jenny

We'll be in the area early in August '09. I'm looking for a travel book about where to go, what to see , espec. on Olympic Peninsula and Seattle area.

Any suggestions ?
Thank you

NWWanderer

Well, there's Fodors of course. That's a great starting point and you might also want to look at Frommers and Northwest Best Places.

happytrailstoyou

The National Park Service provides good information about Olympic National Park: http://www.nps.gov/olym

You can get more details at the "Destinations" link, including maps in PDF format: http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisi...stinations.htm

For instance, the Sol Duc Valley map shows one of my favorite little hikes--to Sol Duc Falls.

Unfortunately, the NPS site does not rate what is most worth doing (and I have found that contributors to the Fodor's site have very different ideas of the best way to spend time in the ONP).

Frommer's on-line guide to Seattle gives some unbiased information: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/seattle/

HTTY

toedtoes

If you have a AAA membership, you can order free guides from their website. I've found them to be very helpful because they include a lot of activities/sights with prices, hours, and a brief description that explains what the activity/sight is about. I've found they include a more expanded listing than many of the other guides (who tend to list the activities/sights that the editors think you will/should like, versus listing them all and letting you choose which you prefer).

happytrailstoyou

What prevents one from choosing the activities they prefer when using Fodor's, Frommer's, Rick Steves or any guide book other than AAA?

toedtoes

HTTY - for me, I find that it's much harder to find those activities/sights when they're not listed. AAA guidebooks tend to list more of them then many other guidebooks making it easier to find those I prefer to see.

For example, when planning a trip to Ontario, Canada, I found a listing in the AAA guidebook for Bergeron's Wild Animal Sanctuary. That was an activity that interested me a lot. I did not find Bergeron's listed in the other guides I have on Ontario, Canada. Had I not had my AAA guidebook, I would have missed one of my all-time favorite experiences.

I have nothing against the other guidebooks and I use them myself, but I find AAA guidebooks to be a great one-stop shop for identifying things to do and see simply because they list more.

jenny

Thank you all for the good advice !
Jenny

suze

I'm not sure how much of it you can find online, but there's always information along these lines in the travel or weekend section of the Seattle Times, our daily newspaper here. Sunset Magazine also sometimes features articles outliing really great sounding road trips.