MikeL's Guide to WA WineriesWashington State is fairly large (about 240 miles tall, by 310 miles wide), so it'd be pretty tough to bicycle to all the wineries! However, there are a few congregations of wineries that make for reasonable bike tours.
West of the Cascade Mountains
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Seattle/Woodinville
- From downtown Seattle, a bicycle (or even walking!) trip can be made to Bainbridge Island Winery. (I'm not aware of any place to rent bicycles downtown, though I haven't really looked -- just walk this one).
- Also from downtown Seattle, it is a short and easy bus ride to
Green Lake, where bicycles can be rented. From there, it's a mostly
flat, approximately 14 mile ride to the
Woodinville
wineries. There's quite a few within a few mile area.
Take the Metro #26 bus from downtown Seattle (goes up 4th, past the Seattle Public Library). Get off at the northernmost end (Woodlawn Ave. NE and NE Ravenna Blvd). Gregg's GreenLake Cycle right where you get off has rental bikes. Ask them for directions to the Burke Gilman trail, eastbound.
Overall route map, Seattle end of route (detail map).
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San Juans
- The San Juan Islands are renowned for being a lovely place to bicycle. This is entirely true, though there are only a few wineries there.
It would take a hearty soul to bicycle from the Seattle area to the Eastern WA wineries -- the nearest is about 140 miles, and there's several mountain passes to cross. You're starting at sea level and Snoqualmie pass is over 3000', then down to a valley floor in the 1000' range, and back up Manastash Ridge to the tune of about 2800'.
You have four choices to get from the Seattle area to eastern WA:
- Greyhound bus, which I would not recommend as it stops at every little town on the way thus taking the entire day. The downtown Seattle depot is at the corner of 8th and Stewart.
- A better alternative would be by train. Take Amtrak from Jackson St. (adjacent to Kingdome) in downtown Seattle -- to Pasco (Tri-Cities). I've not done this myself, it sounds like fun!
- Rent a car or van. Due to the slowness and inconvenience of the other choices, I'd recommend this, even if you use it solely to transport bicycles to the eastern WA winegrowing areas.
- Fly. You can catch a "Suburban Airporter" or Metro bus from most anywhere around Seattle to Sea-Tac International airport. Horizon Air has flights to Yakima, Pasco (Tri-Cities), Spokane and Walla Walla.
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Yakima Valley
- Zillah has many wonderful wineries, though if you're bicycling from Pasco, it's about a 60 mile ride.
- Prosser also has quite a few wonderful wineries, but if you're starting on a bicycle from Pasco, it's about 30 miles.
- Tri-Cities has several wineries, though I dare say not enough to make the trip worthwhile on it's own.
The Yakima Valley is about 70 miles across and the wineries are spread out fairly widely across it. However, there are clusters of wineries that wold make for some decent rides.
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Spokane
- Spokane's wineries are all within about 20 miles, with the city right smack in the middle of them.
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Walla Walla
- The Walla Walla wineries are spread out over about 20 miles. Most of the terrain is fairly flat, and there are several clusters of wineries within that area. This would make for some nice rides.
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