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Published: 11/11/2024
What To Do in Skagit Valley: A Visitor’s Guide
If you’ve ever been to Washington’s Skagit Valley before, it was probably passing through on your way to the San Juan Islands ferries in Anacortes or visiting specifically for the annual tulip festival.
But this small stretch of pastoral land tucked in between the North Cascade mountains and Puget Sound deserves your full attention. There’s a lot more to Skagit Valley than farms. It offers so many fun things to do whether you’re day tripping from Seattle or staying for a while.
In April 2024, I visited Skagit Valley, WA with my mom and sister-in-law for a long weekend centered around the tulip bloom. Beyond tulip fields, we spent our time exploring the charming small town of La Conner, learning to make the best fruit pies of our lives at King Arthur Baking School, and finding all sorts of hidden gems like nature trail networks, roadside farm stands, and bakeries.
If you’re headed to Skagit Valley soon or simply wondering if this corner of Washington State is worth a visit, I’m laying out the 10 best things to do in the area. If you’re a nature lover with an appreciation for ice cream, beer, flowers, and scenic drivers, you’re going to love Skagit Valley.
Read on to start planning your Skagit Valley adventures! (Pro tip: Skagit rhymes with “gadget.”)
10 Best Things to do in Skagit Valley, WA
1) Visit the tulip farms
Skagit Valley is best known for its acres and acres of brightly colored bulb crops. Dutch immigrants found an environment very similar to their homeland when they arrived after WWII. They immediately set to work cultivating daffodils and tulips. Each April, the area celebrates these crops with the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.
Four tulip farms operate in the Skagit Valley: Roozengaarde, Tulip Town, Tulip Valley, and Garden Rosalyn.
If you’re visiting outside of April, your best bet is to stop at the Roozengaarde, the largest and oldest of the valley’s farms. Roozengaarde keeps a display garden blooming year-round and you can stop by their shop to buy tulips and order bulbs for your own garden.
2) Spend a day in La Conner
Don’t let its small size fool you! There’s so much to do in La Conner, WA, including main street rambles, a fantastic art museum, and excellent eats.
La Conner is a darling town of about 800 residents tucked against the banks of the Sniwnomish Channel and the Skagit River estuary. We swung into the tulip festival office in downtown Mt. Vernon as soon as we arrived in the area and the staff member we spoke with recommended we check out La Conner.
We discovered a town filled with Victorian era houses and an impressive number of visitor amenities. With great restaurants, lots of small shops, and fascinating museums, it’s easy to spend a day in La Conner.
3) Get ice cream at Snow Goose Produce
Snow Goose Produce is a seasonal roadside farm produce stand just south of the Skagit River and the tulip fields. They have a robust little market offering local meat, seafood, produce, wine, flowers, baked goods, and other locally made food and craft items.
However, its best-known offering is its wide selection of locally made and hand scooped ice cream. They offer nearly 50 flavors! Because of their high volume, they can’t accommodate samples, so you just have to go with your gut. (They do recommend cotton candy for kids and coffee explosion or huckleberry for indecisive adults.)
The ice cream line often snakes out the building into a back garden area. We waited patiently for our turn to order for nearly 40 minutes and definitely spoiled our dinner with massive waffle cones. Worth it!
4) Explore the Port of Skagit Nature Trail system
Just north of Highway 20 next the Skagit Regional Airport, you’ll find the Port of Skagit nature trail system. These trails offer a mix of forest and urban hiking. We enjoyed a lovely walk on the wide, well maintained trails, looping through both wetlands and around the airport. Their Story Board Trail is lined with placards that tell a story about wetlands on a short loop perfect for kids.
The trails loop through the Bayview Business Park just north of the airport. I plotted out a route on the trail that took us right past Water Tank Bakery, a wholesale bakery in the industrial park just north of the airport that sells to individuals through their retail window. I recommend you do the same. Their oatmeal shortbread cookies were soooo good!
