Best of the Pacific Northwest

Discover Seattle, Portland, San Francisco

Visit Mount St. Helens Visitor Centre, Portland's International Rose Test Garden, Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Seattle's Pike Place Market, Eureka's Blue Ox Historic Village and School, San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf

View Multnomah Falls, Face Rock

Scenic Drive through Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Avenue of the Giants, Bandon State Natural Area, Redwood National and State Parks

Visit Pike Place Market

Tick the must-see attraction of Pike Place Market off your bucket list. At the oldest, continuously open farmers’ market in the country, take your time exploring the market’s stalls and shops spread across nine acres. Visit the historic arcade and make your way down winding alleys, stairways and lower levels for a sensory tour of sights, sounds and tastes. Be sure to stop by the Pike Place Fish Market, famous for its vendors who toss fish back and forth. Founded in 1930, the Pike Place Fish Market is an enduring Seattle institution and a one-of-a-kind experience.

Mount St. Helens Visitor Center

Unlock the history and geology of Mount St. Helens at the Science and Learning Center featuring education-rich displays and a short film. You can take a short nature walk to an observation area with several telescopes. On a clear day, you’ll have a tremendous view of Mount St. Helens.

International Rose Test Garden

Visit the oldest continuously operating public garden for showing – boasting over 10,000 rose bushes and 600 rose varieties sitting on 4.5 acres of land. Unlock the garden’s history, and you’ll learn how in 1888 Georgiana Burton Pittock, wife of pioneer publisher Henry Pittock, invited her friends and neighbours to exhibit their roses in her garden. After an annual rose show grew in popularity and size, Georgiana and her friends established the Portland Rose Society in 1889. A former Rose Society president chose the garden’s site and established a rose test garden in 1917.

Visit Multnomah Falls

Head to Multnomah Falls, Oregon's tallest waterfall at 620 feet. Learn how the falls are fed by underground springs from Larch Mountain and are usually highest during the winter and spring seasons. Multnomah Falls is also one of the best places in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area to study geology exposed by floods. As the most-visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest, it's the ideal spot to snap pictures to add to your travel album.

Visit Yaquina Head Lighthouse

The Pacific Northwest promises you one iconic sight after the next. Visit Yaquina Head lighthouse, a beacon which has been guiding ships along the West Coast since 1873. Gaze up at this 93-feet-tall lighthouse perched on the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, stretching out from the Oregon coast one mile into the Pacific Ocean. Then visit the interpretive centre featuring exhibits on seabirds and marine life as well as human history. You can even see the wheelhouse of an historic ship, a recreated rocky island and its inhabitants and a full-scale replica of the lighthouse lantern as well as the nearby tide pools.

Bandon State Natural Area

Get ready for beautiful scenery along Beach Loop Drive in Bandon State Natural Area. Peer out at rocky spires, offshore rock formations and sandy beaches filled with tide pools. Wind along the bluff to view the Pacific and the photographic offshore “sea stack” rocks as sea birds fly overhead. You can even spot part of Bandon’s residential area before returning to Beach Loop and continuing to Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint. Take the well-kept trail to the beach lined with information about the legend of the rock and see if you can spot the face peering up out of the water.

Drive through Redwood National and State Parks

Welcome to Redwood National and State Parks. Take the winding, Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway through old-growth redwoods. Immerse yourself in the history of these towering trees and the legacy of Newton Drury, whose 40-year dedication helped preserve these forests and secure them as parklands in the 20th century. As you gaze at the giant trees, keep an eye out for the wild Roosevelt Elk herds that roam the park.

Humboldt Redwoods State Park

Delve into the natural beauty of California at this park encompassing over 53,000 acres, nearly twice the size of San Francisco. Learn about its history, dating back to 1921, when the Save the Redwoods League dedicated the first Memorial Grove, Colonel Raynal C. Bolling Memorial Grove, in what is now known as Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Among the park’s diverse coast redwood ecosystem is the Rockefeller Forest, home to the largest remaining old-growth forest in the world and the 362-foot-tall, 17-foot-wide fallen Dyerville Giant.

Avenue of the Giants

Welcome to the Avenue of the Giants. Located in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, this 31-mile road parallels Highway 101 and offers you a slower-paced route through southern Humboldt County to take in the scenery. Wind your way along its gentle curves passing secluded forests, campgrounds, picnic areas and access to the Eel River, a waterway with swimming, fishing and paddling spots. Perhaps pull off to explore one of the many trailheads along the avenue luring you into the redwood forest, each with its own magic.

San Francisco City Tour

Unlock the local secrets of the city on an orientation tour with your Travel Director. Admire the eclectic mix of architecture from candy-coloured Victorian homes to modern, glittering skyscrapers. Framed by the historic North Beach neighbourhood and iconic Coit Tower, make your way to Union Square, a historical landmark linked to the American Civil War. In Fisherman’s Warf, freshly caught seafood tempts and the chime of the cable car reminds you that you're in one of the world’s great cities.

Fisherman's Wharf

Delve into Fisherman’s Warf, a neighbourhood encompassing the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street. Stroll along Pier 39 where the wooden pier is lined with restaurants, quirky shops and street performers as well as the notable aquarium.