A half-day trip to Snoqualmie Falls, Seattle

I am a huge fan of the original series of Twin Peaks, and so when I visited Seattle I just had to visit Snoqualmie Falls, which appears in the opening titles!

However, I really struggled to work out how I could see Snoqualmie Falls from Seattle. I didn’t have a car, and whilst I could get there by taking two buses (a 2 hour trip one way)… it turns out I couldn’t actually get back. So I turned to the internet for potential tours. Whilst there were options to combine a trip to Snoqualmie Falls with local wineries, or the Bavarian tourist village of Leavenworth, I didn’t fancy spending extra to see a part of the region that I wasn’t (personally) that interested in. 

So when I stumbled across this half day tour to Snoqualmie Falls run by Shutter Tours, I took the plunge. I am so glad I did!

(This mini trip report isn’t sponsored by the way, and all views are my own. For full disclosure though, if you click and make a purchase through some of the adverts on this page I may earn a small commission. This doesn’t come at any additional cost to you. Many thanks for your support, I really appreciate it!)

 

Travelling to the falls

We were picked up at Pike Place Market, with Snoqualmie Falls being our first stop about 40 minutes away. Salish Lodge & Spa, which doubled as The Great Northern Hotel in Twin Peaks, is right next to the falls. Although the front of the hotel was being redone when I visited, the side of the building next to the falls itself was fine, allowing for some great photos. 

I got quite a surprise walking the few steps from the car park to the falls. Even though the water level was a bit lower with it being Summer, the roar of the water came out of nowhere!

 

Just beside the parking lot there is a small gift shop/ visitor centre where you can buy coffee and pastries. (There are restrooms here too).

In Snoqualmie itself there’s also the North West Railroad Museum, which is walkable from the falls. And of course, there are trails you can follow to see the lower falls if you wish. If you’re a Twin Peaks fan with a car, you can also visit Twede’s Cafe, which is in North Bend, the town over from Snoqualmie. 

Throughout the tour, our tour guide Terry gave us all practical photography tips and was really helpful with how I could use the polarising lens on my DSLR camera. I also learned a huge amount in the 4 hours on the tour, from history of the area to geography, from economics (including real estate!) to social issues. Terry had compiled a list of links for further reading (as well as restaurant recommendations) which I enjoyed looking through.

 

Seeing other bits of Seattle

Following the falls we headed back to Seattle, visiting a huge local sculpture known as the Fremont Troll,  the Ballard Locks Fish Ladder (where you can see salmon migrating back to their birthing ground to spawn – it was cool to see a live salmon up close and personal!) and also to Kerry Park, which provided fantastic views of Seattle and the Space Needle. 

Overall, I would really recommend this trip, particularly if you’re short on time. (Again, this post isn’t sponsored – I genuinely just had a really lovely time).

From the tour, I then spent two hours exploring Pike Place Market – you can read how I got on in my next (forthcoming) post! If you’re also interested in reading what else I got up to in my time in Seattle you can read my four day Seattle itinerary here.