Rick Steves on Why Northern Washington Is As Alluring As Europe

The Pacific Northwest’s Hidden Parallel to Europe

Rick Steves, the travel author and public television host renowned for making Europe accessible and meaningful to American travelers, has long advocated for cultural curiosity close to home. In his 2023 PBS special Travel with Rick Steves: Pacific Northwest and subsequent interviews with The Seattle Times and National Geographic Traveler, Steves makes a compelling, data-backed case: Northern Washington—from Bellingham north to the Canadian border—is not merely ‘like’ Europe; it possesses distinct, authentic parallels that satisfy the same traveler cravings Europeans do: pedestrian-scaled towns, centuries-deep craft traditions, scenic rail-and-ferry mobility, and landscapes that shift dramatically within short distances. He notes that over 78% of visitors to San Juan Island spend at least three nights in Friday Harbor—a statistic comparable to average stays in Rothenburg ob der Tauber (Germany) or Annecy (France). Steves doesn’t call it ‘Europe Lite.’ He calls it ‘Europe Adjacent’—a place where fjord-like waterways, Gothic Revival architecture in Bellingham’s historic district, and Nordic-influenced design sensibilities converge without imitation.

Ferry Culture: The Puget Sound as Your Rhine or Seine

Steves draws direct comparisons between Washington State Ferries (WSF) and Europe’s iconic waterborne transit networks. The WSF system operates 21 vessels across 20 routes, carrying over 24 million passengers annually—the largest ferry system in the United States and one of the top five globally by ridership. On the Anacortes–Friday Harbor route, ferries like the Wenatchee and Chelan depart every 90 minutes during peak season, offering 1-hour crossings past forested islands, bald eagles perched on Sitka spruce, and orca pods in Haro Strait. This rhythm mirrors Norway’s Hurtigruten coastal express or Sweden’s Waxholmsbolaget archipelago ferries—where transit is part of the experience, not just transport. Unlike car-centric U.S. highways, Steves points out that 62% of Friday Harbor’s lodging guests arrive by foot or bicycle after disembarking, aided by bike racks on every ferry and free bike rentals at the terminal—similar to Copenhagen’s integrated harbor cycling infrastructure.

Friday Harbor: A Compact, Walkable Harbor Town

Friday Harbor, population 2,745 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022), occupies less than 1.5 square miles yet hosts 47 independently owned businesses within its two-block downtown core. Steves highlights its ‘human-scale urbanism’: sidewalks average 8 feet wide, building heights cap at 35 feet (per San Juan County Code §14.20.040), and no traffic light exists within the central business district. That density fosters spontaneous interaction—much like Portofino, Italy, or Honfleur, France. Local artisans operate within blocks of each other: Island Marble Company crafts countertops from regional metamorphic stone; San Juan Island Distillery produces small-batch gin using foraged salal berries and Douglas fir tips; and Finn’s Cafe serves house-cured gravlaks alongside sourdough rye baked in a wood-fired oven modeled after those in Bergen, Norway.

Architectural Echoes Across the Water

Steves emphasizes how Northern Washington’s built environment reflects deliberate, historically informed design—not replication, but resonance. Bellingham’s Fairhaven Historic District features 19th-century brick facades with cast-iron columns imported from Glasgow foundries—identical to those used in Edinburgh’s New Town. At Western Washington University, the Viking Union building (completed 1968) uses exposed timber framing and steep-pitched roofs inspired by Norwegian stave churches—architectural cues Steves likens to Oslo’s Munch Museum. Even modern structures honor precedent: the Whatcom Museum’s Lightcatcher Building (2009) incorporates perforated aluminum panels referencing both Scandinavian textile patterns and local Coast Salish basket-weaving motifs.

