Washington Hostels
Overlooking the Port Townsend Bay, the Port Townsend hostel is located approximately 60 miles northwest of Seattle. A small Victorian town, Port Townsend is known for its various art galleries and local artists. Port Townsend’s major attraction is Fort Worden State Park, a former active U.S. army base which now offers more than two miles of beaches and high bluffs, along with abandoned bunkers to explore. Copper Canyon Press, the renowned independent poetry publisher, has been located within the park since 1972. Also within the park is the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, which features marine exhibit touch pools with fish and invertebrates found in Port Townsend Bay, and the Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum. Port Townsend is also a maritime town, well-known for its Annual Wooden Boat Festival, held in early September. Known throughout the world, the festival features more than 200 wooden boats, boatbuilding exhibitions, regattas and races, and woodworking demonstrations.
A short ferry ride from Seattle, the Vashon Island hostel is located on Puget Sound’s largest island. The island’s 100-acre nature preserve, Fishers Pond, and surrounding area offer kayaking, horseback riding, hiking, and public beaches. As the largest city in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle is known for its musical roots – it’s regarded as the birthplace of grunge music, in addition to well-known avant-garde jazz, rock, and other music genres. Seattle is also known for its coffee, as it is the birthplace of Seattle’s Best Coffee and Starbucks. The annual Seattle International Film Festival is regarded as largest film festival in the U.S., showing documentaries, independent, and foreign films, and runs for three weeks starting in mid to late April. Seattle is also known for its year-round street fairs, which range from book fairs to arts and crafts fairs.
The Seattle area has a mild climate, with a penchant for overcast, rainy weather, averaging 226 days of cloudy weather per year. Winters are cool and wet, with average lows in the mid 30s and highs in the mid 40s. Snowfall is light and infrequent, with an average annual snowfall of 13 inches. Most precipitation falls from November through February. Summers are dry and mild, with average temperatures in the mid 70s.
