44 Best Sights in The Olympic Peninsula and Washington Coast, Washington

At this facility with a picturesque setting on the Tsoo-Yess River, near Shi Shi Beach, visitors can view chinook salmon as they make their way over fish ladders to the hatchery's spawning area. Spawning months are October through November, and the salmon are released in late April. Smaller numbers of coho and chum salmon as well as steelhead trout also populate the hatchery.

If you're traveling with kids, or you simply have an appreciation for seaside kitsch, drop by this quirky museum and bric-a-brac emporium that has been around since 1921 and is best known for "Jake the Alligator Man," a mummified half-man, half-alligator. 

Six miles of wide, sandy beaches line a peninsula trimmed by the Pacific Ocean on the west and Grays Harbor on the east. With five access roads, it's usually possible to find relatively secluded spots on the sand, despite this being the state's most-visited public beach destination. Highest tides occur in July and December, the latter when winter storm watching is at its peak. Motor vehicles are allowed on City Beach, a popular place for clam digging and kite flying. Ocean City State Park, a 257-acre oceanfront park 2 miles north, has year-round camping; note that this beach charges $10 for parking. Numerous hotels and resorts line the beach. Amenities: food and drink; parking (free); showers ; toilets. Best for: sunrise; sunset; walking.

Between Copalis Beach and the village of Moclips, this is a lovely spot for walking, surf-perch fishing, and razor-clam digging. There's also excellent fishing for sea-run cutthroat trout in the Moclips River—but be careful not to trespass onto the Quinault Reservation north of the river. The 17-acre park has developed tent and RV sites, as well as a few primitive beachfront campsites. Amenities: parking (fee); toilets. Best for: solitude; sunset; walking.

Just west of Aberdeen on the Hoquiam River, this 26-room mansion built in 1924 is filled with artifacts and mementos relating to Grays Harbor's past, including an exhibit tracing the history of tall ships in the Pacific Northwest. Upstairs is the logging exhibit, with a replica Little Hoquiam Railroad; a period-costume room; and the children's room and dollhouse. Outside you can visit a replica of a vintage railroad shed and wander the 2-acre riverside grounds dotted with specimen trees and a rose garden.

With modern, funky, and intriguing exhibits by new and emerging artists, this small, beautifully designed modern museum is inside the former home of the late artist and publisher Esther Barrows Webster, one of Port Angeles's most energetic and cultured citizens. Outside, Webster's Woods Sculpture Park—open daily dawn to dusk—is dotted with oversize art installations set against a backdrop of the city and harbor.

Along the waterfront at Fort Worden State Park, the small but informative center is divided into two sections. The marine lab and aquarium building, in a former World War II military storage facility at the end of a pier, houses several aquarium displays, as well as touch tanks with sea stars, crabs, and anemones. The museum has displays detailing the region's geography and marine ecology, including one of the only orca whale skeletons in the country. Beach walks, cruises, and camps and other programs are offered throughout the summer. There's also a visitor center downtown at 1001 Water Street containing a gallery with additional exhibits and a gift shop.

As you drive up U.S. 101 along the eastern side of the peninsula, you'll pass right through this 84-acre park that offers some of the best access to and prettiest views of Hood Canal. It's a great place to launch a kayak, stop for a picnic beneath the moss-draped evergreens, or scamper along the beach. There's a campground plus good fishing, clamming, and crabbing, too.

One of the best places to pick or even just stroll through Sequim's most famous agricultural product, this sustainable farm contains 7 acres of lavender fields as well as lawns for picnicking and a gift shop that carries bath and body products, honeys and jams, and other lavender-infused gifts. A little snack stand sells lavender ice cream and lemonade in summer.

Protected by a sand spit 4 miles southeast of Sequim on Sequim Bay, this woodsy 92-acre inlet park has picnic tables, campsites, hiking trails, tennis courts, and a boat ramp.

About 10 miles east of Westport, stop by this winery anchored by a 40-foot-tall lighthouse, first and foremost taking a self-guided stroll through the 15 acres of gorgeously tended gardens and some 60 whimsical outdoor sculptures, and then visiting the quirky International Mermaid Museum, which contains exhibits on ocean ecology. Wine tastings are another event here, and about 30 varieties are offered, including a respectable Bordeaux blend, a Pinot Gris-Riesling blend, and an array of sweeter, sometimes fruit-based creations. The attractive Sea Glass Grill, open daily for lunch, specializes in contemporary American fare.

Each August, Long Beach hosts the Washington State International Kite Festival; the community is also home to the Northwest Stunt Kite Championships, a competition held each June. At the only U.S. museum focused solely on kites and kiting, you can view an array of kites and learn about kite making and history. 

The enormous, sandstone courthouse seems exceptionally grand for such a small town, but it was entirely appropriate at the time it was built, between 1909 and 1912, when Montesano was a prosperous railroad boomtown. Its clock tower soars above the classical, pillared entrance. The lobby has a marble staircase flanked by murals depicting Robert Gray in 1792, discovering the harbor that bears his name, and Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens negotiating with Native Americans at Cosmopolis in 1855. The murals inaccurately depict native people wearing feather headdresses and standing in front of tepees (neither was used by the local Chehalis). Information packets for self-guided tours around town are available in the room to the right of the Commissioner's Office.

Walk through the kitchen door off the garden—which contains old varieties of roses, peonies, and lilacs—and step into a different era. One of Washington's smallest state parks, operated by the Jefferson County Historical Society, offers a look into what life was like on the bluff overlooking the bay during the late 1800s. Built for a mercantile store owner and his family, the Greek Revival–style home remains largely unchanged since it was completed in 1868.