Best Day Trips from Seattle

You will find a wide range of activities to do in Seattle that will allow you to get to know in depth its most emblematic places, its history, traditions and main attractions. But you'll also have unmissable excursions that will take you to explore the surrounding area and make you fall in love with Seattle even more.

On day trips, you can visit Woodinville Wine Country and taste some of the best wines in the area, marvel at Snoqualmie Falls and its fairytale sites, and explore the Boeing Factory and Olympic National Park. **Here are the best things to do from Seattle to make sure you don't miss a thing.
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Snoqualmie Falls is the most impressive waterfall in the United States and is located just 40 kilometres from Seattle. As well as being a great place to take a day trip from Seattle, it's renowned for being one of the main sources of hydroelectric power in the region.

From a vantage point with a 180-degree view, you'll have a privileged spot to enjoy the falls, and you can also take a nature trail down to the power plant for the best views from below. You are sure to recognise the picturesque surrounding areas that were the setting for well-known film productions such as Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure and The Vanishing.

As well as the best views, you can sample delicious wines at Chateau Ste. Michelle and other renowned wineries.

Interesting details

• Price: This tour starts at €85 per person.
• Duration: 6 hours.
• Time: Starts at 10:30 a.m.
• Maximum number of passengers: This tour can accommodate up to 24 people.
• The advantages of this tour: You will get to know one of the best places around Seattle, but you will also get to discover the most exclusive flavours of the city's wineries, which will make this a unique experience.
• Disadvantages of this tour: Meals are not included, but you have the possibility to buy a lunch pack. If you prefer something else, here are some options.

Where to eat in Snoqualmie

At the falls, you can buy some basic things like snacks and water. But in the vicinity you will have other options in case you want to eat something more elaborate, I recommend a few places.

• Salish Lodge Hotel: offers some fine dining options for you to consider.
• Got Rice Chinese: just a few minutes away from the falls and offers unique dishes of traditional Chinese cuisine.
• Gianfranco Italian Restaurant: you will find the best Italian cuisine in the area.

You will also have a variety of outdoor dining options in Snoqualmie and enjoy a picnic in the middle of nature.

Woodinville Wine Country is just 30 minutes from downtown Seattle. It is located in western Washington, situated around the town of Woodinville and is the epicentre of wine. You'll have the chance to experience the area's most varied wine offerings and taste the best wines from family-run boutique wineries.

In addition, this experience will allow you to learn a little about the history of the area and you will have access to William Grassie Wine Estates - Events Only and Patterson Cellars.

Interesting details

• Price: You can enjoy this experience from €197 per person.
• Duration: 8 hours.
• Time: Starts at 10 a.m.
• Maximum number of travellers: This is a very exclusive excursion, with a capacity of up to 10 people.
• Advantages of this tour: This is not just any tour, but the most exclusive and complete of all. You will have lunch, wine tastings included and entrance to unique sites. You will tour Woodinville Wine Country and Sonqualmie Falls on the same tour.
• Disadvantages of this tour: This is an ideal experience to do if you plan to spend more than one day in Seattle because it will take you the whole day.

Just minutes from Seattle you'll find a modern marvel in commercial aircraft production at Boeing's Future of Flight Aviation Center. This is home to legendary aircraft such as the 747, 777 and the world's most advanced jetliner, the 787 Dreamliner.

On this incredible tour you will learn about the long history of Boeing aircraft, seeing one of the largest buildings in the world that houses aircraft in various stages of assembly. You'll have plenty of places to take pictures and shop for unique Boeing branded gifts.

This tour includes admission to the factory and a 90-minute tour with a Boeing expert who will tell you all about the site.

Interesting details

• Duration: 4 hours and 30 minutes.
• Maximum number of passengers: This tour can accommodate up to 34 people.
• Highlights of this tour: You will take away a wealth of information about the Future of Flight Aviation Centre. Includes round-trip air-conditioned bus transportation from Seattle.
• Disadvantages of this tour: The experience does not include meals.

Olympic National Park is a natural wonderland and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You'll reach it by ferry, across Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula, and you'll find great ecological diversity and extensive trails lined with vegetation.

It's a place you'll love to visit and you'll have plenty to learn about from an expert guide. You will be able to explore the forests, pass by blue water lakes and some of glacial origin and have the best views of the mountains that make this area unique. In addition, this tour will allow you to visit Hurricane Ridge, Crescent Lake and Marymere Falls, among many other breathtaking landscapes.

Interesting details

• Price: You can enjoy this experience for a price starting from €281.
• Duration: 12 hours.
• Maximum number of travellers: This tour can accommodate up to 10 people.
• The tour includes breakfast, lunch and snacks, plus entrance fees to the following sites: Olympic National Park, Bainbridge Island Ferry, Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center, Elwha Dam Removal Site, Lake Crescent, Marymere Falls and Salt Creek Recreation Area.
• Disadvantages of this tour: The length of the tour means you'll need to spend a full day, so it's not recommended if you're only in Seattle for a short time.

