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There are a few must do things when visiting Seattle and getting out on the water is one of the top. My favorite way to explore the Puget sound is on one of the Washington State Ferries. They are a relatively affordable way to get great views of the city and mountains from the water, potentially see marine mammals that call this area home, and get transported to an island. There are dozens of island within the Puget Sound and at least 7 are accessible to the public thanks to ferries. While I love ferries more than I could imagine before moving to Seattle – they are not without their waits and potential frustrations. I’ve taken over 50 ferry trips with my two young kids and this article will go through all my recommendations to handle the waits and which route(s) to take.

Ferry Basics

The Washington State Ferries are for both vehicles and passengers. You are able to walk or drive onto and off of the ferry. Or you can even bike on! They are loaded on a first-come first-serve basis. Occasionally, depending on the time of the day and the route you are taking, there may be a long line of cars. Arriving early is never a bad thing. The travel times of the ferries range from 20 minutes to 3 hours. There is quite a bit of variation in ferry sizes, which some ferries holding just 35 cars and others holding just over 200. As expected, the more popular routes have larger ferry capacity.

You can look at the ferry schedule on their website or on their app. I highly recommend the app to access information about the ferries and other aspects of traveling around Washington. You can find it by searching “WSDOT” in your App Store. On their website or app, you can check the schedule – which does change based on the season – and view live updates the day of. Frequently ferries run a bit behind and you can track where the ferry is and its expected arrival time. You can also see how many cars are waiting at the terminal and how many spots are left for the next ferry. They even have terminal traffic cameras to see how long the line of cars is. Alternatively, you can just show up at the terminal and hope for the best. My type-A mind likes to have as much information as possible, but ferries run fairly frequently on the major routes and there will likely be one leaving soon if you just arrive at any random time.

It is recommend that you arrive at the ferry terminal at least 10 minutes early if you are walking on and at least 20 minutes early if you are driving on so you have time to get through the toll booth. You can buy your ticket online in advance or when you arrive. Except for the ferries that you have to reserve a spot onto, we just buy a ticket once we arrive. Children under 19 are free to ride the ferry. If you are taking your car onto the ferry, you will pay for tickets for the non-driving adults in the car and the driver’s fare, which is a bit extra. Fares are usually affordable at around $10-20 per adult depending on route and usually double that for the driver of the car, as it includes the fee for the car. The driver’s fare is also dependent on the size of the vehicle - the bigger the vehicle, the more you pay. On some routes the fares are one-way and a few of the routes the fares are round-trip. Meaning that you won’t be charged for the ferry trip back.

On the day of your sailing

If you are a walk on passenger, after you have bought your tickets - listen for the announcements for when it is time to board the ferry. The ferry will first need to unload before it is time to board. You will walk onto the ferry via the passenger ramp and will be in the passenger seating area. There is no assigned seats on the ferry so you are free to choose whichever seat you want. Or you can just stand on the outside decks the whole time. You are free to walk around as much as you want. There is often a cafeteria on board where you can order food. Listen to the employees for when it is time to exit the ferry.

If you are driving your car onto the ferry, follow the signs on the road to know what lane you will need to be in prior to getting to the ferry tollbooth. If there is a line up of cars, make sure you join the line at the end. There may be gaps in the line, to not block streets, but that doesn’t mean you can squeeze your way into the line there. There are hefty fines and you will get caught. Line etiquette is important. Pay or show your tickets at the tollbooth and the attendant will tell you what lane to go to. Once you are in that lane, park your car and turn off the engine. There will likely be a bit of a wait before the ferry comes, unloads all of the previous trip’s cars and it is your turn. You are able to leave your car once it is parked in the these waiting lanes. There is typically a bathroom that is accessible for car passengers and often a coffee shop close by. If it is a long wait till the ferry comes, there might even be a beach nearby you can walk along. Just make sure you are always paying attention to where your ferry boat is. Once the ferry boat arrives, make sure you are back to your vehicle. We have witnessed a few instances where it was time to move and people had not made it back to their car. Everyone behind the driver-less car gets frustrated and has to wait till they are able to drive around the car after an adjacent lane has emptied.

