Seattle as a Base: 7 Days of Oddball Trips
Seven days closes with the trip everyone oversells as easy: the San Juan Islands, a 1.5 hour drive to Anacortes plus a ferry crossing, genuinely better as an overnight than a rushed day. Drop back to the 6 day version if you would rather stop at Leavenworth, or read the full Seattle as a base guide for how all 8 day trips compare.
| Day | Focus | Distance / travel time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Land, settle in downtown or Belltown | In Seattle |
| 2 | Mount Rainier National Park | 107 miles, 2 to 2.5 hrs each way |
| 3 | Bainbridge Island, then Snoqualmie Falls | 35-min ferry, plus 30 miles/40 min |
| 4 | Olympic National Park, Hurricane Ridge | Ferry plus 2 to 3 hrs driving |
| 5 | Boeing Future of Flight, Everett | About 40 min each way |
| 6 | Leavenworth | 117 miles, 2.5 hrs each way |
| 7 | San Juan Islands (rushed day version) | 1.5 hrs to Anacortes, plus ferry |
Book these before you go
- Compare downtown and Belltown hotel rates , close to I-5 for an early start
- Reserve a guided Mount Rainier day trip if you would rather skip the parking gamble
- Book a guided Olympic day tour , which bundles the ferry, drive, and entrance fee
- Book a Leavenworth day tour if 5 hours of driving does not appeal by day 6
- San Juan Islands ferry vehicle reservations, if you are bringing a car north to Anacortes
Day 1: Land, settle in, sleep early
SEA sits about 14 miles south of downtown; the Link light rail 1 Line covers the distance in 38 to 40 minutes for a flat $3 fare, tap-to-pay with a contactless card, no ORCA card required. Check into a downtown or Belltown hotel, close to I-5 and I-90 for the week of driving ahead.
Day 2: Mount Rainier National Park
Leave by 7am and take I-5 to WA-512 to WA-7 to WA-706, about 107 miles and 2 to 2.5 hours to the Nisqually entrance and Paradise. Rainier dropped its timed entry reservation for 2026, so the gate is first come, first served; the real constraint is the Paradise and Sunrise parking lots. Entry runs $30 per vehicle for 7 days, cashless only. Check current park conditions before you leave.
Day 3: Bainbridge Island, then Snoqualmie Falls
Catch an early ferry from the downtown waterfront to Bainbridge Island, 35 minutes each way, $11.35 westbound and free on the return leg. In the afternoon, drive 30 miles and 40 minutes east on I-90 to Snoqualmie Falls, a free 268-foot waterfall, and detour past Twede’s Cafe in North Bend, the actual diner used as the RR Diner in Twin Peaks.
Day 4: Olympic National Park and Hurricane Ridge
Take the ferry to Bainbridge or Edmonds to Kingston, then drive to Port Angeles and on to Hurricane Ridge, 2 to 3 hours of driving on top of the crossing. Entry costs $30 per vehicle for 7 days, with no international surcharge here. Booking the guided tour above bundles the ferry, the drive, and the entrance fee.
Day 5: Boeing Future of Flight, then a slow afternoon
Drive about 40 minutes north to Mukilteo and Everett for the Boeing Future of Flight Aviation Center. The $14 gallery ticket covers the Sky Deck and the exhibit floor; add roughly $42 to $46 for the guided factory tour, 80 minutes above the active 777, 777X, and 767 assembly lines. Boeing’s own site has the current tour schedule.
Day 6: Leavenworth
Drive east on US-2, about 117 miles and 2.5 hours, to a town that rebuilt itself as a Bavarian alpine village on purpose in the 1960s after a rerouted rail line collapsed its original timber economy. It is a real 5-hour round trip on driving alone. Booking the tour above covers the driving if 5 hours behind the wheel does not appeal by this point in the week.
Day 7: San Juan Islands, the rushed version
Drive 1.5 hours north to Anacortes, then take the Washington State Ferries crossing to Friday Harbor. Doing this as a single day from Seattle means more time in transit than on the island itself, since the drive and the crossing eat most of the day before you have even reached San Juan Island. If your schedule has any flexibility left, swap this day for one overnight in Friday Harbor instead; May through September is prime orca-watching season, and a single night turns this from a box-ticking exercise into the actual point of the trip. Check current Washington State Ferries routes before you commit to a day-trip version at all.
Do you need a rental car for this itinerary?
Yes for six of the seven days. Only Bainbridge Island runs without one; the San Juan Islands day even needs the car for the 1.5 hour drive to the Anacortes ferry before the boat takes over.
What if the weather does not cooperate?
Unlikely in July through September, Seattle’s driest and sunniest stretch, but Hurricane Ridge and Rainier’s upper trails can still hold snow patches into early summer. The San Juans run mild and often sunnier than Seattle itself in summer, thanks to a rain shadow off the Olympic Mountains.
Should day 7 be San Juan Islands or Portland instead?
San Juan Islands as written above is the rushed version. The better move, if your schedule allows an 8th day, is turning day 7 into an overnight in Friday Harbor and treating Portland, 174 miles and about 3 hours south, as a separate future trip entirely, since both are overnight-shaped detours that do not compress well into a single extra day.
Book the San Juan ferry reservation for a car days ahead if you are driving one north: walk-on passengers rarely need it, but summer vehicle slots out of Anacortes fill first.