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

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.
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.
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.
Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips: Lonely Planet Guidebook Review
Review of the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips book from Lonely Planet, which includes a California Driving Guide, by the Pacific Coast Highway Travel website.
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.
California Bed and Breakfast Inns
The guide to California Bed and Breakfast Inns lists over 250 boutique hotels, wine country cottages and more.
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.
Vintage Hollywood
Vintage Hollywood in Los Angeles is an extract from the Lonely Planets book Culture Trails.
Greetings from California
Greetings from California is a beautiful coffee-table book which describes the legends, landmarks and lore of California, including the Pacific Coast Highway.
Santa Barbara Guidebook
The Santa Barbara Guidebook from Moon Handbooks also covers California’s Central Coast with Ventura, San Luis Obispo, wine country, and Hearst Castle.
West Coast RV Parks
One of the best guides to West Coast RV Parks, covering campgrounds in California, Oregon, and Washington, is West Coast RV Camping from Moon Guides.
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.
Port Townsend
Port Townsend is noted for its Victorian architecture, sits at the top of the Olympic Peninsula, close to the Olympic National Park and 55 miles from Seattle.
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 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.
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.
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.
Culture Trails
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the book Culture Trails by Lonely Planet, which has a section on Vintage Hollywood alongside 51 other perfect weekends.
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.
Guide to the Olympic Peninsula
Moon's Spotlight Guide to the Olympic Peninsula covers hotels, restaurants, and sights, including Forks, the Olympic National Park and other places.
Best Time to Visit the Olympic Peninsula
PCH Travel picks the best time to visit the Olympic Peninsula, with a monthly summary of the weather, plus hotel prices and special events to help plan a visit.
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.
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.
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.