Whether you ’re looking totake a summertime route trip , or perhaps relocate toa position where you may really give the rent , the last piazza you want to go is Bellevue , or Bainbridge Island , or Bellevue , or any of the other extremely obvious well - know places , which is why we ’ve assembled a list of eight underrated Washington towns where you should whole be spending more time … like Bellevue ! ( Kidding , kidding ! )
Tacoma
space from Seattle : 34 milesYou’ve likely listen the jokes about the " Aroma of Tacoma . " But you know what ’s not funny ? How much you ’re missing out on if you take care down sneeringly on T - Town . Tacoma – 30 second south of Seattle – has everything its larger neighbour does , but with none of the drawback : it ’s got the same ( or more ) innate beauty / access to the swell outdoors;a burgeoning Downtownthat you could actually get around in ; and a wizardly waterfront that is n’t forever under construction . It make out complete with one of15 American bridges you really should drive over . And it ’s gotseriously great restaurantswhere you may get a mesa . Oh , andyou can in reality afford to live in Tacoma ! And as for Tacoma ’s famed " aroma " ? It ’s improved dramatically in the last 20 years . So next time you ’re thinking of making a joke about Washington ’s third - largest metropolis , think about making one about Everett instead . Or maybe Spokane . Thoseplaces are screaming .
Bellingham
aloofness from Seattle : 88 milesYou’ve in all likelihood drive through Bellingham on your way to Whistler or Vancouver , stare out at the common landing strip malls , gun station , and fast intellectual nourishment smear visible from the freeway , and remember to yourself : " Meh . " This whole explains why this far-out college township might bethe most underrated billet in the whole commonwealth . Seriously , once you get off I-5 – we recommend taking the state’smost scenic drive into town– you ’ll discover a bustling little municipality that ’s wrapped around a picturesque bay and boastsone of the best breweries on the West Coast . There are alsogreat places to hike / ski / do everything else outdoors - come to ; an incredibly charming historic district full of workshop , restaurants , and parallel bars on the south end of townsfolk ; and , after a short ferry drive , what might bethe upright eating place in the state . Or you get laid , you could just stay in your car .
La Conner
Distance from Seattle : 66 milesLa Conner has an utterly bewitch location perched alongside the Swinomish Channel , and a quaint waterfront slip packed with a surprising issue of lure spots to wipe out and drink . There ’s also a solid brewery , winery , first-class seafood options ( plainly ) , and even an internal-combustion engine cream tower ( ! ) . Plus there are more demode / curiosity shop class than any town of 900 has any right wing to have . Pro move : after a sidereal day walk into almost every place along La Conner ’s first St , spend a night in one of the 12 rooms at the historical Hotel Planter , and hold start the drive nursing home for morning .
Westport
Distance from Seattle : 129 milesAcross the bay ( but thankfully over an hour ’s drive aside ) from Washington ’s most pop seaboard finish , Ocean Shores , this surfing mecca ( not joking ! ) draw in a more relaxed , slightly less family - friendly crowd than the town across the water … because who wants to take the Thomas Kid surfing , or digging for razor clam , or on a sojourn to the Maritime Museum , or the Ithiel Town ’s historical beacon ! ? Sarcasm away , Westport ’s buzz off it all . Plus , you may block off by Kurt Cobain ’s childhood household in nearby Aberdeen – orone of America ’s most out - of - the - path bars– on your drive home .
Pomeroy
Distance from Seattle : 274 milesChances are you ’ve never hear of this tiny town in the southeasterly nook of the state . And chances are even better that you ’ve never actually been there . But you need to absolutely go , if only because few position will make you palpate more like you ’re ill-treat into the past times than Pomeroy . This is all thanks to a Main Street that ’s line with storefronts and civil construction straight out of past , and that fart off into the gently rolled hills surrounding the town . There you ’ll find a surprisingly stunning 9 - trap golf game course , as well as the Snake River , the Umatilla National Forest , and the Blue Mountains , which is way more nature than you ’ll fuck what to do with .
Port Townsend
Distance from Seattle : 56 milesMore accessible by ferry than by car , this marooned townsfolk on the Olympic Peninsula sleep with a matter or two about being underrated ( it ’s gotthe state ’s most underrated brewery , after all ) , especially when compare to Port Angeles . The latter is just an minute forth , and somehow handle to make all sorts of small townspeople lists in travel magazines despite not having so many of the things that make Port Townsend special : arresting strait-laced computer architecture left over from when it was supposed to be the " New York of the West " ; beautiful stretches of beach ; and the telling Fort Worden State Park , which only narrowly did n’t make our list of the state ’s sound desolate place ( what were we think ? ! ) .
Issaquah
space from Seattle : 17 milesAll those hombre you know from college who went to business schooltime ? They probably live here now , which is potential why you have n’t drop enough time in Seattle ’s easternmost suburbia ( we ’re yell Snoqualmie a " bedroom community " ) to be intimate that it ’s actually get a small - town tone . That ’s thanks to 1,700 acres of parkland land , historic building , and even a brook running through the center of Ithiel Town , all of which combine to make you forget that you ’re still only a instant from I-90 . Know what else will make you forget ? post up at the redundant , but can’t - girl , threefold thirty Rootbeer Drive - In and downing one of their XXX Burgers . It crap a trip across the floating bridge worth it all by itself .
Sequim
Distance from Seattle : 66 milesThanks to its location in the rainwater shadow of the Olympic Mountains , Sequim ( OK , let ’s get this out of the way : it ’s enunciate " Skwim " ) gets about as much precipitation as Los Angeles , make it the sunniest townsfolk in Washington , andone the secure small beach town on the West Coast . However , the fact that the recollective backbone spit in the United States ( at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge ) and public oyster and buck beds ( at Sequim Bay State Park ) are nearby probably did n’t hurt either . This more and more popular flight from Seattle is also becoming one of the good food towns in the Northwest , thanks to old - school anchor and mod operation likeNourish , which is posted up on what stay of a trailblazer farm from the 1880s , and is literally a garden - to - mesa restaurant that turns all the poppycock you’re able to see growing while you walk to your tabular array into amazing things to have for dinner .
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City of Issaquah
