74 Best Sights in Washington Cascade Mountains and Valleys, Washington

With a long pier, a boardwalk over an old rail trestle, and a paved trail that skirts the waterfront overlooking the islands of Bellingham Bay, this leafy community park between downtown and Fairhaven is one of the loveliest spots in the area to stroll, jog, read a book, or watch the sailboats. At the center of the park is a branch of the popular local café Woods, which offers sweeping water views. Other amenities include a playground, a small beach, barbecue grills, and picnic tables.

This 15-acre swatch of towering evergreen trees is bisected by the roaring Deschutes River and set around the late Victorian buildings that once housed Olympia Brewery. At the south end of the park, you can visit a small salmon fish hatchery and then follow wooded paths and cross foot bridges as your make your way north alongside the rushing cascades. The path leads to Tumwater Historical Park and then under Interstate 5 to downtown Olympia's Capitol Park. Owned by the nonprofit Olympia Tumwater Foundation, this stretch of greenery offers an interesting mix of historical industrial architecture and nature, including local birdlife.

At this large, modern tasting room in the center of downtown Bellevue, sample the exceptional wines of this acclaimed Walla Walla–based vintner, which routinely scores high marks for its Cabernet Sauvignons, Malbecs, and other typically French oak–aged Bordeaux-style vintages, including blends. In this clubby, warmly lighted space, you can also sample the Browne Family's bourbons and ryes.

One of the more imaginative adaptations you'll ever see of a mid-century modern grocery store, this sustainably designed regional art museum sits on the edge of downtown Edmonds, steps from the ferry terminal. The museum presents rotating exhibits that focus heavily on Pacific Northwest art from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, and the curators make it an important part of their mission to include female, minority, and LGBTQ artists. Classical music performances are held here monthly.

Through scenic landscapes and over covered bridges, the authentic engines of the Chehalis–Centralia Steam Train will carry you on rails originally laid for logging. The line runs through farmland and rolling hills, and crosses several wooden bridges. There's a 13-mile round-trip ride and an 18-mile ride, plus dinner trains and special events.

Informative tours and tastings are offered at this celebrated downtown distillery that's garnered dozens of awards for its botanical-infused gin, sweet whiskey, and Krampus herbal liqueur. The distillery's bi-level Penny Farthing Bar & Restaurant is open from mid-afternoon through dinner and serves well-crafted cocktails and Spanish-inspired tapas. 

Given the rapid growth of Seattle's Eastside suburbs, it's a little hard to believe you can still find completely wild and secluded woodland trails less than 10 miles southeast of downtown Bellevue. This 3,115-acre county park centered on 1,614-foot Cougar Mountain is indeed wonderfully peaceful and undeveloped, with nearly 40 miles of hiking trails connected by four different trailheads. You can discover everything from lush wetlands to sheer cliffs here—even a few caves. Near the park's northeast border, the 11-acre Cougar Mountain Zoo ( www.cougarmountainzoo.org) is home to lemurs, Siberian reindeer, Bengal tigers, and many other species; it's well worth a visit if you're in the area.  

One of the best-known dive sites in Puget Sound, Edmonds Underwater Park is immediately north of the ferry landing and offers 27 acres of sunken vessels, man-made reefs, and developed dive trails at no charge. Adjacent Brackett's Landing Park—where there's parking—has trails, picnic areas, and restrooms.

This restored Hudson's Bay Trading Post—a British outpost on the Nisqually Delta in the 1830s—was moved to Point Defiance in 1935. The compound has a trading post, granary, blacksmith's shop, bakery, and officers' quarters, as well as extensive gardens. Docents dress in 1850s attire and demonstrate pioneer skills like weaving and loading a rifle. Queen Victoria's birthday in May is a big event, and eerie candlelight tours are offered several days in October.

A compelling collection of exhibits describes the city's maritime history, and there are photo archives, video programs, and a research library focusing on the area's pioneer heritage and Native American culture. The facilities include a one-room, early-20th-century schoolhouse and a 65-foot, 1950s purse seiner, a type of fishing vessel from the community's famous seafaring fleets. News clippings and videos about "Galloping Gertie," the bridge over the Tacoma Narrows that famously collapsed in 1940, are eerie.

This engaging spot for kids is on a pioneer homestead built in the 1800s. Interactive exhibits and crafts are part of the fun; wee ones love the magic school bus as well.

Open in summer only, this 2-mile-long, sand-fringed offshore haven is full of wildlife and outdoor opportunities. Seasonal programs include guided walks, bonfires, and midsummer Jetty Island Days festivities. A ferry provides round-trip transportation.

Housed in the former American Legion hall and across from Wright Park, the museum showcases rare and unpublished letters and documents by notables who have shaped history. Themes of the rotating exhibits have included the correspondence from the family of Presidents John and John Quincy Adams and Einstein's theory of relativity.

A 10-minute drive from Gig Harbor, this is a wonderful beachcombing area at low tide. Native American tribes once fished and clammed here, and you can still see people trolling the shallow waters or digging deep for razor clams in season. Children and dogs alike delight in discovering huge Dungeness crabs, sea stars, and sand dollars. Picnic tables and walking trails are interspersed throughout the 109 acres of steep, forested hills, and the campground is popular all summer.

With a curving modern pier, paved pathways lined with park benches, an imaginatively designed playground, a small sandy beach, and impressive views of the Seattle skyline in the distance, this 7-acre park within a short walk of downtown Bellevue is one of the prettiest spots along the Lake Washington shoreline for a picnic, a stroll, or a swim. From May through October, you can rent kayaks, canoes, and stand-up paddleboards from the REI Boathouse at the park.

