One of my favorite ways to feel like I’m getting an adventurous travel experience without breaking the bank is to visit a national park! Olympic National Park was high up on my list of US National Parks to visit because of its diverse range of landscapes, and it’s my most recommended park to other travelers for that same reason.
To visit ONP, you’ll most likely be flying in and out of SEATAC (Seattle’s main airport) and since the park is ~2.5 hours from the airport, I’d recommend a rental car to make the most of the experience. Most travelers, including myself, choose Port Angeles as their base to make day trips within the park, but I recommend doing some research ahead of time to see what is the best fit for how you’d like to experience the park (for example, there are camping options inside of the park if that’s something you want to prioritize over staying in a hotel/Airbnb).
4 Day Road Trip – Olympic National Park + Bainbridge Island & Seattle
Here’s a look at how we structured this trip. We flew in on a Thursday morning and left on a Sunday evening to make the most of the long weekend. We also included a night at the cutest themed Airbnb I’ve ever stayed at on Bainbridge Island (more details on that below).
- Day 1: Flight into Seattle > Port Angeles
- Day 2: Olympic National Park (Hoh Rainforest, Second Beach) & Forks
- Day 3: Olympic National Park (Hurricane Ridge) > Bainbridge Island
- Day 4: Bainbridge Island > Seattle via Ferry
Day 1: Flight into Seattle > Port Angeles
For this trip, we took advantage of an early flight out of Denver and landed in Seattle at 10:30 am PT. After picking up the rental car, we began the drive to Port Angeles, stopping for lunch at Duke’s Seafood in Tacoma (30 mins from the airport).
Duke’s is a popular place and it was busy even right at opening, but we got a nice table on the patio overlooking the bay and enjoyed clam clowder, Dungeness Crab dip, fish tacos, and Duke’s Favorite Pasta w/ Salmon (all delicious).
After a 2 hour drive, we made it to our Airbnb in Port Angeles and got checked in. This was a guesthouse located a mile from the Olympic National Park vistor center. It was cute, comfortable, well furnished and I would absolutely stay here again the next time I visit ONP.
After resting for a bit, I ventured out into downtown Port Angeles (a very small harbor town) to grab a few items from their local grocery store for the Airbnb. I found the most charming health food store (Country Aire Natural Foods) and probably walked around for an hour just looking at all the different bulk items and handmade goods. I also found a small used bookstore called Odyssey Bookshop and I’m a sucker for thrifted books, so I walked around in there for a while as well before heading back to the Airbnb. The “downtown” area is just a few streets and very walkable, so if you have some extra time I encourage you to walk around and shop at some of their locally owned stores.
Around 7 pm, we ventured back out to the Port Angeles City Pier to catch the sunset (which was beautiful) and grab some quick dinner to take back to the Airbnb.
Day 2: Olympic National Park (Hoh Rainforest, Second Beach) & Forks
When visiting Olympic National Park, there are many different sections of the park worth seeing. The top of the list for me was Hoh Rainforest, which is truly like entering another world. I had never seen any other landscape like it in the United States. Hoh Rainforest is about 2 hours from Port Angeles, so we decided to make that our first stop of the day and then do some additional stops along the way back.
We left the Airbnb at 7:30 am, grabbing some coffee & pastries for the drive, and arrived at Hoh Rainforest at 9:30 am. We did not buy a pass in advance as travel was still relatively calm when we visited in September 2021, but I would recommend doing so now, especially if you want to guarantee you’ll get a pass.
Upon arrival, we did the Hall of Mosses trail (0.8 miles) and the Spruce Nature Trail (1.2 miles). The Hall of Mosses trail is the most popular, with all of the moss-covered trees, and we spent a lot of time taking photos and trying to find mushrooms growing on the trees. The Spruce Nature Trail runs alongside the Hoh River for a while, so we walked down to take in the scenery before continuing on the trail.
As is typical for a rainforest (and for the PNW in general) it was drizzling and fozzy most of the morning, so I do recommend having a light rainjacket and waterproof hiking shoes to stay dry & comfortable. I also brought a beanie which I was grateful for to keep my hair dry.
After a stop at the vistor center, we left Hoh Rainforest around 12:30 pm and started to make our way to our next stop, Second Beach, which was about an hour away.
Now, as a side note… in order to get to Second Beach from Hoh Rainforest, you end up driving directly through the city of Forks and La Push. If those cities mean something to you, then you (like me) must have been a fan of the Twilight books (or movies) and luckily, these towns still lean heavily into the Twilight lore for the fans. As someone who read those books in middle school as they were released, the inner child in me was overjoyed to get to experience these places firsthand. We did make a pit stop in Forks to grab a quick bite for lunch and to take some silly pictures with cut outs of Edward and Jacob… and then continued on to Second Beach.