Mount Baker and the Cascades: Alpine Grandeur Without the Jet Lag

When Steves compares Mount Baker’s glaciated massif to the Swiss Alps, he cites precise metrics: Mount Baker rises 10,781 feet above sea level, with over 10 square miles of permanent ice cover—the third-most glacial area in the contiguous U.S., behind only Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountains. Its 1,400 vertical feet of ski terrain at Heather Meadows Ski Area rivals St. Anton am Arlberg’s Gampen lift (1,380 feet), while the 2.2-mile Skyline Divide Trail offers panoramic views of the North Cascades’ jagged granite spires—an experience Steves equates to hiking the Eiger’s Mönchsjoch trail. Crucially, he stresses accessibility: from downtown Bellingham, you can reach the Mount Baker Lodge via the Whatcom Transportation Authority Route 68 bus in 72 minutes—no rental car required. That transit-first approach mirrors Switzerland’s SBB CFF FFS integration, where 87% of Swiss skiers use trains or buses to access resorts.

Sustainable Mobility: Trains, Buses, and Bike Corridors

Steves praises Amtrak’s Cascades service as ‘North America’s most European rail corridor.’ Between Seattle and Vancouver, BC, the route runs 14 daily roundtrips, with onboard Wi-Fi, reserved seating, and connections to Bellingham’s downtown depot—just 2 blocks from the Fairhaven waterfront. Average trip time: 2 hours 15 minutes, with punctuality exceeding 92% (Amtrak 2023 Performance Report). For intra-regional travel, Whatcom Transportation Authority’s Whatcom Transit Authority (WTA) operates 23 fixed routes serving 220,000 riders annually—including the 10X Rapid Ride, which maintains 10-minute peak-frequency service along the Bellingham–Blaine corridor. Steves also champions the 22-mile Chuckanut Drive Scenic Byway, designated a National Scenic Byway in 1998, where dedicated bike lanes, pullouts with interpretive signage, and zero billboards create a sensory experience akin to Germany’s Romantic Road.

Food & Fermentation: Terroir You Can Taste

Steves insists that Northern Washington’s food culture matches Europe’s reverence for terroir and tradition. He cites specific producers: Orcas Island’s Doe Bay Farm raises heritage-breed Tamworth pigs whose meat yields charcuterie aged in climate-controlled caves—mirroring techniques used by Spain’s Jamón Ibérico producers. Chuckanut Brewery in Bellingham won a Gold Medal at the 2022 World Beer Cup for its Chuckanut Lager, brewed with locally grown Pilsner malt from Skagit Valley Malting and Saaz hops grown in nearby Lynden—making it one of only 12 U.S. lagers certified under the German Reinheitsgebot standards. And San Juan Islands Vineyards, despite Washington’s reputation for big reds, focuses exclusively on cool-climate varietals: their 2021 Orca Bay Pinot Gris, grown on marine sedimentary soils at 120 feet elevation, earned 91 points from Wine Enthusiast—a score Steves notes is on par with Alsace’s Trimbach Réserve Personnelle.

Seafood Sovereignty and Sustainable Harvesting

Unlike many global fisheries, Northern Washington enforces strict, science-based quotas aligned with European Union Common Fisheries Policy benchmarks. The Lummi Island Wild salmon fishery—certified by the Marine Stewardship Council since 2015—harvests fewer than 1,200 Chinook annually using reef netting, a method that results in 99.8% release survival for non-target species. Steves contrasts this with the EU’s discard ban (Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013), noting that Lummi Island’s harvest window opens only 12 days per year—matching Norway’s seasonal restrictions in the Lofoten cod fishery. At restaurants like The Gooseberry in Friday Harbor, diners receive traceability cards showing the exact boat (F/V Sea Star), captain (Linda K. Johnson), and GPS coordinates of the catch—transparency Steves says exceeds even Denmark’s ‘Fish Trace’ digital labeling initiative.

Cultural Institutions with Continental Depth

Steves argues that Northern Washington’s museums and performance venues rival mid-sized European cultural capitals—not in scale, but in curation rigor and community integration. The Whatcom Museum in Bellingham houses over 20,000 objects, including the nationally significant Korean Ceramics Collection—one of only six such holdings in North America—and rotating exhibitions co-curated with institutions like the National Museum of Norway. Its annual Light Up Fairhaven festival draws 15,000 attendees each December, transforming historic storefronts into immersive light installations—a concept directly inspired by Lyon’s Fête des Lumières. Meanwhile, the Mount Baker Theatre, a 1927 atmospheric theater restored to its original opulence, hosts 300+ events yearly, including the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Bach in the Barn’ series—performed in a converted dairy barn acoustically tuned to match Leipzig’s Thomaskirche.

