Regional Guide · 10 beaches

Puget Sound Beaches

Puget Sound and the wider Salish Sea are where almost everyone in Washington actually lives, and the beaches here have nothing in common with the state's outer coast. This is a deep, sheltered inland sea — no swell, no surf, and dramatic tides that can pull the water back half a mile across the flats at Double Bluff. Coverage runs from Birch Bay near the Canadian border down through the San Juans and Whidbey Island, across Seattle's two bonfire beaches at Alki and Golden Gardens, and south to Tacoma and Commencement Bay. Expect driftwood, madrona-lined bluffs, the Olympics on one horizon and the Cascades on the other.

Current Conditions

Average water temperature: 54°F

Across 10 monitored stations on the Puget Sound.

When to Go

July through early September. This is the window when the Sound is pleasant to be beside, and — at the warmest, shallowest bays — briefly tolerable to be in. Low tide is the real event here: the summer minus tides expose acres of walkable flats and the best tide pooling of the year.

Watch Out For

The water is cold enough to matter. Surface temperatures peak in the mid-50s to low 60s and the channels stay colder, so cold-water shock is a genuine hazard, not a comfort complaint. None of Seattle's saltwater beaches are lifeguarded — every guarded beach in the city is on a lake. Currents through the narrows are ferocious, particularly at Deception Pass, where the tidal race runs to 8 knots. And Seattle city beaches ban dogs from the sand entirely, even leashed.