Pacific Northwest

Why the Pacific Northwest from California

The flight from Los Angeles to Seattle takes around three hours. From San Francisco it is around two and a half hours. From San Francisco it is two hours. For UK visitors already on the west coast, the Pacific Northwest is an entirely feasible addition to a California itinerary — and one that most British visitors never consider. The contrast between Southern California and the San Juan Islands is complete: from desert light and beach culture to old-growth forest, orca pods and islands where the loudest sound is the water.

The Pacific Northwest has a different character from California in almost every respect. The light is softer, the landscape darker and wilder, the culture more understated. Rain is part of the deal from October to May — embrace it or visit in summer, when the region has some of the finest weather in the country and the longest evenings in the continental United States.

Seattle

Seattle sits between Puget Sound to the west and the Cascade Mountains to the east, with views of Mount Rainier — a 14,411-foot volcano — dominating the southern skyline on clear days. It is a compact, walkable city with a genuine neighbourhood character and a food and coffee culture that has been genuinely influential — Starbucks started here, as did Amazon, Boeing and Microsoft. The tech industry has transformed the city in the past twenty years and the results are visible in the quality of the restaurants, the new architecture and the cost of living.

Pike Place Market, on the waterfront, is one of the oldest farmers markets in the United States and one of the finest — fresh fish, flowers, produce, craft food and the original Starbucks at the corner of Pike and First. The fish throwing is a tourist set-piece but the market itself is genuine and excellent. Go in the morning before the crowds.

The Space Needle, built for the 1962 World's Fair, gives views across the city, the Sound and the mountains that are worth the ticket on a clear day. The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) next door, designed by Frank Gehry, has a permanent Nirvana exhibit and a science fiction wing that are both excellent. The Chihuly Garden and Glass, immediately below the Space Needle, is one of the finest presentations of Dale Chihuly's glass sculpture and worth two hours of anyone's time.

The Capitol Hill and Ballard neighbourhoods are where Seattle actually lives — independent restaurants, record shops, breweries and the density of daily life that tourist areas lack. The Olympic Sculpture Park on the waterfront is free, excellent and gives views across Elliott Bay to the Olympic Mountains.

Wings over Washington at Pier 57 on the waterfront is worth knowing about — a flying theatre experience that takes you on a simulated aerial journey over Washington State's most dramatic landscapes, from the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound to Mount Rainier and the Cascades. The combination of motion seating, wraparound screen and genuinely spectacular footage makes it considerably more engaging than the format might suggest. Many visitors find it one of the more memorable thirty minutes in Seattle — a cinematic introduction to the landscapes you are about to explore that gives real context to the scale of the Pacific Northwest.

Getting to the San Juan Islands

The San Juan Islands lie in Puget Sound roughly ninety minutes north of Seattle by car on Interstate 5 to Anacortes, then by Washington State Ferries to the islands. The main ferry route serves Lopez Island, Shaw Island, Orcas Island and San Juan Island — the ferry hops between them in order. San Juan Island, the furthest stop, is the main destination for most visitors: it has Friday Harbor, the largest town in the archipelago, the best whale watching infrastructure and the widest range of accommodation.

Book ferry reservations well in advance for summer travel — the Anacortes to San Juan Island route is popular and vehicles without reservations can face multi-hour waits. Walk-on passengers rarely have problems. The ferry crossing itself — threading between forested islands with the Olympic Mountains visible to the south and the Cascades to the east — is one of the finest boat journeys in the Pacific Northwest.

Kenmore Air operates scheduled seaplane services from Seattle's Lake Union directly to Friday Harbor — a forty-minute flight that arrives at a dock in the harbour. It is more expensive than the ferry but considerably faster and a remarkable way to see the archipelago from above. Book in advance.

San Juan Island

Friday Harbor is the only incorporated town in the San Juan Islands — small, walkable and genuinely charming, with good restaurants, the ferry terminal, the Whale Museum and the kind of unhurried pace that is almost entirely absent from the mainland. The Whale Museum on First Street is the best introduction to the resident orca pods and worth an hour before any whale watching trip.

San Juan Island National Historical Park preserves the sites of the 1859 Pig War — a bloodless territorial dispute between Britain and the United States over the island that resulted in joint military occupation for twelve years. The English Camp on the north shore has original buildings and a formal garden maintained in the Victorian style. The American Camp on the south shore has sweeping views across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Olympic Peninsula. The history is genuinely interesting and the landscapes at both sites are excellent.