Most of these tours don't include meals, but that's not a problem in Seattle. Before you set off on your chosen tour, or the return trip, you'll have plenty of options to choose from. You can even combine one of these tours with a food tour of Seattle. Here's a list of a few places where you can sample some of Seattle's most popular delicacies.

• The Walrus And The Carpenter: here you will taste oysters straight from Seattle's waters. Here you'll get good food at a good price.
• Jackson's Catfish Corner: welcome to the place with the most delicious fried food in town. Their signature dish is American catfish, but you'll also get shrimp, chicken, onion rings, battered mozzarella and more.
• Pike Place Chowder: you will find the best clam chowder in Seattle in its different versions and varieties.
• RockCreek: A wide variety of Seattle's signature fresh fish and seafood.
• General Porpoise: Doughnuts are the speciality of this place. They are exquisite and have a variety of fillings such as vanilla cream, lemon, chocolate and many more.
• Molly Moon's: This is Seattle's most popular and famous ice cream parlour and you must try their more eccentric tastes such as Earl Grey tea and lavender honey, as well as the classics such as chocolate, strawberries and salted caramel.

You can purchase any of these excursions online: you will receive confirmation of your booking immediately after making your purchase. Remember to choose an exact date when you want to go on the tour. In case your plans change for any reason, no problem, you can cancel the tour for free.

To do some of these tours from Seattle, you will need a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 12 hours.

You should also consider that if you choose a tour longer than 5 hours, you may not have much time to do anything else that day. However, if you choose a tour of less than 5 hours, you will have the afternoon free to make other plans. If you plan to spend only a few days in the city, you may even be able to organise two short excursions on the same day.

You will be able to enjoy these excursions for very varied prices ranging between 85 and 281 euros and choose the one that best suits everything you want to know and even combine them. Consider that the main variables in relation to the price will be what you want to know, the duration of the tour, the number of passengers and what is included in each excursion.

Seattle is a city full of contrasts and attractions that make it seem futuristic and modern yet surrounded by greenery, nature, lakes and outdoor life. From the buses that will take you to the surrounding areas on these tours, you will be able to see how the huge skyscrapers blend in with the green of the skyline. Plus, you'll take away unique, pure and very particular flavours, colours, sights and smells.

• Snoqualmie Falls: you will have the best views of the falls from the lookout point and you can hike a short trail to the base of the falls to appreciate them from other vantage points. You'll learn about the flora and fauna along the wooded trail and discover the history of the falls.
• Woodinville: one of the most charming places you will visit, full of nature and wineries. Woodinville developed in the 1880s as a farming and logging community along the Sammamish River. You'll visit the area's best boutique wineries and taste the local flavours.
• Olympic National Park: You'll get lost in the lush trails after enjoying a ferry ride. You will be able to discover the unique landscapes that make this national park a world heritage site.
• Boeing Factory: one of the largest aircraft assembly plants in the world, where Boeing's most famous models are assembled. You will also learn about the history of the place and curious facts about aeroplanes that will fascinate you.

I recommend that you wear comfortable clothes and walking shoes for these excursions, as although you will be travelling to destinations by bus or ferry, there will be plenty to explore on foot in these places. In some cases, the excursions will last several hours and you'll be touring a number of different sites, so you don't want to be uncomfortable and have a bad time.

Some time before the tour, it will be essential that you check the weather so that you can dress accordingly so that you don't feel either hot or cold, bearing in mind the temperature of the day and the date you're going to be doing it.

Please note that all tours to Snoqualmie Falls, Woodinville and Olympic National Park are weather-dependent, as good weather is necessary for them to take place, otherwise they will have to be rescheduled. While it's not possible to guess the exact weather, here are the best months to visit Seattle for these tours.

Fortunately, Seattle is a city that tends to have good weather almost all year round. The best months are May, June, July, August and September. July and August are the mildest months. The coldest, wettest and rainiest months are January, November and December.

In case you want to combine any of these excursions with other activities, here is an itinerary of things to see and do in Seattle in summer.

I'll tell you the main reason why you should take these tours: you can't miss the chance to see the most eccentric and aesthetically stunning natural wonders near Seattle. With these tours, you can live a unique experience, knowing the most impressive surrounding places, along with the experience of an expert guide who will accompany your tour and telling you unique details of each place.

Seattle is considered one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the United States. However, its huge skyscrapers and its modern, technological style blend with the lively nature and flavours of its border areas. You'll have all these options so you won't miss anything: see the best views of Snoqualmie Falls, taste the best wines in Woodinville Wine Country, visit the Boeing Factory, tour Olympic National Park and much more.

Now I'll tell you when NOT to go: if you're travelling to Seattle for a short time. It's a city with a wide variety of attractions to see and history to learn about, so you probably won't have time to devote a full day to any of these excursions.

In this case, I advise you to make a list of the attractions you want to see and choose the tour that best suits your wish list. Also, find out beforehand if the Seattle City Pass is worth it to make the most of your time and save on the main attractions.