Olympic Peninsula and South Sound

Updated October 3, 2026

The Olympic region runs from the Pacific coast and the Olympic Mountains east across Hood Canal and the Kitsap Peninsula to Tacoma and Olympia on the South Sound. It holds a national park with rainforest, glaciers and wild beaches, and the state capital an hour from Seattle.

7 counties: Clallam · Grays Harbor · Jefferson · Kitsap · Mason · Pierce · Thurston
See all six regions on the map

Seven counties make up the region on the state road map: Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, Pierce and Thurston. That puts Port Angeles, Bremerton, Tacoma and Olympia in the same region as the Hoh Rain Forest, the Hood Canal oyster beds and the beaches of the outer coast.

Use this page as the index. If you know where you are headed, start with a town guide. If you are going somewhere smaller, scroll down to the towns without a guide of their own, where every coffee shop, market, museum, golf course and local business we list is filed under its town.

What the Olympic Peninsula and South Sound are known for

The Hoh Rain Forest

One of the largest temperate rainforests in the country, with well over ten feet of rain a year. The Hall of Mosses loop is under a mile and shows you the whole idea.

Visit the Hoh

Hurricane Ridge

Seventeen miles up from Port Angeles and about a mile above the sea, with the Olympic Mountains spread out in front of you. Klahhane Ridge is the hike that earns the view.

Hike Klahhane Ridge

Lake Crescent

Glacier carved and famously clear, right on Highway 101 west of Port Angeles. Marymere Falls is the short walk, and Sol Duc Falls is up the next valley.

Explore Lake Crescent

The wild coast

Cape Flattery is the northwesternmost point of the lower 48, on the Makah Reservation, and needs a Makah recreation permit. South along 101 come Rialto, Ruby and Kalaloch beaches.

Hike Cape Flattery and Shi Shi

Port Townsend

A Victorian brick downtown on the water, with Fort Worden at the edge of town and ferries to Whidbey Island.

Plan a Port Townsend weekend

Sequim lavender

Sequim sits in the rain shadow of the Olympics and grows lavender, with the big lavender weekend in July. Dungeness Spit, one of the longest natural sand spits in the world, is a few minutes north.

Read the lavender guide

Tacoma museums

Four big museums sit close together downtown, from the Museum of Glass and the Washington State History Museum to LeMay America’s Car Museum by the Tacoma Dome.

Visit the LeMay car museum

Mount Rainier from Pierce County

The Sunrise and Carbon River sides of the park are in Pierce County. Paradise is just over the line in Lewis County.

Mount Rainier guide

When to go

Spring

Waterfalls run full across the peninsula, and razor clam digs on the coast open on the state’s schedule.

Summer

Lavender in Sequim, wildflowers at Hurricane Ridge and the driest weeks of the year on the coast. It is also the busy season, so book lodging early.

Fall

Coho salmon leap the Salmon Cascades on the Sol Duc River in the fall, with October usually the best month, and the rainforests come back to life with the first rains.

Winter

Storm watching on the outer coast from Ocean Shores to La Push. Winter access to Hurricane Ridge depends on the road schedule, so check before you drive up.

Getting around

  • By car: US 101 loops the Olympic Peninsula. I-5 runs through Tacoma and Olympia, and SR 16 crosses the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to Gig Harbor and the Kitsap Peninsula. The Hood Canal Bridge on SR 104 links Kitsap to the northern peninsula.
  • By ferry: Seattle to Bainbridge Island or Bremerton, Edmonds to Kingston, Fauntleroy to Southworth, Point Defiance to Vashon and Coupeville to Port Townsend. The Coho sails from Port Angeles to Victoria, British Columbia. Our ferry guide has the routes.
  • By air: Sea-Tac is the main airport for the whole region, about half an hour north of Tacoma.
  • By train: Amtrak Cascades stops in Tacoma and at Centennial Station in Lacey, which serves Olympia.
  • Before you go: roads on the peninsula close for washouts, bridge work and winter storms. Check our conditions page first.

Olympic Peninsula and South Sound town guides

Aberdeen

Aberdeen

The birthplace of Kurt Cobain, home port of Washington's official tall ship, and gateway to the Olympic…

3 listings in our directories

Bainbridge Island

Bainbridge Island

Thirty-five minutes from downtown Seattle by ferry, a 28-square-mile island with no chain stores, a 150-acre…

7 listings in our directories

Bonney Lake

Bonney Lake

Bonney Lake stretches along the plateau above the Puyallup valley, where Lake Tapps turns suburban Pierce…

4 listings in our directories

Bremerton

Bremerton

The Navy built this city, but Bremerton rebuilt itself into something worth staying for. Take the fast ferry…

6 listings in our directories

Buckley

Buckley

A White River logging town that still throws timber country’s loudest party every June, with Mount Rainier…

5 listings in our directories

Forks

Forks

The wettest town in the lower 48 gets 120 inches of rain per year, and that rain is why the Hoh Rainforest…

Gig Harbor

Gig Harbor

A working harbor at the foot of the Narrows Bridge, where Croatian fishermen once built boats by hand and the…

16 listings in our directories

Hood Canal

Hood Canal

Washington's 65 mile saltwater fjord where oysters come straight off the dock, the Olympics rise behind the…

