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We are planning on flying into Seattle for approximately one week in mid-March 2023 for our first visit to Washington. I'm looking for recommendations on where to stay outside of the city, and what things are good to do at that time of year. We just recently decided this, as we had planned on going somewhere else, but we made a last minute change!
We are a family of three, and very outdoorsy. We do not particularly care for cities (traffic, noise, congestion), but we would like to spend a couple of days exploring Seattle, and possibly trying to see a Kraken game. Our son loves to watch hockey, so he doesn't care who's playing! We'd prefer to stay outside of the city, and drive in for the day or two that we decide to check out the city. Could you recommend a quieter suburb/town within 45 min to an hour (with traffic) that would be good to stay in? We'd probably choose a hotel for this trip, so that might affect where we can stay. I'm aware that the weather isn't ideal for outdoor activities at that time of year, so we'll come prepared with rain gear and warm clothes, but what kinds of outdoors things are good to do outside of the city in late winter/early spring? Would it make sense to check out the city for a couple of days, and then possibly visit elsewhere (coast, north, south?) for the rest of the trip? There are a lot of things I'd love to check out in the summertime, but this is when we can travel at the moment, so we'll make do with whatever is available.
45-60 minutes away from the city with traffic isn’t really that far.
Maybe increase that distance a bit and hop the ferry to Bainbridge Island.
I don’t really know much about the Seattle area so hopefully someone more tuned in can offer better help.
Hope you enjoy your visit.
Good luck to your guys.
I think life would be easier to move about, change hotels. For the days you'll be in Seattle, stay in Seattle. When you want to go see something else, check out and stay there. For one compromise if you don't like that, I might suggest Issaquah or Fall City or or North Bend... A bit up I-90. In March you may still find some snow and winter mountain fun on Snoqualmie Pass with some late snow we're getting now, tubing, snow shoeing - skiing if you're interested in that.
And it's still close enough to Seattle to go west for that.
If you can take two days, go across Highway 2 and stay in Leavenworth.
I think if you want outside, your odds will be better going mountain, not ocean. The ocean will be a long ways away and probably pretty cold and rainy in March (of course now that I've said that it will undoubtedly be beautiful!). Take a walkon ferry out of seattle if you want a water experience.
Last edited by Diana Holbrook; 02-22-2023 at 01:43 PM..
I think life would be easier to move about, change hotels. For the days you'll be in Seattle, stay in Seattle. When you want to go see something else, check out and stay there. For one compromise if you don't like that, I might suggest Issaquah or Fall City or or North Bend... A bit up I-90. In March you may still find some snow and winter mountain fun on Snoqualmie Pass with some late snow we're getting now, tubing, snow shoeing - skiing if you're interested in that.
And it's still close enough to Seattle to go west for that.
If you can take two days, go across Highway 2 and stay in Leavenworth.
I think if you want outside, your odds will be better going mountain, not ocean. The ocean will be a long ways away and probably pretty cold and rainy in March (of course now that I've said that it will undoubtedly be beautiful!). Take a walkon ferry out of seattle if you want a water experience.
Thank you for the suggestions! I've looked at Leavenworth online before, and it looks like a nice little town. We lived in the Rockies for 12 years, so we prefer the mountains anyway, but we might just take a drive out to the coast if the weather is agreeable. Is the southern coast worth visiting if the weather is nice enough? I know that the northern coast would be a long haul, so we'll reserve that until we get out to Olympic National Park. On the west coast, I've only been to the coast in Southern CA and in Alaska, so I don't know much about the coastline of WA.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I would suggest staying on the Eastside, in Redmond, Bellevue or Issaquah. If the passes are too rough with snow conditions you can still visit Snoqualmie Falls, Mt. Si,
My suggestion for coast would be to drive down I5 to Longview, then west on 4, and 401 to 101 south. Then cross the magnificent bridge over the Columbia into Astoria, and have a meal at Mo's. You can go back on 30 (Oregon side) over the Highway 433 bridge and work your way back to I5. Alternatively, for more of the coast, from Astoria go up 101 to Raymond, then 6 to I5 at Chehalis. We have done that trip from here in Sammamish in one day many times. If you like driving there is some nice scenic winding roads.
I do suggest the north (Olympic National Park/Hurricane Ridge) in spring or summer. It's beautiful in winter too but roads may be closed and it's slow going even if open.
I would agree with others here. Getting around the Seattle area can be somewhat tedious, and if you want to be an hour or so away from the city, that won't place you very far away.
It would be better to spend a day or two "in" Seattle, or someplace close by while you explore Seattle. Then if you wish to spend some time doing outdoorsy things, you can either use your hotel in Seattle as a central base and do little one day or two day trips to other locations.
Among the locations other have mentioned here, I would also like to suggest visiting the Skagit Valley, maybe say in La Conner. If you wan to stretch your legs a bit, a trip to the Columbia Gorge or possibly Grand Coulee. Jumping on a ferry to visit the norther San Juan's is also wonderful. You could check out Friday Harbor. All these places, such as Leavenworth, are several hours drive away, but you could easily incorporate them into extended trips.