Once your lane starts moving, follow the employees for where to park once you are on the ferry. They will point you to where you are supposed to be - either in the middle or on one of the sides. Note that typically two lanes of cars are driving onto the ferry at the same time. There might be an employee there helping you park as close as you can to the car in front of you. Once you have parked and the cars around you have parked, you are free to leave your car and head up to the passenger deck. There are several stairs from the car deck up. We like leaving our car as quick as we can to ensure we can get a good seat by a window if the ferry is full. However, there will always be plenty of seats so there is no need to rush. You are also able to sit in your car the entire ferry ride, you just have to have your car engine off. They will make an announcement when it is time to go back to your car. After you drive off the ferry, follow the other cars to exit the terminal and you are done.

Reserving a spot on the ferry

There are a couple routes that have a reservation system. You may be able to wait stand by if someone doesn’t show up for their reservation, but I would highly recommend getting a reservation for these routes. The Anacortes to San Juan island ferries have a reservation system as does the Port Townsend/Coupeville route. Spots on these ferries can be reserved started 2 months before the season starts. 30% of reservations are released at that time, 30% of reservations become available at 2 weeks before the sailing date, and 30% of reservations are available 2 days before the sailing date. Those final 2 dates of reservations are available at 7:00am PT on their respective days. 10% of the spots are saved for emergency and stand by vehicles. Once you are confident in your sailing date for these routes, I would make a reservation - even if it is not at your desired time. Later you can come back at the 2 week or 2 day mark and get the better time. If you are sailing in the summer, I would recommend trying to get on and book the reservation as close to 7am as you can.

Please note that you will also need a reservation for your return ferry. I often hear of people reserving a time for the ferry to the San Juan islands but not for returning to Anacortes. There is no other way on or off the islands, so you will be stuck if you cannot get on the ferry. If you are planning on relying on that 10% of stand-by, you will likely end up waiting multiple ferries times till you get a spot. You can definitely get lucky, especially during the less busy seasons, but it is not something that is worth risking with kids. People do end up needing to spend an extra night on the island if they don’t have a reservation or they miss theirs.

If you have a reservation, you will need to be at the terminal extra early - 45-60 minutes prior to your sailing if you are going to the San Juan islands and 30-45 minutes early for the Port Townsend/Coupeville route. They might release your reservation if you don’t show up early enough.

How to Handle Ferry Waits

It is rare that you will encounter no waits when taking the ferries. And as any parent knows, waiting is especially hard for kids. No one knows impatience like a toddler.

There might be waits before you get to the toll booth, waits while waiting to load onto the ferry, and waiting while on the ferry. Most of these waits include beautiful views, and while I can just enjoy watching the water for hours, most kids can’t. No shame if you want to just whip out a screen to handle the waits, we’ve done it before after a long day. But here are some other screen-free ideas.

Waiting to get to the toll booth

If you are taking a popular route at a busy time (think during commutes, Friday afternoons, weekends and holidays), you might be stuck in the ferry lane for a while. Before you get to the tollbooth, you will be continuously inching forward. Everyone will have to be in their seats in the car. We’ve waited in this line for at most an hour (when one ferry was out of service for the route and on a weekend), but usually it will be less than this.

Since the car is on, unlike during other waits, we listen to podcasts or audiobooks. If the wait is long, we give the kids some easy toys to play with in their seats that doesn’t require our help.

Here are some of our favorites:

Sticker Books – we love these ones because the sticker pages are right next to the page that it goes on. Kids 3 and up should be able to do these on their own.
LCD Drawing Pads – light weight drawing pad that they can use again and again. The pen is attached so they won’t drop below the seat.
Snack Spinner – if kids are getting hangry, this doubles as a snack and activity.
Books with lots of flaps - If your child is not reading yet, books might still be a good option, especially if the books have a lot of flaps.
Fidgets – sometimes kids just need to do something with their hands

Since you are also on a road with cars passing by in the non-ferry lanes, you can also play games like finding cars in every color of the rainbow. Or listen and sing to music.

Waiting in the ferry lanes at the terminal

After you have passed through the toll booth and are in the numbered waiting lanes in the terminal, you will likely be parked for a bit. You can check the app or website to see where the incoming ferry is and its estimated arrival time. Here, you can get out of your car or stay in it. If you are in it, you will need to turn off the engine.

If the wait is longer than 5-10 minutes, I would recommend getting out of the car at least a little bit of the time. There is often a spot to look out at the water to watch other ferries, Seattle’s waterfront, or ocean creatures down below. I find I can spot seals about half of the time swimming around close to beaches or under a harbor.

If you are waiting around a meal time, we usually time it so we can eat a meal in the car while waiting to get onto the ferry or bring it aboard the ferry. There are some ferry terminals, particularly in the smaller towns, that are within walking distance of take out restaurants. We often have enough time to grab a to-go order while the car is in the waiting lane. Or most terminals have coffee shops attached or nearby to grab a drink or snack.

