From Seattle on our Pacific Northwest road trip, our next destination was Friday Harbor (US spelling!) on San Juan Island, part of a group of islands known as the San Juan Islands, USA. As well as exploring island life on San Juan, Friday Harbor was to be the starting point for a multi-day kayaking trip in search of orcas, so excitement was high about our visit. But I didn’t expect to fall under its charms quite so much…
San Juan Island is an hour by Washington State Ferry from Anacortes, and three nights is plenty. Friday Harbor is the town and the ferry dock, the Whale Museum is worth an hour before any whale watching trip, and the Scenic Byway north to Roche Harbor is the best drive on the island. Watch for orcas from the shore at Lime Kiln Point, meet the alpacas at Krystal Acres, and do not rush any of it.
The San Juan Islands, USA, are an archipelago of 172 islands off the west coast of Washington State. They lie to the east of the southern end of Vancouver Island, Canada, and are sandwiched between the Rosario Strait (to the east) and Haro Strait (to the west).
Washington State Ferries reach four of them, and this guide is about San Juan Island, the second largest and the one with the ferry town:
The largest of the San Juan Islands, USA, and often referred to as the ‘gem of the San Juan Islands’. It is quite a hilly island, so less good for cycling, but great scenic drives on the Orcas Island Scenic Byway, a 2-3 hour driving route around the key points on the island.
The second largest of the group, and home to bustling Friday Harbor with numerous opportunities to get outdoors as well as exploring points of historical interest.
The third largest, with rolling farmland, quiet bays and opportunities for fishing and whale watching. It is the best island for exploring on bikes.
Smaller and with limited camping and fewer amenities, but great for outdoor and nature lovers.
Washington State Ferries transport passengers and cars to 4 of the San Juan Islands, USA, from the small city of Anacortes on the mainland, 80 miles (1.5-hour drive) north of Seattle.
We caught an early morning ferry from the Anacortes ferry terminal to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island with Washington State Ferries.
To be closer to the Anacortes ferry terminal, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, Burlington on the night before our ferry crossing as Burlington is a 25-minute drive to Anacortes, rather than 1.5 hours from Seattle.
The ferry route from Anacortes, USA, to the San Juan Islands, USA, is viewed as an international route because the ferry’s ultimate destination is Sidney on Vancouver Island, Canada. This means that you need to have your passport ready when you check in for your ferry.
You therefore can’t buy tickets in advance for this international route on the Washington State Ferries, but you can (and should) use the reservations system to Save-a-Spot for your vehicle.
Arrive at Anacortes ferry terminal 60-90 minutes early, to get in line and visit the ticket office with your passports and paperwork so that you can pay for your ferry crossing and proceed onto the ferry.
Then, sit back and enjoy the picturesque hour-long crossing from Anacortes to San Juan Island, waking up with a coffee and watching other boats and forest covered islands pass by.
The Washington State Ferry docks right in the centre of Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, so you are straight into this pretty and bustling town with a waterfront filled with sailing and fishing boats.
You can also fly into Friday Harbor's airport if you are not on a road trip like ours and needing to use the ferries.
The town of Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, is perfect to explore on foot – it’s a small, quaint town with low-rise, wooden buildings, cafes, galleries, an art museum, and shops selling gifts, local produce and outdoor activity equipment. Spring Street is the main shopping strip which leads down to the waterfront and Spring Street Landing.
Finish exploring at Downriggers Restaurant which overlooks the port of Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, offering great views of the activity in the port area from the outdoor deck whilst you enjoy brunch or a seafood platter for lunch.
To get in the mood for our kayaking expedition in search of orcas, we visited the Whale Museum overlooking the port of Friday Harbor. The Whale Museum, Friday Harbor, was nicely set out and full of informative displays and videos where we learnt about the whale pods which base themselves around the islands – the J, K and L pods at the time of visiting.
