Washington · 2026

Airport

The Pacific Northwest is one of the loveliest and most scenic regions in the entire country.

OlympiaCapital
7.7MPopulation
PSTTime zone
Evergreen StateNickname

The Pacific Northwest is one of the loveliest and most scenic regions in the entire country. The Seattle airport is where most visitors to the area will arrive when they come to Washington State. The Seattle Tacoma airport, also known as Sea-Tac, is your gateway to this incredibly beautiful region, and to other destinations worldwide. It is recommended that you car pool; use a shuttle or public transportation to reduce congestion and crowds in Seattle airport parking.

If you do choose to drive, check the traffic before starting on your drive to the Seattle Tacoma airport. The parking process at the Seattle airport is automated, so the process of entering and exiting Seattle airport parking areas is supposed to be efficient. The drives at the Seattle Tacoma airport are for picking up and dropping off passengers, so you should not try to park here or you will be ticketed and possibly towed. If you do need to go into the airport for a short time, use the hourly Seattle airport parking.

There are other places to arrive and various ways to get around in Washington besides using the Seattle airport. The San Juan Islands is an exciting destination that promises to reward you with the sigh of orca whales. You can catch a seaplane to one of the remote islands and book a kayaking trip to get up close to the aquatic giants. Whale Watch Park is a regular stop on the routes of the seaplanes that come through here, so this is a good place to start, and you won't need a kayak, since you can see the Orcas right from the shore.

A company that has trusted seaplane flight in and around the area is Kenmore Air. Spending a full day on the San Juan Islands is easy to do when you choose to ride their seaplanes. There are two flights every morning, and from May to September, the seaplanes of Kenmore Air fly back every evening at 5:35 and at 6:35.

From the time you arrive at the Seattle airport to the time you step off your seaplane flight after a day of whale watching, you will enjoy the convenience and proximity of airstrips, on land and water, to your desired destination in the Pacific Northwest. There are dozens of hotels near the airport as well, to make your trip run even more smoothly.

Washington has Seattle's tech glass tower at one end and Mount Rainier's glaciers at the other — and an Olympic rainforest, ferry-stitched islands, and inland wine country in between.

Washington: Must-See Experiences

  • Ride the Seattle ferry to Bainbridge
  • Watch fish fly at Pike Place Market
  • See Mount Rainier from Paradise meadows
  • Hike the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park
  • Drive the North Cascades Highway
  • Visit Hurricane Ridge in summer
  • Tour the San Juan Islands
  • Taste wine in Walla Walla or Yakima
  • See the Space Needle and Chihuly glass
  • Watch sunset over the Pacific at Cape Flattery

Explore by Region

Frequently Asked Questions

July–September are dry, sunny, and warm. The rest of the year ranges from rainy to wet, especially west of the Cascades.
Seattle has light rail, buses, and ferries — manageable without a car if you're staying in the city. For Olympic, Rainier, or eastern Washington, you need a car.
Western Washington is wet, green, dense with rainforest. East of the Cascades is dry, hot in summer, and looks more like high desert and farmland.
Like any large US city — fine in tourist areas during the day. Some downtown blocks have visible homelessness; same urban precautions as elsewhere apply.
Spring brings tulips in Skagit Valley. Fall has fewer crowds. Winter is for skiing the Cascades — Crystal, Stevens Pass, Baker.