The hike down to Second Beach is 0.8 miles through moss-covered trees, which eventually leads you down a set of rocky stairs to an epic view of the Pacific Ocean. Again, the weather was being very PNW and it was rainy and a bit cold, but we still enjoyed the experience. I’ve seen photos of this beach looking beautiful and sunny like you could enjoy a picnic or a cold swim, but that was not the vibes we got. I’m actually grateful for the weather we got as it really felt like the epitome of a National Park day in the Pacific Northwest.
After spending an hour or so at Second Beach, we began our drive back to Port Angeles, passing Lake Crescent (another landmark of ONP). We had originally planned to get out and hike here as well, but because of the weather we opted to just pull over for a bit before continuing on. We picked up some sushi takeout and settled into our Airbnb for a cozy night of watching college football.
Day 3: Olympic National Park (Hurricane Ridge) > Bainbridge Island
When you consider the terrain of Hoh Rainforest & Second Beach in comparison to Hurricane Ridge, it’s hard to even believe they are both in the same area of the country, let alone the same national park, and that is the reason why Olympic ranks as my favorite national park in the US to date.
We slept in on the morning of day 3 and enjoyed breakfast and coffee before checking out of our Airbnb. Hurricane Ridge is about a 40 minute drive from Port Angeles through mountaneous terrain (if you’ve been to Rocky Mountain NP in Colorado it’s a similar vibe driving up through the mountains). For a solid 10 minutes of the drive we were literally driving through the clouds and had very little visibility, but the views were incredible and coming out of the clouds felt like being on top of the world.
We spent some time at the vistor center, which tragically burned down in May of 2023 (no cause found). From the vistor center was an epic view of all of the mountain peaks which we were lucky enough to see before the clouds rolled in and covered them up less than an hour later. We also did a bit of hiking through the Meadow Loop & Explore Hurricane Ridge trailheads. We made one final stop at the Olympic National Park visitor center in Port Angeles (where I got my first official National Park passport book!) before heading to our next stop, Bainbridge Island.
Bainbridge Island is a 90 minute drive from Port Angeles, and it was here that I stayed in the cutest themed Airbnb I’ve ever experienced, the Bainbridge Island Hobbit House! I seriously cannot recommend this property more if you are visiting Washington State, especially if you’re a Tolkein fan (currently ~$120/night). The story of how this was built is adorable (it was built by the family in their backyard and their daughter loved it so much growing up she wanted to share it with the rest of the world).
This is considered a “glamping” experience, so don’t expect anything luxurious. There’s no shower and the bathroom is a (very clean) port-o-potty located outside, but for the one night we spent there, not having a shower was not an issue (we showered before we left the Airbnb in Port Angeles). There’s a few chairs and a firepit outside of the hobbit house to enjoy, and the inside has a small kitchen table, a comfortable bed, and kettle/coffee maker and electric fireplace. It was also full of artwork made by the family and by the guests of the hobbit house, all LOTR/The Hobbit themed, which made the inside extra cozy and sweet. We even spent one night coloring our own photos to add to the collection, with the colored pencils and sketchpad that the hosts provided. Overall a 10/10 experience that I would happily do again.
While in Bainbridge, we did visit the downtown area and enjoyed some delicious fish & chips at Proper Fish as well as some wine and charcuterie at Eleven Winery Tasting Room. This is such a charming area (right across the bay via ferry from Seattle) so would be perfect for a day trip even if you aren’t visiting the national park.
Day 4: Bainbridge Island > Seattle via Ferry
On Monday morning, I had a short virtual meeting I had to attend for work, so I wanted to find a cute coffee shop with good wifi to log on. I ended up at Pegasus Coffee House, which was perfect, and grabbed a spot on their patio with an americano & blueberry scone.
At 10:30 am, we got on the ferry in Bainbridge to head to Seattle. This was my first time visiting Seattle and I could not think of a more perfect way to see the city skyline for the first time than the ferry. We were both blown away to see the Space Needle and Seattle Great Wheel become visible over the horizon of the bay.
With our flight being at 7 pm, we had about 5 hours to spend in Seattle before needing to head to the airport, so we found a parking spot downtown and hit a few touristy spots first that we wanted to check off the list, like Pike Place Market. This is one of those places that (in my opinion) once you see it once, you never really have to visit it again. It was cool to see all the stands and the fish being thrown, but overall I wasn’t overly impressed.
We then drove over to the Fremont area and walked along the streets there, grabbing gelato at Fainting Goat and enjoying the local shops as well as the Fremont Troll sculpture in Troll’s Knoll Park.
Finally, we drove over to Fisherman’s Terminal marina where we walked along the docks looking at all of the nice boats before having an early dinner at Chinook’s at Salmon Bay (highly recommend if you like seafood).
I genuinely can’t wait to go back to Olympic National Park and I would highly recommend adding in Bainbridge Island & Seattle (especially if you’ve never been) to round out a great long weekend roadtrip through the Pacific Northwest.
PS there are two other national parks in Washington that I haven’t visited (but do plan to soon) which are North Cascades NP & Mount Rainier National Park. If you’ve done either of these two, leave a comment and let me know about your experience!
