Spending a weekend in Port Townsend, WA is a fun thing to do. We decided to visit this quaint town situated on the Olympic Peninsula on a sunny weekend in May.

Getting to Port Townsend:

Basically, there are two ways to get to Port Townsend from Seattle. You can either take a ferry or you can drive around. The town is only 40 miles away from Seattle as the crow flies, so if you take the ferry you won’t have to do much driving.  However, if you decide against it, you will drive around for 113 miles.

Since we were looking forward to a lovely weekend in Port Townsend, we decided to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island for a more scenic route. Especially on a clear day, you will have spectacular views of the Olympic Mountains, Mount Rainier and the Cascades, as well as the skyline of Seattle. The ferry ride takes only 40 minutes, so you arrive on the other side of Elliot Bay before you know it.

              The Olympic Mountains

Bainbridge Island – a quick stop on the way to Port Townsend

Bainbridge Island with its small community of Winslow is certainly worth a stop. The little downtown area has nice shops and galleries. It also has several places to eat, so if you’re hungry this may be a good place to stop for a snack. We enjoyed Blackbird Bakery which sells coffee and home-made pastries.

Visiting Chief Sealth’s grave

When you leave Bainbridge Island, take a slight detour and turn onto Suquamish Way NE to visit Chief Sealth’s grave. He was the chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes in the 19th century and the City of Seattle was named after him. Chief Sealth is buried in a nice and well- maintained cemetery with Indian and Christian accents decorating his tombstone.

                Chief Sealth’s grave

Shortly after, you will drive across the Hood Canal Bridge, a floating bridge, which connects the Kitsap Peninsula and the Olympic Peninsula. Take a look to the north to see if you can spot Mt. Baker – a 10,781 ft glaciated volcano or the Olympic mountain range to the south west. Because we had a clear and sunny day, we were able to see both.

A weekend in Port Townsend – camping

After about two hours of traveling, we reached Port Townsend. Because our getaway was spontaneous, we didn’t have any reservations made. We did bring our tent with us and since the weather was gorgeous, we decided to camp. We first drove to Fort Worden State Park, a campground right in town, but surprisingly, all sites were occupied. If you plan to camp there, call ahead for reservations because apparently the campground fills up quickly. If you don’t have reservations, Fort Townsend State Park, 4 miles outside of town, has sites available on a first come first served basis. Subsequently, that was what we did. We got a very nice site among tall pine trees with a lot of privacy. We set up our tent and went into town.

A weekend in Port Townsend – the beach and the lighthouse

Because of the lovely weather, we decided to head directly to the beach at Fort Worden State Park. The beach offers wonderful views of Mount Baker and the Cascades.  It was lovely to sit on the beach for a while admiring the views. Afterwards, we took a walk all the way to the lighthouse, which was and still is the gateway to the Puget Sound. The Strait of Juan de Fuca meets Puget Sound right here.

Mount Baker and the lighthouse, Port Townsend

A weekend in Port Townsend – the historic downtown

The historic center is on the list of US Historic Landmark Districts. The downtown streets boast beautifully restored Victorian-style red brick buildings that charm visitors. The first white settlers arrived here in 1851, and soon after the town became a thriving port. Some years later it started to lose its significance particularly due to the lack of railway connections with other cities. Port Townsend became rediscovered in the 1970s and over the last 20 years many retirees have made Port Townsend their home. Nowadays, the town draws tourists who have heard of the town’s architectural charm and natural beauty.

                                                          County courthouse, Port Townsend

                                                            Historic downtown, Port Townsend

                                                      Historic downtown, Port Townsend

Getting back to Seattle

After spending a lovely weekend in Port Townsend, we decided to check out the little community of Port Ludlow on our way back. The marina has gorgeous views of the Olympic Mountains, so I definitely recommend a quick stop.

                                                                    Port Ludlow Marina

Because we didn’t want to retrace our route, we decided to take a ferry from Kingston to Edmonds.

It was a very quick ferry ride, more or less 30 minutes, and again, the views were spectacular.

If you are in the Seattle area during nice weather and have a few days to spare, think about spending a weekend in Port Townsend. You won’t be disappointed.