53 Best Sights in Spokane and Eastern Washington, Washington

The 150-mile-long lake was created by the Columbia River when it was backed up by Grand Coulee Dam. Several Native American villages, historic sites, and towns lie beneath the waters. Visitors find abundant opportunities for outdoor recreation on the lake, including fishing, swimming, and boating. The Fort Spokane Visitor Center and Museum operates from the former guardhouse and provides detailed and interesting information about the area's history, including its use as a military fort and later a boarding school for Native Americans and a tuberculosis hospital. 

More than 200 species of birds have been identified here, and many waterfowl make it their winter home. But the 15,000 acres of water and marsh, croplands, grasslands, trees, and shrubs are most enjoyable in spring and summer. The Environmental Education Center features hands-on exhibits. A self-guided 2-mile trail winds through the marshes, and a cabinlike blind hidden in the reeds allows you to watch wildlife up close. Other recreation includes boating, fishing, hiking, and horseback riding.

In 2020, the Mobius Science Center and Mobius Children's Museum combined to create a new entity, the Mobius Discovery Center, featuring the best of both for kids—hands-on learning and fun through creativity, play, and science inquiry. Exhibits include STEAM Labs, space exploration, an eye clinic, a market, a water play area, enchanted forest for the littlest tikes, and the perennial kids favorite, bubbles. The center is in the historic Washington Water Power building. 

Spokane's museum for children is in the lower level of River Park Square and has six interactive galleries for hands-on learning. Exhibits include a miniature city with safety education features, an art studio, a science exhibit called Geotopica, a forest-themed play area for infants and toddlers, and a stage with theater equipment and costumes. A partner facility, Mobius Science Center, is across the street.

Claw-shape, 38-foot-deep, 18-mile-long Moses Lake is filled by Crab Creek—which originates in the hills west of Spokane—with three side branches known as Parker Horn, Lewis Horn, and Pelican Horn. The city of Moses Lake sprawls over the peninsulas formed by these "horns," and can therefore be a bit difficult to get around. This is the state's second-largest lake.

Exhibits include a collection of Native American artifacts and some on local history. Regional artists are featured in the gallery, and the giant Columbian Mammoth metal sculpture is a fun photo op.

Affectionately known as the MAC, the museum is in an impressive six-level glass-and-wood structure filled with audiovisual displays and artifacts that trace Spokane's history. There's also a fine Native American collection that includes baskets and beadwork of the Plateau nation. Wander to the adjacent Victorian home, the Campbell House, to admire the interior or view mining-era exhibits.

Okanogan pioneer life is portrayed in the displays here, and there's a replica of an Old West town. Outside are Okanogan's oldest building, a 19th-century log cabin, and antique farm equipment.

This is a region of open woods, meadows, and pastoral river valleys in the Okanogan highlands. There's lots of wildlife: deer, black bears, coyotes, badgers, bobcats, cougars, grouse, hawks, and golden eagles. Campgrounds are scattered throughout the region. There are 11 Sno-Parks with groomed trails for snowmobilers, and open areas for cross-country skiing. Ski areas are at Loup Loup Pass (Nordic and alpine) and Sitzmark (alpine only).

Just north of its confluence with the Snake River, the Palouse River gushes over a basalt cliff higher than Niagara Falls and drops 198 feet into a steep-walled basin. Those who are sure-footed can hike to an overlook above the falls, which are at their fastest during spring runoff in March. Just downstream from the falls at the Marmes Rock Shelter, remains of the earliest-known inhabitants of North America, dating back 10,000 years, were discovered by archaeologists. The park is available for day use only and has no cell phone service. It's a popular birding spot and has plenty of picnic tables, plus a shaved ice vendor on site Friday through Sunday from April to October.

Planted with native and exotic flowers and trees, this turn-of-the-20th-century park (Walla Walla's first) has a fine aviary. There are pickleball courts, outdoor ping pong tables, a playground, and a pretty rose garden. It was originally landscaped by sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed New York City's Central Park.