5) Get a brew at Chuckanut Brewery
Chuckanut Brewery might not be quite what you’re expecting from a Pacific Northwest brewery. As an IPA lover, I’m used to finding a West Coast IPA on my favorite Midwest brewery’s menu. So I was a little surprised to discover this West Coast brewery that doesn’t brew a single IPA.
Instead, Chuckanut offers a wide assortment of beers I’d never heard of. Most notably, they brew a bunch of international beers like Japanese lager, Kolsch, and Italian style pilsner. We had such a kind server who let us flip through a booklet with a description of each beer and gave us a couple samples. I settled on their Dunkel Lager and really enjoyed it.
The original Chuckanut Brewpub is located in Bellingham, but if you’re in Skagit Valley, you’ll want to head to the South Nut Taproom just outside of Burlington. Located in the Bayview Business Park just north of Skagit Regional Airport, this is the perfect spot for a Skagit Valley happy hour after a day in tulip fields or taking a class at King Arthur Baking School.
6) Take a class at King Arthur Baking School
The inspiration for our visit to Skagit Valley wasn’t actually the famous tulip fields. After the fun we had at the King Arthur Baking School in Vermont, we wanted to take another class. When I remembered that King Arthur also operates a baking school in Skagit Valley, it seemed like a no brainer to dovetail a class in with the tulip festival.
The Skagit Valley King Arthur Baking School is significantly smaller than the mothership in Vermont. There’s no bakery café or retail space here; just one tidy classroom tucked into the Bayview Business Park outside of Burlington.
The school offers several different classes each week. The class range in length from half day classes like our afternoon pastry class to full day and even multi-day classes. The classes here are often focused on breadmaking since King Arthur works in partnership with its neighbor in the building: the Washington State University Bread Lab.
The hilarious thing about three people taking the same baking classes is that you go home with whatever you baked times three!
With three berry pies and three lemon curd tarts, we basically the PNW pastry proselytizers. We left pies for our Airbnb host and housekeeping team (with permission!) and share a pie with a friend in Seattle. We even loaded up the car rental agency at the airport when we returned our car! Luckily for all them they were the best pies we’d ever made so . . . you’re welcome!
7) Day trip to San Juan Islands
If you’re spending any time in Seattle, I highly recommend a day trip to the San Juan Islands. If you’re staying in Skagit Valley, it’s basically a must to take the ferry over to this gorgeous archipelago of islands nestled in the Salish Sea between Washington State and Vancouver Island.
Wherever you’re staying in Skagit Valley, you’re less than a 30-minute drive to the ferry terminal in Anacortes. Ferries depart for the San Juan Islands approximately once an hour. While more than 170 islands make up the San Juan Islands, the ferry only stops at four. For a first-time visit, I recommend visiting either Orcas Island or San Juan Island.
These wooded islands offer state parks, farms, small shops, and quaint downtowns. On my latest visit to the islands, we headed to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island and had a great visit to Lime Kiln Point State Park. On Orcas Island, you can’t miss Mt. Constitution or Moran State Park.
8) Drive Chuckanut Drive
If you don’t want to faff about with ferry schedules and the San Juan Islands, but still want to experience the Pacific Northwest’s misty, moody forests, head north out of Skagit Valley on Chuckanut Drive. This scenic highway takes you along Bellingham Bay to the city of Bellingham. It’s about 34 mile-drive from Burlington to Bellingham via Chuckanut Drive.
Known for its scenic beauty, the Chuckanut Drive takes you past beaches, acclaimed seafood restaurants like The Oyster Bar, vistas, and hiking trails. While I didn’t find it quite as user friendly as the Kancamagus in New Hampshire, that’s partially because we only had time to drive the road and pull off at a couple overlooks.
If you wanted to, you could easily spend all day on Chuckanut with stops at Larrabee State Park, shopping in Bow-Edison, hiking popular trails like Oyster Dome or Fragrance Lake, and checking out beaches like Clayton or Teddy Cove.
