How many hours does it take to drive from the San Francisco area to Seattle?

Hi again anne, it depends on how long you can tolerate being in the car and if you have little ones with you or not. A lot of people make the drive in two days.

I guess we have to make a choice between Washington and Oregon since it may be too much to see both in one trip.

Around 13 road hours using I-5; around 18 using US 101. One overnight (around Ashland/Medford/Grants Pass) is typical using I-5; I usually shoot for Coos Bay or Bandon if using 101.

Thank you! I assume that's 13 hours straight without stopping for lunch or sleep. With kids, we'll definitely need a stopover. Now we just have to decide if we should just stay in Oregon and vacation there or if Washington is worth the extra travel time as a better place to visit...

Oregon and Washington are both major tourist destinations.

Top attractions in Oregon are the coast, Crater Lake, and the Columbia River Gorge. Washington has Mt. Rainier, Mt. Saint Helens, tje Olympic National Park, the San Juan Islands, and the North Cascades Loop Highway.

Seattle to San Francisco is 825 miles on I-5. How long it takes to drive between these destinations depends on the speed at which you travel and the number and length of stops. We usually drive south in two days, stopping the first night in the Ashland area as mentioned earlier. The second day we rise early and are usually in San Francisco by 2:00 p.m.

14 hours driving straight thru.

I don't think Oregon is any less interesting than Washington. They are both gorgeous. Actually I think Oregon has a little more, not less, going on tourist-wise.

As far as drive time, from Portland to Seattle is only 3 hours of the total trip so that really isn't the major issue.

My s and bil do this frequently. It usually takes 13-14 hours straight thru.

I gather that you are not campers. Nonetheless, my trip report might be of some help when it somes to things to see:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...1&tid=34540668

Thanks for the replies and trip report. Looks like 13 to 14 hours non-stop and additional 3 hours to Seattle. We'll definitely need a stopover somewhere and do the drive in two days. So we'll probably need more than a week since that'll be four days on the road.

The 3 hours (Portland/Seattle) is already included in the 13-14 hour estimate.