Day 2: Seattle WA to Port Angeles WA
Postcard from Port Angeles, Washington.
Started the day pretty early, a bit hungover, to get to the ferry terminal, leaving behind a cloudy, lightly raining Seattle.
The wind on the boat, a strong black coffee a crucially necessary, cheesy bacon and egg muffin took good care of me. The tricks you learn in London, huh?
The ferry to Bainbridge Island was a pleasant, almost fun, 40 minute ride through a mostly sunny and calm Elliot Bay: shiny waters, blue sky and lushly vegetation: it’s the Emerald City for a reason after all.
After a quick stop in the pretty postcard-like charming village of Poulsbo, today’s leg headed north, towards the neither pretty nor charming city of Port Angeles, completing the first half of the Olympic peninsula loop.
As much as the city seemed gloomy and unappealing, the oysters were fresh, the smoked salmon chowder exceptional, the crab stuffed halibut excellent and the Washington’s wine pairing on point. Sold.
Can’t go much farther north than this. From tomorrow onwards it will be a long drive south.
Driving from Seattle to Port Angeles Cheat Sheet
Accommodation in Port Angeles:
- Flagstone Motel, 415 E 1st St, Port Angeles, WA 98362. Nice and clean you really feel the PNW in here with great views of the forest and mountains around
Where to eat and what to see between Seattle WA and Port Angeles WA
- Poulsbo downtown and marina, Totally worth the little de-tour. Poulsbo looks like a corner of Norway someone transplanted in the Washington State.
- Hook & Line Pub, 201 E Front St, Port Angeles, WA 98362. Try the chowder. In a cold-ish, rainy-ish, nostalgic-ish day it would be the best thing you can do to yourself.
- Hurricane Ridge Rd Hurricane ridge was closed when I got there but the roads around that area, in the woods, are pretty amazing.
- Kokopelli Grill, 203 E Front St, Port Angeles, WA 98362, don’t even look at the menu. Order half dozen oysters, the incredible dungeness crab stuffed halibut and a couple of glasses of their best local Riesling. You can thank me later.
Driving from Seattle to Port Angeles FAQ
The shortest possible route from Seattle to Port Angeles involves taking one of the available ferries and it is more or less 84 miles long. If you don’t want to take a ferry, you can drive the loop via Tacoma which is 138 miles long (but taking the ferry is lots of fun!)
It really depends on the route you take: without a ferry, via Tacoma would take you about 3 hours, maybe more depending on the traffic. If from Seattle you take the Ferry to Bainbridge Island you might save half hour and get to Port Angeles in 2 and half hours or so. It took me less than 4hours including stops along the route for pictures and such.
The best thing about driving from Seattle to Port Angeles is that you get to drive the Olympic peninsula loop where you are surrounded by never-ending forests and incredible beautiful trees.
Taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island you have a great view of the Seattle bay. The small town of Poulsbo is incredibly charming. The mountains around Port Angeles are fascinating.
A midsize is a good choice even tho the more you get closer to the Olympic peninsula the more it seems everyone is driving a pick up. Consider that the bigger the car the more expensive the ferry would be.
West Coast Road trip pictures: photos taken between Seattle and Port Angeles
My itinerary on a West Coast road trip
- Seattle to San Diego road trip – main article
- Day 1: Sea-Tac to Seattle
- Day 2: Seattle to Port Angeles
- Day 3: Port Angeles to Astoria
- Day 4: Astoria to Florence
- Day 5: Florence to Crescent City
- Day 6: Crescent City to Fortuna
- Day 7, 8 and 9: Fortuna to Napa
- Day 10 and 11: Napa to San Francisco
- Day 12: San Francisco to Monterey
- Day 13: Monterey to King City
- Day 14: King City to San Luis Obispo
- Day 15: San Luis Obispo to Carpinteria
- Day 16-17-18: Carpinteria to Los Angeles
- Day 19-20: Los Angeles to San Diego
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