did not pack warm enough clothes for visiting the rainforest. I would recommend layers as the rainforest was several degrees colder than other stops in the Olympic Peninsula. And of course, don’t forget a rain jacket. We visited between rain storms but still got dripped on from the rainforest canopy.
Rialto Beach – Olympic National Park
To end our night, we stopped at Rialto Beach, which is part of Olympic National Park. This beach’s main attraction is the picturesque sea stacks that dot the beach. If you continue to the end of the beach, this walk does involve wading across a creek and is much longer than it looks, so make sure you are prepared to walk there and back before heading out. We fully intended to stay for the sunset views, but after the beach walking we were hungry and tired and headed to Port Angles to stay in our vacation rental.
Day 2 – Olympic Peninsula – Whale watching
The next morning we woke up to my mother whisper-screaming, “Get out of bed”. On the AirBnB listing the owner let us know that Elk frequently graze in the back pasture. Sure enough, after rushing out into the back yard in our PJs, we saw a herd of over 20 elk grazing at the end of a rainbow.
Our day of animals was only beginning as we spent the day whale watching with Island Adventures. However, they no longer offer Port Angeles tours but Puget Sound Express does. This is our one and only experience whale watching and the captain told us we could not have had a better experience. Our tour that day spotted three herds of humpback whales and three pods of Orcas. We were so lucky to see one group of each species feeding. The company was very respectful of the whales space and kept a great distance. After whale watching, we headed back to our accommodations where we were able to spot three more elk the next morning.
Day 3 – Olympic Peninsula – Scenic Views
On our last day of the Olympic Peninsula road trip, we went to the top of Hurricane ridge. Unfortunately, this is Washington state and the cloud cover when we climbed the ridge we had limited views of Mt. Olympus. We visited in June and the top of this ridge was COLD. In fact, it was so cold there was frost on the trees and snow on the ground. Make sure you pack a waterproof winter jacket for the journey. After coming off the mountain, we continued our clockwise journey and explored the West side of the Puget sound stopping at charming towns and scenic vistas along the way. From here, you can head back to Seattle or continue on to the Southern peaks of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier.
Want to Adjust the Olympic Peninsula Itinerary?
If you have more time, I would spend it exploring the small beaches and charming towns the Olympic Peninsula has to offer.
We also would have liked to spend another day driving Highway 1 so we could make more stops. If we were to do this Olympic Peninsula road trip again, we would extend it to 4-5 full days.
I really don’t think this trip can be shortened and still be manageable but if you had to take something out of the itinerary the Hurricane Ridge drive and whale watching did take a long time so those would easily cut a lot of time out of this Olympic Peninsula road trip.
For more things to do in the Olympic Peninsula, check out our list of the best things to do here.
We hope that our Olympic Peninsula Road trip has inspired a trip of your own. If you need help planning your own trip, or have any questions about our experiences, please leave a comment below.
Island Adventures has tours leaving from Anacortes, which has plenty of fun shops and good eats!
We booked whale-watching in the afternoon, and ended up with an extended tour since the crew didn’t have to be back at a specific time.
Thanks so much for sharing that! It was such a bummer to find out our tour no longer operated out of the area but Island Adventures is the tour company we used so I’m happy to see they’re back. I’ll add that back into the post.
This information is very much helpful to me. Thank you for dropping this post.
Washington was fantastic. The itinerary was tight but we were able to experience the best of Olympic Park, the mountain region and Seattle. The Airbnb’s and quaint towns that had delicious food and drink was icing on the cake.