There are thought to be around 80 Southern Resident orca whales that call these Northwest waters (the Salish Sea ecosystem) home, but the Whale Museum, Friday Harbor, was displaying the year’s whale sightings in the area, which made depressing reading compared to the previous year, as numbers are sadly depleting – more about that in my guide to San Juan Islands whale watching.
In summary, orcas in this area are mainly salmon eating orcas which follow the salmon run – as the flow of salmon has been affected by the building of dams and salmon farming along the route, then the orcas’ food source has been depleted, which in turn negatively affects the numbers of living, healthy orcas.
Overall, the visit helped us understand more about these majestic creatures and set the context for our kayaking expedition in search of orcas. I also think it helped prepare us for the very real possibility of not seeing orcas on our visit…
There are lots of whale watching trips leaving from Friday Harbor, but if you have orca conservation in mind then consider booking a tour with either San Juan Safaris or San Juan Island Outfitters, who set up a Conservation Fund together in 2015, donating funds from each tour fee to organisations researching whale and salmon conservation. This venture made Wanderlust Magazine’s 2024 Travel Green List, Issue 233.
On the west side of San Juan Island is a viewpoint called Lime Kiln Point State Park (or ‘Whale Watch Park’) where it is possible to see whales from the shore at certain times of the year, free of charge.
Whale sightings are never guaranteed. Our full account of what a whale watching trip is really like, including a two-day kayaking expedition on which we saw no orcas at all, is in San Juan Islands whale watching.
The San Juan Island National Historical Park informs visitors about the Pig War Crisis which arose on the island between 1859 and 1872. Great Britain and the United States eventually settled ownership disputes about the San Juan Islands through peaceful arbitration which the Park celebrates. The Park covers the sites of the U.S. and British encampments, American Camp and English Camp.
The two halves sit at opposite ends of the island and feel completely different, so if you have a car it is worth doing both. Between them they cover more than 2,000 acres and around 20 miles of trail, and entry is free. The outdoor sites are open all year; the visitor buildings run on a shorter and more changeable season, so check the National Park Service website before you set off.
American Camp is about six miles southeast of Friday Harbor on Cattle Point Road, and it is the bleaker and more military of the two: open prairie, the earth redoubt, the officers’ quarters, and long views down to the Cattle Point Lighthouse.
There is a visitor centre here covering Coast Salish heritage, the Pig War and the island’s ecology, and there are picnic tables and toilets by it, at Fourth of July Beach and at South Beach.
Walk the short path out to the redoubt, drop down onto the beaches, or climb Mt Finlayson for the view over Cattle Point and, on a clear day, a glimpse of Mount Rainier. Foxes, rabbits, deer and bald eagles are all common here. There is no camping.
English Camp is about nine miles northwest of Friday Harbor on West Valley Road, and it is the prettier of the two: a parade ground running down to the water, a blockhouse, the barracks, the commissary and a small formal garden.
The barracks used to open as a summer visitor contact station, but the park has not been running recently, partly through a shortage of long-term volunteers and partly because of problems with the building itself. Instead there is now a year-round welcome centre in Friday Harbor town, at the park headquarters on Mullis Street, open on weekdays. The grounds at English Camp stay open either way, so this changes where you pick up a map rather than whether you can visit.
Hike Young Hill from the car park for views north towards Canada and the Royal Marines cemetery on the way. Mobile signals are patchy, so download a map before you go. There is a dinghy dock on Garrison Bay if you are arriving by small boat.
The park is working on accessibility at English Camp, where there is a 52-foot climb from the car park up to the parade ground. Expect some work on site over the next couple of seasons.
Autumn is a lovely time to do both camps. There are far fewer people, the prairie is still walkable, and the story is much easier to take in without a summer queue.
If you have a car then you can drive the Scenic Byway routes (North, South and West) and enjoy farmland, forests and beautiful coastlines with two lighthouses on the island.