Ocean Shores

Ocean Shores

Six miles of beach you can actually drive on, a harbor full of razor clams, and a coastal town that three…

21 listings in our directories

Olympia

Olympia

Washington's capital city, where the South Sound meets history, craft beer, and a farmers market that runs…

20 listings in our directories

Orting

Orting

Mount Rainier fills the sky at the end of every street in Orting, a valley town where daffodil farms gave way…

5 listings in our directories

Port Angeles

Port Angeles

Olympic National Park at the back door, a 90-minute ferry to Victoria, and 25 inches of rain a year instead…

4 listings in our directories

Port Orchard

Port Orchard

Port Orchard keeps the kind of secrets that only make sense once you arrive: a novelist's waterfront…

4 listings in our directories

Port Townsend

Port Townsend

The Northwest's last Victorian seaport: still working, still weird, still worth every mile of the ferry ride.

27 listings in our directories

Poulsbo

Poulsbo

A Norwegian-heritage waterfront town on Liberty Bay that has been serving lefse and hand-cut donuts since the…

21 listings in our directories

Puyallup

Puyallup

Puyallup draws over a million visitors every September for one of the country's great fairs. Almost no one…

9 listings in our directories

Sequim

Sequim

The driest town on the Olympic Peninsula gets only 16 inches of rain per year, which is why 30 lavender farms…

3 listings in our directories

Sumner

Sumner

From abolitionist senators to rhubarb fields, Sumner has been writing its own story since the first wagon…

6 listings in our directories

Tacoma

Tacoma

Tacoma spent decades in Seattle's shadow, which left it free to build something genuinely worth visiting…

108 listings in our directories

Westport

Westport

Washington's tallest lighthouse, one of the Pacific Northwest's most consistent surf breaks, and the state's…

6 listings in our directories

Locals on the podcast

Conversations from the Exploring Washington State Podcast with people who live here.

Small towns on the Olympic Peninsula and South Sound

These towns do not have a full guide yet. Everything we list in each one is right here, grouped by county.

Clallam County

Neah Bay

Grays Harbor County

Elma

Grayland

McCleary

Moclips

Montesano

Jefferson County

Chimacum

Port Ludlow

Kitsap County

Keyport

Kingston

Silverdale

Suquamish

Mason County

Allyn

Hoodsport

Shelton

Pierce County

Ashford

Browns Point

Eatonville

Elbe

Fircrest

Greenwater

Lake Tapps

Lakewood

Mineral

Parkland

Ruston

University Place

Thurston County

Lacey

Tenino

Tumwater

Yelm

Coffee roasters in the Olympic Peninsula and South Sound

Shops in our coffee directory that roast their own beans.

Olympic Peninsula state parks and rest areas

Parking at a Washington State Park needs a Discover Pass: $45 a year or $10 a day. How the Discover Pass works and where to buy it.

State parks (41)

Rest areas (4)

Everything we list on the Olympic Peninsula and South Sound

Read next

Welcome to Ocean Shores signA Weekend in Ocean Shores, WashingtonPoulsbo MarinaSpending A Day In Poulsbo, WAlake crescent lodgeFive Rustic Resorts and Lodges on the Olympic Peninsulasurfer at westport beachSpending a Day in WestportSpending a day in Steilacoom photo of Rainer St in SteilacoomSpending a Day in Steilacoom WashingtonkegsVisiting Tacoma’s Brewery District

Questions people ask

What counties are in the Olympic region?

Seven: Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, Pierce and Thurston. That is the state road map, which every listing on Explore Washington State uses to find its region.

What are the biggest cities in the Olympic Peninsula and South Sound?

Tacoma is by far the largest. Olympia, Lacey, Lakewood, Puyallup and Bremerton follow. On the Olympic Peninsula itself, Port Angeles is the biggest town.

Is Tacoma on the Olympic Peninsula?

No. Tacoma is on the South Sound in Pierce County. The state map puts Pierce and Thurston counties in the same region as the Olympic Peninsula, which is why Tacoma and Olympia are on this page.

Is Olympic National Park in this region?

Yes, all of it. The park covers parts of Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor and Mason counties. Our Olympic National Park guide covers the Hoh, Hurricane Ridge, Lake Crescent and the coast.

Is the Kitsap Peninsula part of the Olympic Peninsula?

No. Kitsap is the smaller peninsula east of Hood Canal, home to Bremerton, Poulsbo, Port Orchard and Gig Harbor. Both peninsulas are in this region.

Which small towns in the Olympic region are worth a stop?

Port Gamble on Kitsap, Steilacoom on the South Sound, Westport on the coast and Tenino south of Olympia are good places to start. Read our Port Gamble guide first. The small towns section above lists every town we cover that does not have its own guide yet.

Do I need a pass to visit the parks here?

Washington State Parks need a Discover Pass. Olympic and Mount Rainier national parks charge their own entrance fees, and the Discover Pass does not cover them.

Counties

Clallam County · Grays Harbor County · Jefferson County · Kitsap County · Mason County · Pierce County · Thurston County

Explore Washington's other regions

Region boundaries come from the Washington State Department of Transportation, and every listing gets its region from its county. See how the six regions work.