Washington is one of our favorite states in the United States! Which is saying a lot. I mean where can you see a rainforest, a mountain, a volcano, a beach, a whale, and end it all in a hip city? Not many places. However, in order to see all of this, we think the best way is via an amazing Washington road trip. So keep reading and we’ll give you a day by day itinerary for your Washington road trip, plus additional ideas for extending your trip beyond one week.
When To Road Trip In Washington State
This road trip, and really any Washington road trip worth it’s merits, takes you into mountains. And in order to access some of these mountainous areas, you’ll need to drive it in the summer so that you’ll have access to all of the roads. If you visit in early summer, like May or June, you may get lucky and get to see some beautiful wildflowers in the mountains. However, later summer, like July through September, is a better time to go as you’ll likely miss the just-out-of-school rush and have a higher likelihood of having good road conditions.
Getting There And Around
This Washington road trip begins and ends at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. This airport is slightly south of Seattle and is a popular airport hub. You’ll find that flights here are frequent and you can frequently find a good deal on a flight (comparatively speaking).
At the airport, you’ll need to rent a car for the duration of your Washington road trip. You can really rent any car you feel comfortable with for this road trip. Though you will be driving in the mountains, the roads in the summer should be easily accessible with any vehicle. The airport has several rental car vendors to choose from. However, make sure to make your rental reservations ahead of time so that you can ensure you have a car and that you get it at the best price.
From the airport, you’ll be doing a wonky semi-loop through the state with your rental car.
Where To Stay
We loved home stays in Washington state. Plus, for a majority of our destinations, these saved us money. Also, we loved the extra charm of these west coast getaways. We’ve listed the best towns to spend each night in throughout the trip itinerary. However, if you just want to explore the charming home stays available in Washington, check out the link below.
Washington Road Trip
The first loop of this road trip takes you through the Olympic Peninsula.
Day 1 – Port Angeles
Technically speaking, you’ll need more than 7 days for this trip as you need to get an early start on your first morning. We woke up around 7 AM to start our one week Washington road trip after getting in late the night before.
First, drive straight to Port Angeles and Hurricane Ridge. This is about a 2.5 hour drive. You’ll need to get there after the morning mist has burned off in order to get good views of the mountains. Unfortunately, we visited on a cloudy day, which is pretty typical for the Olympic Peninsula. Also, remember this is a mountain so it’s much colder on top compared to near the coast. So, make sure to pack layers.
If you have some time, consider doing a smidge of hiking on Hurricane Ridge. The Sunrise Point Trail and Sunrise Ridge are easy trails that also you to get some panoramic views. However, if you are visiting on a cloudy day – like we did – you are unlikely to get any views.
Head in to Port Angeles for lunch.
Next, depart on your whale watching tour outside of Port Angeles. We had the best whale watching tour here and it was so good that we’ve never gone whale watching since. We saw whale after whale and we wish you the same luck!
Stay for dinner in Port Angeles before checking in to your accommodations for the night.
Stay overnight in Port Angeles or south of town.
Day 2 – Olympic National Park
First, start your morning early again and drive west into Olympic National Park. If you wake up early enough you can catch the early morning light over Lake Crescent.
Next, head to one of the amazing beaches in the park like Ruby Beach or Rialto beach. Do some beach walking as these beaches are too cold for swimming. Rialto Beach is the more popular option as it you can walk to the “hole in the wall” along the beach. This 3.5 miles out and back hike on the beach is a popular hike due to the iconic sea stack at the end of it.
Next, head to the Hoh Rainforest. The Hoh Rainforest is the best thing to do in Olympic National Park and one of the most unique things to do in the country! A visit here is a journey to another time. The temperate rainforest is unique to the area and so cool – literally and figuratively.
While in the Hoh rainforest, the most popular walk is the Hall of Mosses. This is a popular .8 mile loop. Also, it’s super popular. Additionally, you can take the Spruce Nature Trail. This 1.2 mile loop is another easy loop but it is much less popular. We’d recommend taking both as they are both easy and short.
Either pack a picnic lunch and eat it here or grab lunch on your way to Lake Quinault. There are not many restaurants in the park so be sure to plan to be near a restaurant when hungry if you don’t pack a lunch.
Next, head to Lake Quinault, the final stop in your Olympic National Park road trip. Here you can do a few more short hikes like the Quinault Rain Forest Trail or the Quinault Loop trail.
Stay overnight in the southern section of Olympic National Park or near Olympia. Eat dinner somewhere near your accommodations.
The next leg of this road trip takes you to to the mountains: Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier.
Day 3 – Mt. Saint Helens
First, start your morning as early as you can so that you can see as much of Mt. Saint Helens as possible. You’ll have to drive there first and this is the longest straight drive of the trip.
