8 Of The Most Adorable Small Towns In Washington
Washington's small towns offer experiences as varied as the state's landscapes. Take the Anacortes ferry out to the San Juan Islands or board a whale-watching cruise in the Salish Sea. A walk on the boardwalk in La Conner offers long views over the Swinomish Channel. Nearby, Port Townsend has a downtown featuring impressive 19th-century commercial architecture, where a stroll reveals the layered history of the region through its many historical landmarks. Walla Walla is the gateway to one of America's premier wine regions, including over 30 wine tasting rooms close to downtown. Each of the eight towns below earns its place on this list in its own unique way.
Anacortes
Anacortes sits on Fidalgo Island at the north end of Puget Sound. Deception Pass Bridge is a ten-minute drive away, with views 180 feet down into the swirling water below. Downtown Commercial Avenue is lined with century-old brick buildings painted with historical murals, small galleries, and coffee shops. Cap Sante Marina holds one of the larger fishing and pleasure-boat fleets on this stretch of coast, and a walk along its docks is a visual feast of Washington maritime culture. In the summer, whale watching boats depart straight from the harbor, heading into the Salish Sea in search of orcas, humpbacks, and minke whales. On Saturday mornings through the summer months, the farmers market at 6th and R sets up with produce, flowers, and baked goods from Skagit Valley farms. Anacortes also serves as the mainland ferry landing for the San Juan Islands.
Edison
About 22 miles south, Edison's entire commercial district fits into a couple of short blocks on the Samish Flats. Breadfarm bakes sourdough loaves, savory tarts, and sticky buns from a storefront on Cains Court. A few doors down, Slough Food stocks a deli case of cheeses, cured meats, and prepared dishes, with a café menu of paninis and soups for dining in. Hedgerow and The Lucky Dumpster both fill small storefronts with handmade jewelry, ceramics, and vintage finds. The town is surrounded by Skagit Valley farmland, so the drive in and out passes barns, rows of seasonal flowers, and grazing cattle for a truly pastoral view. The nearly next-door town of Bow is worth driving through as well for its equal beauty.
La Conner
La Conner, 14 miles away, runs along the Swinomish Channel with a boardwalk spanning its full length and views across the water to the Swinomish Reservation shoreline. The Rainbow Bridge arches over the channel just south of downtown. First Street holds boutiques in restored 19th-century storefronts, selling home goods, local art, and handcrafted gifts. The Museum of Northwest Art has free-admission galleries of regional painting, sculpture, and glasswork just a block off the water. The Skagit County Historical Museum stands on a hill above town with exhibits on the delta's farming and fishing history. Nell Thorn Waterfront Bistro serves dinner made from local ingredients in a dining room and deck set over the Swinomish Channel. Every April, the surrounding Skagit Valley fills with tulip and daffodil rows for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, with La Conner at the center of the bloom.
Port Townsend
A drive down to Whidbey Island and a short ferry from Coupeville connect La Conner to Port Townsend. The small town sits on the tip of the Quimper Peninsula, where Admiralty Inlet meets Puget Sound. Three-story Victorian storefronts line Water Street below a bluff of former sea captains' homes, giving downtown one of the best-preserved collections of 19th-century commercial architecture on the West Coast. Fort Worden Historical State Park covers the old military grounds just north of downtown, with parade grounds, coastal gun batteries, and a beach facing Whidbey Island across the water.
The Rose Theatre, inside a building dating to 1907 and reopened as a cinema in 1992, shows first-run and art-house films with live introductions before many screenings. Chetzemoka Park overlooks the water within walking distance of downtown, with a rose promenade and garden beds. Port Townsend's harbor also hosts the Wooden Boat Festival every September, when wooden vessels fill the marina for one of the largest gatherings of its kind in the country.
Gig Harbor
From Port Townsend, Highway 104 crosses the Hood Canal Bridge, and Highway 3 carries on south for a drive of about 69 miles to Gig Harbor. Skansie Brothers Park sits on the water downtown, with the restored Skansie Netshed and the family's 1908 house documenting the town's purse-seine fishing fleet. Harborview Drive follows the curve of the harbor past galleries, ice cream shops, and docks where sailboats and older wooden fishing boats tie up. The Tides Tavern, open on the water since 1973, serves a wide menu with classics like fish and chips and burgers from a deck facing the harbor and downtown. Sunrise Beach Park, a short drive toward Colvos Passage, is a 71-acre site with over 2,000 feet of shoreline, trails through the woods, and panoramic views of Mount Rainier.
Roslyn
East across Snoqualmie Pass, Roslyn is in the Cascade foothills with a downtown of false-front wooden buildings dating to its coal-mining era. The Brick Saloon has poured drinks since 1889 and is widely cited as Washington's oldest continuously operating bar. Its back bar is more than a century old and was shipped from England. The Northwestern Improvement Company Store, built during the same era, now holds a boutique and a combination art gallery and furniture consignment shop.
Fans of the 1990s series Northern Exposure can still track down the show's filming locations around town, since Roslyn stood in for the fictional Alaskan town of Cicely. The Roslyn Historical Museum fills a former dry goods store with photographs and mining artifacts, including a memorial to the 1892 Roslyn mine explosion. On Sundays, Pennsylvania Ave shuts down for a farmers market with produce and crafts from around Kittitas County.
Leavenworth
Leavenworth is about an hour from Roslyn on Highway 97. Downtown is built entirely in Bavarian-style architecture, with flower boxes, gabled roofs, and hand-painted murals, set against the peaks of the Central Cascades. München Haus grills Bavarian sausages to order at an outdoor counter and serves them in an attached beer garden. The Gingerbread Factory, baking on Front Street for close to 40 years, sells gingerbread cookies and houses from a bakery shaped like its own Bavarian cottage. Icicle Brewing Company runs a taproom on Front Street, and more than a dozen wine tasting rooms dot the surrounding blocks of downtown. Waterfront Park runs along the Wenatchee River within a few blocks of downtown, with a bridge and river access. Fall brings Oktoberfest, and winter holiday lighting runs nightly from Thanksgiving through February.
Walla Walla
In the wheat and wine country of Washington's southeast corner, Walla Walla's historic downtown is built around brick storefronts dating to the late 1800s. Today, there are more than 30 wine tasting rooms within walking distance. Seven Hills Winery pours current releases inside the old Whitehouse-Crawford building, downtown's only historic working winemaking facility, while Maison Bleue Winery fills a nearby storefront with Rhône varietals. At the edge of town, the Fort Walla Walla Museum occupies 15 acres and includes a 17-building pioneer village with a schoolhouse, a jail, a doctor's office, and a working blacksmith shop. The museum is also home to one of the country's largest collections of horse-drawn farm equipment, with tractors, threshers, and wagons displayed across several exhibits.
About seven miles west of downtown, Whitman Mission National Historic Site preserves the grounds of a mission established in 1836. Self-guided trails at the site take you alongside a restored millpond, an irrigation ditch, and the foundations of the original mission buildings. The visitor center on-site covers the mission's history and its role as a stop along the Oregon Trail.
Harbors And Wheat Fields
These eight towns bring together working harbors, river deltas, old mining camps, and wheat and wine country, each building new legacies while keeping their original history and charm intact. They show just how much variety exists across Washington's small towns, and each one is well worth a spot on your next itinerary in the Pacific Northwest.