A 2,694-square-mile forest (it's a little bigger than Delaware), including much of the mountain and forest land around North Cascades National Park, this national forest has miles of trails, but because the snowline is quite low, the upper ridges and mountains are covered much of the year. This makes for a short hiking, climbing, and mountain-biking season, usually from mid-July to mid-September or early October—but winter brings skiing and snowmobiling. The wildflower season is also short, but it's spectacular; expect fall color by late August or early September. The 10,778-foot-high, snow-covered volcanic dome of Mt. Baker is visible from much of Whatcom County and from as far north as Vancouver and as far south as Seattle. The year-round ranger office nearest to this part of the forest is in Glacier, but there's also a summer office in Deming, known as the Heather Meadows Visitor Center, near Artist Point, at very end of the Mt. Baker Highway (Highway 542). At both centers, you can pick up trail maps and get advice on hiking and exploring the northern end of the forest.

At this branch of Seattle's Museum of Flight, vintage planes are restored by a volunteer staff that simply loves bringing vintage aircraft back to life. You can wander among the mix of delicate and behemoth planes on a leisurely, self-guided tour at Paine Field.

This striking, modern building contains some 2,500 works produced by regional creative minds past and present, including painters, sculptors, photographers, and other artists. Soaring spaces, circular exhibit rooms, a glass gallery, and a broad spiral staircase add to the free-form feeling of the displays. There's a small but impressive gallery shop.

This spectacular, 723-acre wildlife park 30 miles southeast of Tacoma is devoted to native creatures of the Pacific Northwest. Walking paths wind through natural surroundings, and you can see beavers, otters, and wolverines; get close to wolves, foxes, coyotes; and observe several species of big cats and bears in wild environments. Another option is to book the separate Wild Drive Premier Tour, which lets you slowly explore the park grounds from your own car, near free-roaming bison, elk, mountain goats, caribou, and a female moose named Aspen. 

Get your dinner to go and watch the sun go down behind Whidbey Island and the Olympic Mountains at this lovely waterfront park. The Olympic Beach fishing pier attracts anglers all year and public art dots the landscape. In summer, a beach ranger station (open weekends noon–5) is a great place to pick up local info; kids like exploring the marine touch tank.

One of only a handful of fiber arts museums in the country is housed throughout three floors of the Queen Anne–style Gaches Mansion, which rises grandly over La Conner's downtown. Exhibits change throughout the year and feature both contemporary and historic quilts, wall hangings, and other textiles, most of them created in the Pacific Northwest. The lovingly restored mansion itself makes for an interesting tour, and there's a well-curated museum shop.

Framing nearly 4 acres of landscaped desert gardens and bird-watching areas, this lovely waterfront spot stretches along a 1-mile boardwalk through a beachy section of the West Bay shoreline. The park overlooks yachts bobbing in the water at several marinas, and its amenities include beach pavilions and a playground. You can see it all from three stories up by climbing the winding steps of the viewing tower at the north end of the complex, in Port Plaza, where open benches invite visitors to relax and enjoy the outlook.

Developed on the site of a copper-smelting plant that in the 1990s was demolished and turned into a huge Superfund cleanup site, this thriving mixed-use development on the Commencement Bay waterfront began opening in phases in the late 2010s and now consists of condos, restaurants, shops, a culinary-oriented marketplace, an upscale hotel, and a multiplex cinema. Linear and paved Ruston Way path runs for 2 miles alongside the waterfront, connecting the neighborhood with the city's North End and, by way of a pedestrian bridge, nearly adjacent Point Defiance Park (and the ferry terminal to Vashon Island). The development includes Dune Peninsula, a new waterfront park with beautiful views of the harbor.

A favorite among Bremerton's interesting maritime-related attractions, this museum on the waterfront near the ferry terminal is set inside a stately 1890s shipyard building. It brings American naval history to life through war photos, ship models, historic displays, and American and Japanese war artifacts.

On Point Defiance Park's Five Mile Drive, the garden is a 22-acre expanse of more than 10,000 plants—some 700 species, including azaleas, blue poppies, and magnolias—that bloom in succession. It's one of the finest rhododendron collections in the world.

A key part of downtown Everett's steady renaissance, this striking contemporary nonprofit art center has spacious, high-ceilinged galleries that mount diverse rotating exhibits throughout the year, and a gift shop carries works by nearly 200 regional artists. There's also a state-of-the-art hot shop where visitors can watch glass blowing. The center has a full program of classes in different mediums. 

On the waterfront and at the edge of Liberty Bay Park, Western Washington University's small but well-designed marine center and aquarium is jam-packed with exhibits of local sea creatures. An intertidal touch tank lets kids feel sea anemones, sea urchins, and starfish, while other displays house crabs, jellyfish, and plants. Puppets, puzzles, murals, and videos help youngsters learn more about what they see.

Situated above the campus of Western Washington University, 175-acre Sehome Hill Arboretum, with its native trees, shrubs, and other plants, has good views of Bellingham Bay and Lummi Island, especially from the facility's observation tower. More than 6 miles of trails encircle the beautifully landscaped grounds.

Stop by this tasting room inside a high-ceilinged former theater in Snoqualmie's Old Town to sample a selection of exceptional wines, most of them made with Bordeaux and Rhône varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from top vineyards around throughout the Columbia Valley. Appetizers, including cheese and meat boards, are available, and there's live music most Friday and Saturday evenings. Sigillo has a second tasting room in Chelan.

This hilltop museum surveys domestic life in early Skagit County and Northwest Coastal Native American history. There's an interesting gallery showcasing goods commonly found in the region's early general stores, and rotating exhibits interpret the different aspects of the community's rich heritage.