On The Pacific Northwest Coast Is Washington's Community With A Walkable Downtown And Quiet Beaches

If remote, relaxed, quiet beach towns are your thing, then the great state of Washington should certainly be on your travel radar. Where this land of soaring mountains and endless Douglass fir forests meets the Pacific Ocean, you'll find long sands speckled with driftwood, salmon fishing settlements, and quaint towns aplenty, from the European-styled 'Little Norway' of Poulsbo to the 'Little New England' of Seabrook. And then there's Seaview, WA...

Oh, lovely little Seaview. Population: 686. Size: A mere 3.3 square miles. Location? That's the doozy; the ace up the sleeve. This town huddles neatly at the base of the Long Beach Peninsula, offering access to a whopping 28 miles of uninterrupted Washington beachfront on the way to the dune forests of the Leadbetter Point State Park. That's to the north. The south is just as alluring, what with the majestic cliffs and historic lighthouses of the Cape Disappointment State Park marking the final tip of the Evergreen State before the Oregon border.

Still not enough? A charming, walk-friendly downtown area adds to the charms. It's riddled with classic coast diners and craft breweries, all knitted together by breezy boardwalks and cycle paths. It's hard not to love it! To get here, you're looking at a drive of a little over 2 hours from Portland, which hosts the nearest major international airport. The trip in from Washington's own Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is likely to be closer to 3 hours in all.

The first thing you should know about Seaview is that it sort of melds together with its next-door neighbor town of Long Beach, which is just a touch to the north. It's a mere 30-minute walk between the center of one and the center of the other, and you'll find all sorts along the way, from PNW seafood kitchens to hearty Aussie-themed grill houses.

Expect leafy avenues aplenty, linking up pockets of pretty Victorian homes that date back to before the end of the 1800s. Make a special effort to stop by The Depot. The aromas of broiled petit oysters in garlic butter belie that it's now a bastion of homegrown WA seafood cooking, but the building it's in was once the station that served the train goers of the so-called Clamshell Railroad some 120 years ago!

Liquor lovers, meanwhile, can mosey over to Adrift. It faces the lashing Pacific from its place amid the dunes just to the west of the downtown of Seaview, but promises spirit-warming cocktails that run the gamut from pea and gin cava mashups to classic sazeracs. They also have a brunch menu to help you start the day — think eggs benny, chowders, and fried rockfish with potatoes.

Seaview is a beach bum's dream come true — the clue's in the name! It's just a hop and a skip from the middle of town to the sand here, and there's even a dedicated hiking trail connecting up the whole coastline of the peninsula. Cue the Discovery Trail, an 8.5-mile route that goes through Sitka spruce forests and historic lighthouses clutching the coast.

The beachfront right astride the town is a perfect image of that quintessentially wild Washington shoreline you're no doubt craving. It's wide, open, and seems to roll on to the horizon. There are waves, too, because the folks over at the local Skookum Surf Company offer beginner lessons on the multitude of beach break waves that string up the headland.

Also, don't forget that Seaview is the stepping stone into the Cape Disappointment State Park. That's just over 2,000 acres of virgin rainforests and vast marshlands with feral beaches where no car can go. There's oddly-named Waikiki Beach (it's not really anything like its Aloha bro) with its big rock walls and a lighthouse on a cape. There's Deadman's Cove, a fantastical slit in the headland that's hemmed in by thick forests. You'll love it!