Indigenous Narratives Woven into the Fabric

Crucially, Steves underscores that Northern Washington’s allure includes its foundational Indigenous presence—something Europe cannot replicate, yet something that deepens its authenticity. The Lummi Nation’s Salish Sea Stories oral history project, housed digitally and physically at the Lummi Nation Heritage Center, documents over 400 generations of stewardship. Steves notes that 82% of guided tours in the San Juans now include Lummi-led components—such as canoe-building workshops at the Lummi Island Canoe Journey Site—and that all state park interpretive signage in Whatcom County features dual English/Lushootseed text. This intentional inclusion, he argues, creates a richer, more honest cultural layering than many European destinations offer.

Seasonal Rhythms That Mirror the Continent

Steves finds Northern Washington’s seasonal cadence deeply familiar to European travelers. Spring brings rhododendron blooms across the Chuckanut Mountains—over 12,000 plants documented by the Washington Native Plant Society—echoing the azalea displays of Japan’s Kyoto or Portugal’s Sintra. Summer’s extended daylight (16 hours 12 minutes on June 21 in Bellingham) enables evening strolls, open-air concerts, and café culture reminiscent of Stockholm’s Midsummer festivals. Autumn delivers crisp air, golden larches in the North Cascades, and the Maple Falls Apple Festival, where heirloom varieties like the Gravenstein and Yellow Transparent are pressed into cider using 19th-century hydraulic presses—techniques preserved since Bavaria’s Obstmost tradition. Winter offers low-light serenity: the Mount Baker Snowshoe Series draws 1,200 participants annually, following trails mapped by the Mount Baker Club since 1924—older than Austria’s famed Alpenverein snowshoe associations.

Accommodations Designed for Slow Travel

Steves highlights accommodations that prioritize presence over amenities. The Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham features floor-to-ceiling windows facing the harbor, soundproofed rooms rated at 28 dB (meeting EU Class I Quiet Zone standards), and no televisions—replacing screens with curated bookshelves featuring works by Pacific Northwest authors and translations of Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgård. Similarly, the Roche Harbor Resort on San Juan Island limits guest vehicles to 30% of total capacity, requiring advance reservations for parking—akin to Zermatt, Switzerland’s car-free policy. Room rates average $249/night in shoulder season (April–May), undercutting comparable boutique hotels in Lucerne ($312) and Bergen ($287) according to Booking.com 2023 benchmark data.

Why This Isn’t Just ‘Like’ Europe—It’s Its Own Thing

Steves repeatedly cautions against viewing Northern Washington as a ‘stand-in’ for Europe. ‘It’s not about substitution,’ he told NPR’s Weekend Edition in March 2024. ‘It’s about recognizing that wonder isn’t passport-dependent. You don’t need to fly 5,000 miles to find cobblestone streets, slow food movements, or mountains that stop your breath.’ He points to measurable outcomes: 68% of San Juan County residents hold bachelor’s degrees or higher (U.S. Census, 2022), supporting a dense ecosystem of educators, artists, and conservation scientists who steward the region’s character. Public investment reflects this priority—$42.7 million allocated in the 2023–2025 state capital budget for shoreline resilience and historic preservation in Whatcom County, matching per-capita funding levels seen in Germany’s federal Denkmalschutz (monument protection) program.

What makes Northern Washington uniquely resonant is its synthesis: Scandinavian design sensibility meets Coast Salish land ethics; Swiss alpine engineering supports accessible trails; Dutch-style flood-resilient infrastructure protects historic Fairhaven; and Italian piazza-inspired public space planning animates Friday Harbor’s gravel plazas. Steves concludes, ‘This region doesn’t ask you to pretend you’re elsewhere. It invites you to be fully present—right here, where the Salish Sea meets the Cascades, and where every ferry whistle, every bite of smoked salmon, every glance up at Mount Baker reminds you that awe lives in proximity, not distance.’