The signed loops thread between the two lighthouses, Cattle Point in the south and Lime Kiln on the west side, take in both halves of the National Historical Park, and pass San Juan Vineyards on the way. Allow half a day if you are stopping, or a full day if you plan to eat and walk as well.
Roche Harbor in the north is a rewarding place to stop on your drive with some good eateries by the water and a marina of yachts. It is an old lime works village turned resort, with the Hotel de Haro and formal gardens at its centre, and it is a good deal more pleasant at the shoulder of the season than at the height of August.
Just before the entrance to Roche Harbor is the San Juan Islands Sculpture Park, which is nice to explore. It runs to 20 acres with five trails through meadow and woodland down to the shore of Westcott Bay, and holds somewhere between 110 and 150 outdoor sculptures at any one time, the number changing as pieces sell and new ones are installed.
It is open every day of the year from dawn until dusk, there is no entry fee, and donations are welcome. Dogs are allowed.
A few minutes further on, the Westcott Bay Shellfish Company grows oysters, clams and mussels out on the tidelands, and you can find world class oysters here.
In the warmer months they serve lunch outdoors looking over the beds. The grilled oysters are the thing to order, it is worth reserving a table, and take a layer because it is cooler by the water than you expect. Out of season there is a shop for raw oysters and picnic supplies instead.
This one sits close to English Camp on the northwest side of the island, so the two go together nicely on the same loop.
Krystal Acres Alpaca Farm, in the centre of the island on West Valley Road, offers the chance to meet alpacas. They have about 50 alpacas on the farm, grazing on sloping pasture, and it makes an easy stop between Friday Harbor and English Camp.
There is no entry fee and no need to book. You can buy a small bag of feed in the shop if you want to hand-feed them over the fence, which our girls enjoyed far more than they would admit to. There is also a shop offering lovely items made from alpaca wool, including socks, scarves, knitwear and yarn, some of it from the farm’s own fibre.
Half an hour is enough unless you get stuck in the shop.
Dogs are not allowed out of your vehicle on the farm, because the alpacas read them as predators. The farm closes on Sundays and Tuesdays and for the whole of February, and it posts one-off closures on its website, so it is worth a quick check on the morning you plan to go.
If you’re wondering where to stay on San Juan Island, then be reassured that there is a good range of accommodation to choose from. If you book early, then you should be able to find some character accommodation, for example, on a farm, boutique hotel or charming bed and breakfast. Friday Harbor House or Snug Harbor Resort and Marina are good options.
The island splits fairly neatly into two decisions. Stay in Friday Harbor and you can walk to the ferry, the Whale Museum, the galleries and dinner, which matters if you are arriving late or leaving early. Stay out on the west side and you get water, quiet and sunsets, but you will need a car for everything.
On the bluff above the marina, a couple of blocks from the ferry. Small-hotel rather than resort, with harbour views from many of the rooms, and everything in town on foot.
The opposite idea, on Mitchell Bay on the west side. Waterfront cabins and suites with kitchens, and a short drive from Lime Kiln Point for the shore whale watching. Good for a few nights if you would rather cook and watch the water than be in town.
If you want the north-end village on your doorstep, with rooms, cottages and houses around the marina.
We stayed at an AirBnB in False Bay on the west side of San Juan Island, about 15-minute drive from Friday Harbor. It was a lovely, cosy, wooden house in the woods with access to a small private pebbly beach with kayaks to take out on the water.
It was quiet at night, handy for Lime Kiln and the sunset, and a good reminder that a lot of the best places to stay on San Juan Island are houses rather than hotels. If you go that way, read the ferry and parking notes above carefully, because a west-side cottage only works if you have brought a car over.
We found San Juan Island to be utterly charming. It felt wholesome, peaceful, and calm – full of natural beauty and opportunities to feel at one with nature.
Our short visit made us curious about what some of the other San Juan Islands would be like, but my bet is that they would be… just as charming!
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