Things to Do in Port Townsend, Washington
The best things to do in Port Townsend, Washington, are exploring Fort Worden’s gun batteries and beaches, walking the Victorian downtown, and catching the Wooden Boat Festival in September. It’s a city of 10,148 people and the seat of Jefferson County, at the northeast tip of the Olympic Peninsula.
Port Townsend boomed in the late 1800s on the bet that a railroad was coming. It never did, the boom ended in the 1890s, and few of the Victorian buildings were torn down afterward. The historic district became a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
Fort Worden Historical State Park
This old Army post sits on a bluff over Admiralty Inlet at the entrance to Puget Sound. You get beaches, forest, 12 miles of hiking trails and concrete gun batteries on Artillery Hill. The state took it over in 1973, and An Officer and a Gentleman was filmed here in 1981.
★ Good to know A Discover Pass is required for parking, and the Commanding Officer’s Quarters museum shows how an officer’s family lived in the 1900s.
Point Wilson Lighthouse
The lighthouse stands at the tip of Fort Worden, where Admiralty Inlet meets the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Volunteer docents lead tours on weekends. The tours are free, and you don’t need a reservation.
★ Good to know Pair it with a beach walk from the Fort Worden campground side.
Port Townsend Marine Science Center
The center’s aquarium and natural history exhibits sit on the beach at Fort Worden. Expect touch tanks, hands-on displays and a focus on the Salish Sea. It also runs seasonal wildlife cruises to see seals, sea lions and seabirds.
★ Good to know Hours change by season; check before you go.
Downtown and the Museum of Art + History
Water Street is lined with brick and stone buildings from the boom years. The Jefferson County Historical Society runs its Museum of Art + History in the 1892 City Hall at 540 Water St., with five gallery spaces of art and local history. Up the bluff, the Rose Theatre has shown films on Taylor Street since a 1992 restoration; it opened as a vaudeville house in 1907.
★ Good to know The museum is open March through December and is free for everyone on the first Saturday of each month.
Wooden Boat Festival and Northwest Maritime
Northwest Maritime hosts the second-largest wooden boat festival in the world every September, with about 300 boats on land and water and over 100 presentations. The first one, in 1978, drew more than 2,000 people. The rest of the year, Northwest Maritime’s waterfront campus is the heart of the town’s boatbuilding culture.
★ Good to know The festival is held at Northwest Maritime and Point Hudson Marina over a weekend in early-to-mid September, and rooms book up early.
Chetzemoka Park
Port Townsend’s first public park dates to 1904 and honors Chief Chetzemoka of the S’Klallam, who welcomed the town’s first settlers. It has flower gardens, a rose trellis walkway, a gazebo and a lawn looking out at the Cascades. Stairs lead down to the beach.
★ Good to know At mid to low tide you can walk the beach north to Fort Worden or south to Point Hudson.
Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park
This city nature park near the Food Co-op was created in 1981 around what’s left of a saltwater estuary. More than 180 bird species have been recorded here, from nesting Virginia rails to spring warblers. A footpath follows the southeast edge of the lagoon.
★ Good to know Bring binoculars in spring migration, and park on the south side.
Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race
Racers pilot human-powered contraptions through town streets, across the bay, through sand at Fort Worden and through a mud pit at the fairgrounds. The race has run since 1983, and it’s free to watch.
★ Good to know It’s held over a weekend in early October; stake out the water entry at the Northwest Maritime beach early.
Also in town
The Larry Scott Trail runs 7.3 miles from the Boat Haven toward Discovery Bay as the first leg of the Olympic Discovery Trail; the Port Townsend Farmers Market sets up in Uptown on Tyler Street; Hanazono Asian Noodle and 123 Thai Food are casual downtown stops; and Finnriver Farm & Cidery’s cider garden is in the Chimacum Valley just south of town.
Is Port Townsend worth visiting?
Yes, especially for history and the water. It has one of the best-preserved Victorian downtowns in the West, a National Historic Landmark district, and Fort Worden’s beaches and bunkers at the edge of town.
Can you tour the Point Wilson Lighthouse?
Yes. Volunteer docents give free tours on Saturdays and Sundays, with no reservation needed. The lighthouse is inside Fort Worden Historical State Park.
When is the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival?
It’s held every September at Northwest Maritime and Point Hudson Marina. Check the festival site for this year’s dates.
How do you get from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island?
Take the Washington State Ferries route from Port Townsend to Coupeville. Reserve a vehicle spot ahead, since most car space is reserved. For more trip ideas, see our Coupeville page and our small towns in Washington.
Where to find them
- Fort Worden Historical State Park 202 Eisenhower Ave, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Website Directions
- Point Wilson Lighthouse Fort Worden Historical State Park, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Website Directions
- Port Townsend Marine Science Center Fort Worden Historical State Park, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Website Directions
- Museum of Art + History 540 Water St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 Website Directions
- Northwest Maritime waterfront, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Website Directions
- Chetzemoka Park Jackson St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 Website Directions
- Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park Port Townsend, WA 98368 Website Directions
- Rose Theatre Taylor St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 Website Directions
Plan your trip: for events and current visitor info in Port Townsend, see the official visitor site →
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Where to stay in Port Townsend
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