Seattle to Port Angeles: Best route, ferries (Tacoma, Edmonds: rental car, rental)

[strudel42]

I will be meeting a friend in Seattle later this month and we are going to go from there to Olympic National Park for a few days. I'm trying to find the most expedient route between Seattle and Port Angeles. Obviously there's a ferry involved, but which one should we take: Seattle to Bainbridge, or Edmonds to Kingston? This will be on a Sunday.

What would be an estimate of travel time on each of these routes? Is one more heavily traveled than the other? Or are they about the same?

Thank you for your help!

[Ira500]

There shouldn't be a huge difference between the two in terms of time, but I think the Edmonds ferry will be a little faster and less stressful, just don't leave Seattle during rush hour.

[Dendrite]

Since you're traveling from Seattle to PA on the weekend (Sunday is a non heavy traffic time of the work week), a lot of times it's almost faster to skip the ferry altogether and drive down to Tacoma and take the Narrows bridge across. Why? Because you have to factor in the time it "burns" to sit in the ferry holding area, then to on load and ultimately off load the ferry. It's even worse if the ferry is running 10 or 20 minutes behind schedule.

If you did want to take a route that involved a ferry crossing, I think the Seattle-Bainbridge is a little more direct from Seattle proper (e.g. you don't have to drive north to Edmonds first) but it will depend of course upon which part of "Seattle" you're heading out from. For example, if you're leaving from the north end, then take the Edmonds ferry and forget about driving down to the Narrows bridge-

[sean98125]

I prefer the Edmonds ferry because it just feels quicker to me. I also like being within a few miles of the Hood Canal Bridge - it seems like it takes forever to get through Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island.

For tourists, though, the run from Colman Dock downtown offers the best skyline views of the city and a chance to take a look at Alki as you pass by.

If you just want to get to Port Angeles I'd probably just go to Edmonds and take advantage of the 15 miles of I-5 that you'd take to get north instead of slogging through Bainbridge. If you are starting from South of Seattle, just take the Tacoma Narrows bridge. You'll save $20, too.

If you want the tourist package, take the Bainbridge ferry.

[strudel42]

Thanks for the responses... So, is the travel time involved about the same with the two different ferries?

We will be downtown so the Bainbridge one seems a bit more convenient, though as mentioned above it seems like Edmonds would be easier, all told.

I suppose we'll decide what we want to do when we get there. We shouldn't have any trouble getting on either on a Sunday, right?

[Dendrite]

Originally Posted by strudel42

We shouldn't have any trouble getting on either on a Sunday, right?

Most of the time Sunday is not a problem (holiday and/or event weekends excluded) but, for example, the Edmonds ferry was running about an hour behind schedule this past Sunday for some reason.

You can sign up to get ferry schedule alerts (sailing delays etc.) sent to your BlackBerry or other similar device here:

https://secure1.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/account/

Create an account (basically just a name and PW) with WSF and then you can sign up to receive WSF alerts etc. You can also filter it for the routes you're most interested in. It's handy to sign up for this if sailing times are important to your travel schedule. For example, if I see that the wait times for both downtown and Edmonds are long, I'll simply drive the Narrows bridge over instead of wasting time waiting in line to board either ferry...

You're right, from downtown it's closer to take the Bainbridge ferry. They're about the same in terms of overall travel time to PA. IOW, spend time driving north to Edmonds to catch the Kingston ferry (which puts you closer) to cross the Hood Canal bridge or spend about the same amount of time driving north from Bainbridge (after getting off the ferry) to cross the Hood Canal bridge from that direction. Now despite all this advance planning we're talking about here, you'll probably get stuck behind a bunch of slow-moving logging trucks or a train of huge RVs poking along so it will end up taking you longer than expected to get over to PA anyway!

[strudel42]

Originally Posted by Dendrite

Now despite all this advance planning we're talking about here, you'll probably get stuck behind a bunch of slow-moving logging trucks or a train of huge RVs poking along so it will end up taking you longer than expected to get over to PA anyway!

Yeah, that's kind of what I was afraid of! RVs -- !

Thanks for the advice & tip about ferry schedules. We're (obviously) unfamiliar with the area so firsthand knowledge is much appreciated!

[sean98125]

I have never seen a slow moving logging truck in my life.

[JeanfromMT]

I'm flying in SEA at 4:30 pm rush hour. I need to get to port Angeles. Should I take the ferry or drive through Tacoma? Thanks for any help. I've never been to Seattle or on a ferry.

[Dendrite]

Originally Posted by JeanfromMT

I'm flying in SEA at 4:30 pm rush hour. I need to get to port Angeles. Should I take the ferry or drive through Tacoma? Thanks for any help. I've never been to Seattle or on a ferry.

Hi Jean:

Making some assumptions about your trip, since you mention rush hour, I'll presume you're traveling on a week day. Also if you're traveling near a holiday weekend such as upcoming Labor Day weekend, then all bets are off and travel times will significantly increase.

Land at SeaTac at 4:30 PM. It will go quicker for you with carry on luggage only. Walk through the airport and take the escalators down to the baggage claim area. Head through baggage claim down to the far end (follow the signs) to catch the bus over to the car rental facility. Pick up your rental car (presuming again) and it's going to be 5:30ish or more by the time you're ready to hit the road with your rental car. So you'll be too late at that point to catch the 5:30 WSDOT ferry from Seattle over to Bainbridge.

OK, decision time. The next ferry from downtown Seattle to Bainbridge is about an hour later- 6:20 or 6:30 PM (from memory as I recall without consulting the ferry schedule). So you can either take the ferry and kill an hour in the ferry loading area waiting for departure or launch out to brave the rigors of Seattle rush hour traffic.

I've done the trip from SeaTac to PA many, many, many times over the past decades and honestly it's about a wash time-wise between taking the ferry (due to unload and offload waiting time) vs. driving around and over the Narrows Bridge. The only exception would be if you happen to hit the ferry departure time just right and are one of the last cars to onload without any waiting around. In the latter scenario taking the ferry to Bainbridge shaves off a little travel time.

Since it's all new to you, I'd probably just do the simplest thing and drive it, unless you're really interested in experiencing a ride on the ferry. Traffic is going to be stop and go from where you merge on to I-5 after leaving the airport all the way through Tacoma. But... once you finally make it across the Narrows Bridge, traffic will then begin to thin out and progressively do so from that point forward to PA.

Average travel times from SeaTac to PA for us are usually somewhere in the 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 hour range. Conservatively if you figure about a 3 hour trip (sometimes a little longer) during rush hour traffic times (assuming no wrecks, construction delays, Hood Canal bridge work etc.) that should be about right for you.

Enjoy your trip!