Pacific northwest
 

Planning a trip from the East coast to the Pacific Northwest. Would fly from Boston to Seattle . Looking for suggestions for road trip from Seattle to Oregon to Montana , then back to Seattle, roughly 7-10 days. Going back and forth between renting a car or using Amtrak . Any suggestions appreciated ..

Welcome to Fodors. We moved your topic to the United States Forum and added the state tags.

First question, what time of year?

First thought, in such a short time frame, either WA + OR or WA + MT. Still not much time. Fly into SEA then home from one or the other.

Welcome to Fodors. Yes -- when can make a HUGE difference. Oregon is a big state. Montana is an even bigger state. Washington is a big state. You are only talking a week or a bit more and one can't 'do' Oregon in one week - though one could see a small part of the state. Same with Montana. What places/sorts of things do you hope to see/do??

Seattle, Portland an maybe one place along the Oregon coast would be (just) doable in 7 or 8 days. Or Portland, some of the Williamette Valley and My Hood. Or some of eastern Oregon and a bit of Montana - sure. Though Idaho is in between them.

To give you some sort of reference -- just to pick three, Seattle > Portland > Glacier NP > Seattle is nearly 1500 miles. About the same as Boston to Miami.

Sorry, forgot to add time of year ,, would be traveling mid August .

You won't see much in terms of national parks and nature (i.e. Oregon Coast) if you use Amtrak. Better to rent a car to access those. Based on your time limits, maybe you should concentrate on Washington and Oregon.

That is waaay too much territory to even attempt to try and cover in such a short time period.in only 7 to 10 days time! The states are BIG out here in the Pacific Northwest.

You could easily spend it all in Washington alone (since you are using SeaTac as your airport) and barely scratch the surface. You'd need to rent a car to attempt what you are desccribing. Amtrak is not practical for that kind of a trip.

Welcome!
suze, seattle

Thank you for your reply . We’ve decided to just do Washington and Oregon, towards end of August.

Thank you ,after looking wvwrything over, we’ve decided on Washington and Oregon .

OK -- if you want some help we definitely need more useful details/info.

Washington state is almost exactly the same size as ALL of the New England states combined. And Oregon is almost 40% larger still. Just throwing out - 'we want to visit Oregon and Washington in 7 to 10 days' is a bit nebulous ( . . . that's 240% the size of all six NE states). So tell us a bit more about what you sorts of things you want to see and do. Also August is fire season - its impossible to know the impact this far out, but it is important to have a Plan B in many rural areas.

10 days would make this easier to plan than only 7 days. Arriving into Seattle for a couple days in the city, then to one of the national parks or any of many other scenic areas in OR or WA with a rental car.

Or you could head directly down to Oregon perhaps including Columbia River Gorge, Willamette Valley wine country, then a couple towns on the Oregon Coast.

Or stick to Washington and see Seattle for a few days if you are interested in city sightseeing and activities, and choose one or two between ideas like going to : Whidbey Island, San Juan Islands, Olympic National Park, Mt. Rainier, North Cascades National Park, Pacific coastal towns.

If you choose to try to do the entire trip on Amtrak would need a completely different plan. Like just visiting Seattle and Portland and back. Which could easily fill one week but you'd miss so much with that idea. Train service is very different here than 'back east' and not in a handy way :-)

3 nights – Seattle

1 N – Olympia (Mt. Rainier NP or Olympic NP)

2 N – Portland, OR

2 N – Astoria or Cannon Beach

2 N – Newport (Cape Perpetua)

Why would you recommend 3 nights in Seattle (city) and only 1 night in Olympic National Park but 2 in Portland (city) with 4 nights on the Oregon Coast? That makes no sense to me. Plus leaves them on day 10 more than 5 hours away from SeaTac for the flight home.

Of course we don't know anything about interests so hard to say how to split between an urban environment and natural beauty and take drive times into account.

Okay, I tried, so you come up with a better itinerary.

I agree with suze. Instead of throwing out random suggestions - maybe we should wait for the OP to fill in some of the blanks. (in any case, one night in ONP? - that doesn't make a lot of sense honestly)

Okay, I tried, so you come up with a better itinerary.

I already did. Make several itinerary suggestions, if you read my #11 post.

But like janisj just posted, none of us can come up with an itinerary that is suitable without knowing more about what they wish to see and do. Some people come and spend a week just seeing Seattle.

But I maintain going to ONP for only one night isn't a good suggestion, sorry.