Thank you for the suggestions! I've looked at Leavenworth online before, and it looks like a nice little town. We lived in the Rockies for 12 years, so we prefer the mountains anyway, but we might just take a drive out to the coast if the weather is agreeable. Is the southern coast worth visiting if the weather is nice enough? I know that the northern coast would be a long haul, so we'll reserve that until we get out to Olympic National Park. On the west coast, I've only been to the coast in Southern CA and in Alaska, so I don't know much about the coastline of WA.
If the weather is nice, and you wanna get out… I would try to get to Ocean Shores. That puts you maybe three hours from Seattle, you can either make it down and back in a long day or stay over someplace there (there are many Airbnb’s and a casino hotel on the beach). Ocean shores is a nice beach, everything won’t be quite hopping yet in March, but there will be restaurants open and the beach is always open. :-)
Some other time later in the year, when you don’t need to operate out of Seattle, I would recommend coming back in June or July and going to Long Beach, Astoria, and our best tourist attraction of them all, Mount St. Helens. It’s too early in the year to go to there now. Mount St. Helens Highway is still snowed in and will likely not be open until April or May.
First of all, mid-March is a big wildcard time of the year meaning it could literally rain, snow, be cold and windy or be sunny on any given day of the week. If you've lived in a place like CO with seasons, you will understand this. Up in the Rockies anything goes in March.
So, where best to go and stay will be totally dependent on the weather. The rugged PNW coast is absolutely beautiful and brutal depending on when you visit and the conditions on any given day. If its a cold, wintery mix of strong winds, chilly, damp temps, sand blowing sideways and freezing rain, you probably won't enjoy it much at all. But if you catch an early bluebird spring like day, it will be glorious. The most scenic part of the WA coastal is the northern portion near ONP. Otherwise, if you go south, the northern OR coast is much more scenic and I recommend that instead. Cannon Beach is the perfect family tourist destination right on the coast. It's right next to Ecola SP. Plus, the little town is probably the most interesting with all its art galleries and such compared to the more bare bones coastal towns of southern WA. And you can literally get a hotel with an ocean view of Haystack Rock. So, its easy to warm up if you get a cold front that comes through. The coastal bunnies may even be running around the hotel grounds.
Regarding things to see and do, you will only be a couple weeks away from one of the most beautiful times to visit Seattle. That is when all the cherry blossoms and other flowering trees are in bloom! If you could push the trip even by a week out, it would be a bit better. But you may still catch some first blooms mid-March. I took my daughter there last year at the end of March/beginning of May and it was awesome! Go visit the UW campus and all the botanical gardens.
Then, keep an eye on the weather out east near Wenatchee and Leavenworth. It can sometimes be nicer and sunnier in mid to late march out there. And the mountains in that part of the state are gorgeous. Here's a couple hikes I did with son and the beginning of April out there when it was more cloudy and rainy out west.
Derek
Last edited by MtnSurfer; 02-22-2023 at 09:10 PM..
Thank you all for the great suggestions, they are very helpful! I definitely want to visit in the summer when I have the opportunity, so that we can visit the mountain parks and go hiking. I think we'll spend a couple of days close to Seattle, and then find another place further out to stay for a few days. We're looking forward to finally getting out there!
First of all, mid-March is a big wildcard time of the year meaning it could literally rain, snow, be cold and windy or be sunny on any given day of the week. If you've lived in a place like CO with seasons, you will understand this. Up in the Rockies anything goes in March.
So, where best to go and stay will be totally dependent on the weather. The rugged PNW coast is absolutely beautiful and brutal depending on when you visit and the conditions on any given day. If its a cold, wintery mix of strong winds, chilly, damp temps, sand blowing sideways and freezing rain, you probably won't enjoy it much at all. But if you catch an early bluebird spring like day, it will be glorious. The most scenic part of the WA coastal is the northern portion near ONP. Otherwise, if you go south, the northern OR coast is much more scenic and I recommend that instead. Cannon Beach is the perfect family tourist destination right on the coast. It's right next to Ecola SP. Plus, the little town is probably the most interesting with all its art galleries and such compared to the more bare bones coastal towns of southern WA. And you can literally get a hotel with an ocean view of Haystack Rock. So, its easy to warm up if you get a cold front that comes through. The coastal bunnies may even be running around the hotel grounds.
Regarding things to see and do, you will only be a couple weeks away from one of the most beautiful times to visit Seattle. That is when all the cherry blossoms and other flowering trees are in bloom! If you could push the trip even by a week out, it would be a bit better. But you may still catch some first blooms mid-March. I took my daughter there last year at the end of March/beginning of May and it was awesome! Go visit the UW campus and all the botanical gardens.
Then, keep an eye on the weather out east near Wenatchee and Leavenworth. It can sometimes be nicer and sunnier in mid to late march out there. And the mountains in that part of the state are gorgeous. Here's a couple hikes I did with son and the beginning of April out there when it was more cloudy and rainy out west.
Derek
Beautiful pictures, Derek. That first one is absolutely stunning!
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