You should be to the area somewhere around lunch time.
Enjoy the drive to the Johnston Ridge Observatory where you’ll get to learn about the volcano, the eruption and get great views of the mountain. You can also do a bit of hiking in the area. Honestly, our favorite part of the Mount St. Helens area was the trees. We could have stared at those uniform trees for hours.
Stay overnight somewhere between Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Rainier. We recommend staying closer to Mt. Rainier, like Elbe or Ashford as there is a lot to see on day 4 of this Washington road trip.
Day 4 – Mt. Rainier
Again, start your morning early as you are in for a great day exploring Mount Rainier National Park.
Enter via the Nisqually Entrance and loop through the park to the Sunrise Entrance where you’ll exit the park. Some of our favorite stops for along the loop are Narada Falls, the Grove of the Patriarchs, Reflection Lake, Box Canyon and a hike along Skyline Trail.
This is a huge day and you can fit or as many stops as you can into your drive or simply enjoy the views as you take in the mountainous portion of this Washington road trip. Unfortunately, you won’t have time for many long hikes but you’ll have plenty of time to make all of the short stops to enjoy the main viewpoints.
You’ll want to eat lunch in the park so make sure to pack a lunch as food in the park is limited.
Overnight, stay north of the Sunrise section of the park. You likely won’t have time to drive all the way into Seattle but if you do that would be most convenient.
The next section of the road trip is the northern section and this will take you through the Seattle area.
Day 5 – Woodinville Wine Tasting
Surprisingly, Washington is home to some amazing wines. Sure, Woodinville is no Napa but it still has a burgeoning wine tourism industry. And being so close to Seattle makes it a great stop on this Washington road trip.
Start your morning late, you deserve to sleep in! Then head to Woodinville for a wine tasting afternoon. You can choose which wineries to visit or you can purchase a wine tasting pass to a certain district. Many of these wineries have tasting rooms in walking distance of each other. So you can park your car for the day and enjoy some wine. However, make sure to designate a driver so you can make your way back to Seattle for the night.
Stay overnight in Seattle. You’ll be staying here for the remainder of your trip.
Day 6 – Seattle
Spend your first morning in Seattle enjoying Pike Place Market and the sights in this downtown area.
Have a “progressive” snacking lunch at Pike Place Market.
In the afternoon explore the Seattle Center and take a trip up to the top of the Space Needle. If you have time, make sure to visit Chihuly Garden and Glass. It was our favorite Seattle art exhibit.
Day 7 – Seattle
Spend the morning exploring a neighborhood or two outside of downtown Seattle.
Next, head to Pioneer Square for lunch and more exploration of the oldest neighborhood in Seattle. Here you can visit the Klondike Gold Museum or do and Underground Tour of the neighborhood.
Want To Adjust The Itinerary
This itinerary worked really well for our adult family vacation. However, if you don’t have adults you’re traveling with or if you love the outdoors, consider spending an extra day in Olympic National Park, rather than wine tasting near Seattle.
If you have less time, cut wine tasting, one day in Seattle or one of the “Mounts” from your plans. We think that Mount St. Helens was better so we’d make the controversial decision to cut Mount Rainier from your trip. However, this is a very controversial statement as everyone else seems to love Mount Rainier.
5 Day Washington Road Trip Itinerary
- Day 1 – Olympic National Park
- Day 2 – Olympic National Park
- Day 3 – Mt. Rainier OR Mt. Saint Helens
- Day 4 – Seattle
- Day 5 – Seattle in AM/Wine tasting in PM
And if you have extra time, we think that will be best spent in Olympic National Park. We are lovers of wilderness and this one was unique. Also, there were so many different areas of the park and the driving time takes longer than anticipated so it would have been nice to have an extra day to get in some extra hiking. We would also have liked to spend some time hiking in Mt. Rainier. When we visited it was very snowy and hiking didn’t seem like fun but if we visited later in the summer we could have done more hiking. We did stay extra and take an extra Washington road trip to Snoqualmie Falls and Leavenworth and this would be another good way to extend your vacation.
10 Day Washington Road Trip Itinerary
- Day 1 – Olympic National Park
- Day 2 – Olympic National Park
- Day 3 – Olympic National Park
- Day 4 – Mt. Saint Helens
- Day 5 – Mt. Rainier
- Day 6 – Mt. Rainier
- Day 7 – Seattle
- Day 8 – Seattle
- Day 9 – Snoqualmie Falls and Leavenworth
- Day 10 – Wine Tasting
We hope this Washington road trip itinerary has given you plenty of ideas to plan your own Washington road trip. Our Washington road trip was a great way to enjoy this amazing state as a family and we had a great time. We wish you a great time in Washington as well!