Lime Kiln Point State Park on the western shore is the best land-based whale watching site in the continental United States. The resident orca pods pass through Haro Strait regularly in summer, close enough to shore that the lighthouse headland gives clear views. Rangers track the pods and signal when whales are in the channel. Even without whales, the views across the strait to Vancouver Island are extraordinary and the park has excellent hiking along the coastal bluffs.

Orca watching

The Southern Resident orca population — the J, K and L pods — has used the waters around the San Juan Islands for generations. These are fish-eating orcas with complex social structures, distinct dialects and family bonds that last a lifetime. Each animal is individually identified and named by researchers. Summer months — June through September — offer the most reliable sightings, when the salmon runs bring the resident pods into the archipelago consistently.

Multiple whale watching operators work from Friday Harbor. San Juan Excursions, Western Prince Cruises and Maya's Legacy Whale Watching all have strong reputations and experienced naturalists on board. Most trips run three to four hours. Operators typically offer a return trip guarantee if no cetaceans are seen — which rarely needs to be honoured in peak season.

Transient orcas — Bigg's killer whales — also pass through the islands and are seen year-round with increasing frequency. Unlike the residents, transients hunt marine mammals: harbour seals, Steller sea lions, porpoises and occasionally minke whales. Their hunting behaviour is dramatic and unpredictable. Minke whales, harbour porpoises and Dall's porpoises are commonly seen on whale watching trips as additional species.

Orcas Island

Orcas Island, despite its name, is named for a Viceroy of Mexico rather than the whales. It is the largest of the San Juan Islands and the most dramatically beautiful — horseshoe-shaped, heavily forested and dominated by Moran State Park, which covers nearly a third of the island and contains Mount Constitution at 2,409 feet, the highest point in the archipelago.

The view from the summit of Mount Constitution — across the islands, the straits, the Cascades and the Olympics — is one of the finest in Washington State. The park has excellent hiking trails and four lakes. Eastsound, the main village, has good restaurants and independent shops. The Rosario Resort, built in 1906 by a Seattle shipbuilder, sits on the water with a mansion that has been converted into a hotel with a remarkable music room featuring a 1913 pipe organ that still plays.

Roche Harbor

Roche Harbor, on the north end of San Juan Island, is one of the most photographed harbours in the Pacific Northwest — a former lime works turned resort, with a historic hotel built in 1886, manicured gardens, a small chapel and a marina filled with sailboats and cruisers from across the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. The sunset flag lowering ceremony, conducted every evening by the harbour staff, is an old American tradition that the resort has maintained for generations.

The restaurant at the Hotel de Haro is the best in the resort and good enough to justify a visit from Friday Harbor for dinner. The gardens behind the hotel are peaceful and the walk along the dock in the evening, with the boats rocking gently and the lights of the marina reflected in the water, is one of those Pacific Northwest experiences that stays with you.

Wildlife beyond orcas

Bald eagles are common throughout the islands — more visible here than almost anywhere else in the continental United States. Harbour seals haul out on rocks throughout the archipelago. Steller sea lions are present in winter. River otters are seen on many of the smaller islands. The island fox on San Juan Island — a miniature relative of the mainland grey fox — is not as fearless as its Catalina Island counterpart but present in the wooded areas.

Black-tailed deer are everywhere and entirely unafraid of people. Great blue herons nest in colonies visible from the ferry. The birding in the islands is exceptional — the San Juan Islands are on the Pacific Flyway migration route and the spring and autumn migrations bring extraordinary variety.

Practical notes

The best season for whale watching and outdoor activities is June through September. July and August are the warmest and driest months, with long evenings and reliable sunshine. May and June offer good weather with lower crowds and the spring wildflower displays on the prairie areas of San Juan Island are excellent. October to April is quieter, wetter and the whale watching is less predictable, though the resident pods are occasionally present year-round.

Accommodation on the islands books out in summer. Book as early as possible — the better properties on San Juan and Orcas Islands can be fully reserved months ahead for July and August. Friday Harbor has the widest range of options from budget to mid-range. Rosario Resort on Orcas is the most atmospheric higher-end option in the archipelago.