9) Visit Whidbey Island
Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island is another easy day trip while in Skagit Valley. This park is best known for its two iconic New Deal era bridges that span the strait between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands. The park also offers plenty of outdoor recreation like hiking, beaches, geocaching, and bird watching.
While Deception Pass is Whidbey Island’s closest attraction to Skagit Valley, there’s no reason to halt your island explorations there. Whidbey offers great scenic drives, charming small towns, and even clamming and crabbing opportunities. If you love what you find, you can drive the entire Whidbey Scenic Isle Way which takes you the length of the island from north to south.
10) Go kayaking
Skagit Valley is the perfect place to dip your toes in the Pacific Northwest paddle scene. Even if you’re not a confidence paddler, the Skagit River provides low-stress, no skills required kayaking with great wildlife viewing opportunities. Watch for river otters and eagles!
You can rent kayaks from Float Skagit in Mt. Vernon. They offer both guided and self-guided kayak trips and also rent bikes and paddle boards.
If you’re ready to tackle the open ocean, there are also many more places to kayak in the area, including around the San Juan Islands and Chuckanut Drive. I recommend going with a guide for your first several outings!
Other Things To Do in Skagit Valley
- Explore other Skagit Valley downtowns like Mount Vernon and Sedro-Wooley
- Have tea at Willowbrook Manor
- Visit the Heritage Flight Museum
- Go to other area wineries and breweries
- Day trip up to Bellingham and North Cascades National Park
- Check out area special events
Helpful Skagit Valley Visitor Information
Mount Vernon is the county seat of Skagit Valley and where you’ll find the most visitor amenities including a lively downtown and the Tulip Festival headquarters. It’s also home to the area hospital and other important community services. Across the river in Burlington, you can do all big box store shopping your heart desires.
If you’re staying at a vacation rental in the area, I recommend stocking up on groceries at the Skagit Valley Food Co-op. For a larger grocery store, check out Fred Meyer in Burlington.
How To Get to Skagit Valley
From Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA-TAC), Skagit Valley is about a 2 hour drive up Interstate 5.
From downtown Seattle, it is about an hour and 15 minute drive.
Interstate 5 is notorious for heavy traffic. If you want a less stressful and much more round-about way to get the valley, consider taking a ferry from Mukilteo to Whidbey Island to access Skagit Valley from the west via Fidalgo Island.
There is essentially no public transportation in Skagit Valley. If you are flying into Seattle, you will need a rental car.
Where To Stay in Skagit Valley
Whether you prefer a B&B, hotel, or vacation rental, Skagit Valley offers many different styles of overnight accommodation. We really enjoyed our vacation rental in the Skagit Golf and Country Club.
Here are some favorite Skagit Valley lodging options:
Katy’s Inn – A small B&B in one of La Conner’s beautiful Victorian homes.
Whispering Firs B&B Lodge – Another small B&B located a little out of the way on the east outskirts of Mount Vernon.
Candlewood Suites – This apartment style hotel in Burlington offers units with full kitchens.
Burlington offers many chain hotels like a Hampton Inn and Suites, Comfort Suites, and Fairfield Inn and Suites.
Conclusion: Why You Should Visit Washington’s Skagit Valley
Skagit Valley is the perfect base for your Pacific Northwest vacation. Less than an hour and a half from Seattle, this active farming community has a charm all its own. You’ll find small towns, outdoor adventures, and impressive scenery. We especially appreciated their network of trails as well as their amble visitor amenities.
From the valley’s trademark tulip fields in the spring to excellent day trip opportunities year-round, Skagit Valley deserves to be more than just a community you drive through on your way to the Anacortes ferry. If you stay a moment, you’ll quickly find world class museums, opportunities to hone your baking skills, and delicious food and drink.
I hope this post inspires you to discover the many things to do in Skagit Valley, Washington! If you have any questions I didn’t answer, feel free to email me so we can craft your perfect Pacific Northwest adventure together.
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