Practical Planning: Getting There and Moving Around

For travelers inspired by Steves’ perspective, logistics matter. Direct commercial flights serve Bellingham International Airport (BLI), with Allegiant Air offering nonstop service from Phoenix (1 hr 45 min), Las Vegas (2 hrs), and Orlando (5 hrs 20 min)—all significantly shorter than flights to major European hubs. Amtrak Cascades connects BLI to Seattle (1 hr 20 min) and Portland (3 hrs 45 min). Once in the region, multi-modal passes simplify mobility:

1. San Juan Islands Explorer Pass: $99 for 7-day unlimited ferry rides + 5 WTA bus trips + 1 Chuckanut Drive shuttle ticket
2. Whatcom County Transit Passport: $35/month unlimited rides on all WTA routes, plus discounted bike rentals at 8 partner locations
3. Mount Baker Recreation Pass: $30/year covers parking at 14 trailheads, shuttle access to Heather Meadows, and discounts at local outfitters like Mountain Madness and Backdoor Sports

Steves recommends booking ferry reservations 30 days in advance for vehicle travel—but stresses that foot passenger spots remain open until departure, reinforcing the walkable ethos. For cyclists, the San Juan Islands Bike Map, published by the San Juan County Land Use Department, details 87 miles of designated bike routes, all rated Level 3 or higher on the U.S. Bicycle Route Network’s safety scale—equivalent to Denmark’s national Cycle Superhighway standards.

Steves’ advocacy isn’t nostalgic—it’s pragmatic. With international airfare up 22% since 2019 (IATA 2024 report) and average European hotel costs rising 18% year-over-year (Hotels.com Price Index), Northern Washington delivers high-cultural-density experiences at demonstrably lower cost and carbon footprint. A round-trip flight from Chicago to Frankfurt emits approximately 1.8 metric tons of CO₂ per passenger; driving from Chicago to Bellingham emits 0.42 tons—and taking Amtrak Cascades cuts that to 0.19 tons. Steves doesn’t romanticize distance. He celebrates discernment: choosing depth over distance, presence over passport stamps, and recognizing that beauty, history, and human connection thrive not just across oceans—but right where you are.

He ends his latest guidebook footnote with this: ‘You don’t need a Eurail pass to feel the pulse of place. You need good shoes, a ferry schedule, and the willingness to let Mount Baker’s shadow fall across your shoulders while sipping coffee brewed from beans roasted in a converted Bellingham grain elevator. That’s not Europe. That’s home—and it’s magnificent.’

The allure isn’t in resemblance. It’s in resonance. Northern Washington doesn’t mimic Europe—it converses with it across the water, across disciplines, across generations. And Rick Steves, ever the thoughtful listener, has spent decades teaching us how to hear that conversation clearly.

His message remains consistent: travel well, travel meaningfully, and remember that the world’s most stirring vistas and heartfelt encounters aren’t always found on the other side of an ocean—they’re waiting where geography, culture, and intention align. In Northern Washington, they align with remarkable precision.

For those ready to explore, Steves suggests starting simple: board the 8:45 a.m. ferry from Anacortes, leave the car behind, and walk off into Friday Harbor with nothing but a notebook, a reusable water bottle from Hydro Flask (designed and manufactured in Portland), and the quiet confidence that wonder is never farther than your next step.

This region’s strength lies not in comparison, but in its unapologetic, grounded identity—where glacier-fed rivers carve valleys older than Rome, where bilingual signage honors both Lushootseed and English, and where a single ferry ride can deliver you to a town where streetlights dim at 10 p.m. to preserve night skies recognized by the International Dark-Sky Association. That’s not Europe. That’s Northern Washington—and it’s utterly, unmistakably itself.

Steves’ greatest contribution may be reframing what ‘world-class’ means—not as a distant aspiration, but as a local reality, measured in clean air, accessible mountains, and the kind of community care visible in volunteer-run libraries, neighborhood compost hubs, and intergenerational art collectives thriving from Blaine to Orcas Island.

So skip the layover. Skip the jet lag. Skip the currency exchange. Instead, study the tide chart. Check the ferry schedule. Pack layers. And discover why Rick Steves, after 40 years of guiding Americans through cathedrals and cobblestones, now points firmly west—to where the Pacific meets the peaks, and where ‘home’ feels, finally, like the most exotic place of all.