Olympic Peninsula
Travel Guide

Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews an Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide published by the Beautiful Pacific Northwest website.

This review is of the original edition but there is now a newer updated edition available on Amazon.

The Olympic Peninsula is one of the most beautiful and stunning parts of the Pacific Coast Highway drive, and for many people it marks the start or end of the marvellous road trip along the USA's Pacific Coast. It's covered in depth on the Beautiful Pacific Northwest website, and now the publisher of that site, Karen Patry, has published her own comprehensive guide to the region, which includes the Olympic National Park.

Photos from the Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide

When we say comprehensive, we mean it! The guide runs to 287 pages and covers everything from hotel and restaurant recommendations to what to do if you ever encounter a bear.

There's a wealth of wildlife features, which we certainly appreciated, covering such creatures as marmots, elk, and bald eagles. Another section describes the flowers you're likely to find, and there's a section trees too.

Reviews of the Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide

Praise For The Book

Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide: Planning

The travel guide begins with a lengthy and helpful section on planning your trip to the Olympic Peninsula. The author helps you plan trips from one day upwards, and depending on what interests you most. They're very practical plans, assessing how long different activities will take you to do, so they're realistic as to what you can actually fit into each day.

This is followed by a more detailed planning section, which includes chapters on such topics as the best time to visit the Olympic Peninsula, a list of festivals, where you'll find campgrounds, details on professional tour companies, and many other topics besides.

Sample page from the Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide

Part Three then covers General Travel Information - maps, information centers, whether to rent an RV, airport car rental options, using the local ferries, and so on.

Sample map from the Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide

Part Four is the main part of the Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide, with over 200 pages of detailed coverage on anywhere you're remotely likely to want to visit. Popular places like Port Townsend get plenty of hotel and restaurant recommendations, for example.

They're not lengthy write-ups but they're certainly enough to help you make your mind up, and they come with all the practical information you'll need, including opening hours. The attractions and activities in each place also get full coverage.

Sample page from the Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide

For Forks, by way of an example, you also get weather coverage, the history of the area, what the town is like today, a piece about the lumber industry, and the town's Twilight tours. The writing is engaging and interesting, and if you're planning your PCH road trip then buying this book beforehand might just persuade you to linger a little longer in this exceptional part of the USA. Highly recommended.

Sample page from the Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide

Olympic National Park Itinerary

If you're planning a trip to the Olympic National Park, we strongly recommend this trip-planning guide and itinerary from Just Go Travel Studios. Click on the image to learn more about what it contains.

Other Olympic Peninsula pages

Frommer's Guide to Seattle
The Frommer's Guide to Seattle has good information about the city and side excursions to the Olympic National Park and elsewhere, plus free city and area map.
Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast
Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast, published by Voyageur Press, is a guide in words and pictures to historic lighthouses along the Pacific Coast Highway.
Cannery Row in Monterey
To John Steinbeck Monterey's Cannery Row was a place of sardine canneries, bums and honky tonks, but today the Monterey Aquarium attracts visitors.
Olympic National Park Accommodation
Olympic National Park accommodation consists of campgrounds and trailer parks, and most visitors to the park stay in nearby lodges and resorts.
Road Food Guide
West Coast Road Eats is a road food guide covering the Pacific Coast from California through Oregon to Washington, giving the best road trip food stops.
Your Insider's Guide to San Francisco
Pacific Coast Highway Travel's book review of Insider's Guide to San Francisco guidebook by Jill Loeffler, publisher of the San Francisco Tourism Tips website.
Olympic Peninsula Wineries
Olympic Peninsula wineries are not in the heart of Washington wine country but the vineyards near the Pacific Coast Highway are worth a visit.
California Living and Eating
California Living and Eating by Eleanor Maidment is a handsome coffee table book celebrating the food and lifestyle of the Golden State with 80 tasty recipes.
The Best Coast Book Review
The Best Coast is a west coast travel guide, sub-titled A Road Trip Atlas it doesn't use photos but instead has hundreds of beautiful illustrations.
Gardens Of the Pacific Coast Highway
Plant lovers can visit hundreds of gardens along or near the Pacific Coast Highway,ranging from lush gardens in the Pacific North-West to southern California.
Pacific Coast Highway in California
The Pacific Coast Highway in California book shows in historic photos the building of the Pacific Coast Highway from its earliest beginnings in 1911.
California Bed and Breakfast Inns
The guide to California Bed and Breakfast Inns lists over 250 boutique hotels, wine country cottages and more.
Northwest Wine Country
Northwest Wine Country is a food and wine lover's guide to vineyards, fine dining, accommodation, restaurants in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia.
Coastal California Guidebook
Lonely Planet's Coastal California guidebook is the ideal travel guide for driving or cycling the Pacific Coast Highway from the Oregon border to Mexico.
John Steinbeck California Guide
This John Steinbeck California Guide, A Journey into Steinbeck's California, shows readers how towns like Monterey, Carmel and Salinas influenced the author.
Books About the Pacific Coast Highway
Books About the Pacific Coast Highway in California, Oregon and Washington including travel guidebooks, route guides, restaurant guides, and many more.
Vintage Hollywood
Vintage Hollywood in Los Angeles is an extract from the Lonely Planets book Culture Trails.
Cycling the USA West Coast
Lonely Planet's Guide to Cycling the USA West Coast is a bicycling guidebook for anyone touring California, Oregon and Washington by bike.
California Coast Guide
One of the best California coast guides is the California Coastal Access Guide, describing the coast’s beaches, National Parks, State Parks, with many maps.
Los Angeles Travel Guide
The Los Angeles travel guide book from Lonely Planet also covers San Diego and Southern California, including Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Disneyland.
Forks Washington
Forks is a small city in Washington State, known as the gateway to the Olympic National Park, and as the home for the Twilight series of books and movies.
Port Angeles in Washington State
Port Angeles in Washington is the largest town on the Olympic Peninsula. It stands on the Pacific Coast Highway and is the gateway to the Olympic National Park.
Sequim
Little Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington is a delightful place to stop if driving the Pacific Coast Highway.
Pacific Coast Highway Guides. Book and ebook hotel guides to PCH
Pacific Coast Highway guides include our own printed book and ebook guides to the best hotels along the PCH, available in paperback, PDF and Kindle formats.
Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip Guide
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip Guide book covering the drive from Vancouver to San Diego.