This park is 25 miles southwest of Moses Lake on the west side of O'Sullivan Dam next to the Potholes Reservoir, an artificial lake in a natural depression carved by the huge Spokane Floods. Open year-round, it's a great fishing lake, with trout in the fall, winter, and early spring, and ice fishing in the winter. Camping, boating, and wildlife viewing are other popular diversions. Five cabins are available to rent.

At the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers, this park occupies the site of Ainsworth, a railroad town that flourished from 1879 to 1884. It's named for the Shoshoni woman who guided the Lewis and Clark expedition over the Rocky Mountains and down the Snake River. The 284-acre day-use park has an interpretive center and a large display of Native American tools. A beach, boat launch, picnic area, and children's playground round out the facilities; sand dunes, marshes, and ponds are great for watching wildlife.

Owner Casey McClellan makes well-balanced Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, and other reds, as well as Sauvignon Blanc and a dry Rosé. The winery is in Walla Walla's historic Whitehouse-Crawford building and tastings are by reservation only.

The water is high in dissolved carbonates, sulfates, and chlorides, and the lake has long been famous for its mineral waters and therapeutic mud baths; in fact it was called the "World's Greatest Medical Marvel" more than a century ago. Yet the eponymous small town has never quite succeeded as a modern-day resort—perhaps because the miraculous waters have been heavily diluted by irrigation waters. Still, a loyal contingent of believers return to the lakeshore each year to cover themselves in the mud that they find healing.

Here, a 2,200-foot-high flat-topped lava butte rises 1,000 feet above Banks Lake, the 31-mile-long irrigation reservoir filled with water from Lake Roosevelt by giant pumps and siphons. Water is distributed from the south end of the lake throughout the Columbia Basin. The state park has campsites, three cabins, a swimming area, and boat ramps. In summer it's popular with boaters and anglers, and in winter there's Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, and ice fishing.

This day-use park dotted with picnic tables is named after an army officer who lost a battle in 1858 against Native Americans at nearby Rosalia. The lieutenant colonel and other survivors sneaked away at night—a retreat historians think was permitted by their adversaries. The hike to the summit of the 3,600-foot-high butte rewards hikers with panoramic views 200 miles in the distance. Paragliding and hang gliding are popular pastimes here, along with bird-watching and nature photography.

This is a great place to cool off from the hot central Washington sunshine, with an Olympic-size pool, two 200-foot waterslides, a tube slide, a "baby octopus" slide, and diving boards.

Surrounded by vineyards, this winery produces premium Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Riesling, and others. It has a nice tasting room, a gift shop, summer concerts, and a 3-acre lawn where you can play games like cornhole.

Over the years, this winery—founded by Don Townshend in Green Bluff—won awards for its Cabernet Sauvignon. Now a second-generation winery, current owner Brendon Townshend moved it to Spokane in 2022 and opened a tasting room in the midst of the wine-making operations, giving visitors a closer look at the process.

Opened in 1892 as the state's agriculture school, Washington State University today sprawls almost all the way to the Idaho state line. Besides checking out the interesting architecture of 19th century buildings like Bryan Hall with its clocktower that lights up at night and Thompson Hall with its castle-like turrets, a visit to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a must. If you visit on a weekday, be sure to stop at Ferdinand's for ice cream or the famous Cougar Gold cheese. To park on campus, pick up a parking pass in the Security Building on Wilson Road.

Large, tree-lined lawns surround the many beautiful 19th-century stone and brick structures of the Whitman College campus. The school began as a seminary in 1859 and became a college in 1883.

This is a reconstruction of Waiilatpu Mission, a Presbyterian outpost established on Cayuse lands in 1836. The park preserves the foundations of the mission buildings, a short segment of the Oregon Trail, and, on a nearby hill, the graveyard where the Native American victims of an 1847 measles epidemic and subsequent uprising are buried.