If you are waiting at the Anacortes ferry terminal going to the San Juan Islands, you will likely have a fairly lengthly wait (30+ minutes) due to the requirements of the reservation system. Luckily, there is a beach right next to the waiting lanes. It was a nice day and we were able to play on the beach the entire wait. They have speakers that announce some of the important updates for when the next ferry is coming and when to go to your cars. However, you can also keep track on your phone with the WSDOT app.

Waiting while on the ferry

The ferry employees are very efficient at loading and unloading passengers and cars, so that wait is pretty negligible. The only “wait” is the travel time of the ferry. If your ferry ride is 30 minutes or less, you could probably spend the entire time walking around the boat and enjoying the view. Boats are exciting for everyone, especially kids.

The upper observation deck is typically only open during the summer months when weather is nicer. However, you can get outside in both the forward and back of the boat of the passenger deck all year round. Note that it can be chilly and windy on the outside decks, so it might be worthwhile to bring a jacket even if it isn’t raining.

Most of the ferries have puzzles out for passengers on a few of the tables. We’ve found both adult puzzles with thousand pieces and kid puzzles with all the way down to 12 pieces. You can help put a few pieces in or maybe even finish a puzzle that had already been started by previous passengers.

If your ferry ride is longer (an hour or more), we like bringing up a backpack of snacks and activities. Here are some easy toys to use on the tables of the ferry:

MicroMAGS magnatiles
Wikki Stix
Magnetic People - we like using these with the magnatiles too
Clixo Magnetic Building Toy
Tegu Wooden Magnetic Blocks
Mini Sketch books and retractable markers

Which routes are the best with kids

Depending on how you count them, there is about 8 different routes and 19 different ferry terminals. Some of the ferries operate routes that are necessary to access certain islands and towns. Other routes offer a quicker way to get across the puget sound but driving alternatives exist. If you are visiting the Seattle region and want to go on a ferry, which one should you choose? Here are all of the ferry routes and whether I would recommend the or not to visitors.

Seattle/Bainbridge Island (~35 minutes)
The classic ferry day trip. Bainbridge Island is always a great choice. The ferry terminal is right in downtown Seattle, the ferry ride is short, and the views of downtown Seattle from the ferry are unmatched. Bainbridge Island also has so much to see and do on it, you can easily fill up an entire day without too much extra driving. It is popular and you can expect a wait during busy times. It is also a popular commuting route and will be busy during rush hour times on weekdays. It is also a great day trip without a car as well. There are plenty of shops, museums and waterfront trails you can access within walking distance of the terminal.

Seattle Skyline from Bainbridge Island Ferry

Edmonds/Kingston (~35 minutes)
We’ve taken this route a few times as an alternative to the Seattle/Bainbridge Island route. We live on the north end of Seattle and this route is sometimes quicker than dealing with traffic in the city. Edmonds is a very cute town and we love the beach right next to the ferry terminal. On the other side, Kingston is another cute small town. Kingston is not on an island, it’s on a peninsula connected to the mainland via the larger olympic peninsula. It is about a 15 minute drive from the Kingston terminal to the bridge that’ll take you onto Bainbridge island. Also near Kingston is Poulsbo, a small town nicknamed “Little Norway” for the Norwegian themed decorations and shops around the Main Street.
If you are just doing one ferry journey while in Seattle, I wouldn’t choose this to be it. While you can access Bainbridge island from here, you don’t get the skyline views of downtown Seattle on the ferry. Depending on traffic and ferry waits, it might be worth doing the seattle/bainbridge route one way and the edmonds/Kingston route the other way either back or from your accommodations.

Mukilteo/Clinton (~25 minutes)
The Whidbey Island route. I enjoy Whidbey island more than Bainbridge. However, Whidbey island is long and if you want to explore the whole island, the day trip will be long too. Depending on the age of your kids, a whole day of Whidbey Island might be too much. There is a bridge toward the north end of the island – the deception pass bridge - that we typically take on the drive back to Seattle. You can also do the entire island the reverse way, by first driving to the deception pass bridge and ending with the ferry ride to Mukilteo. Or you can just explore the south end of the island and take the ferry round trip. People often spend a night or two on Whidbey island, so if you have more time, that would be a great option

@a.happy.passport A beautiful fall day on Whidbey Island. We visit Whidbey island frequently and while you can easily spend the entire weekend here, this is a great itinerary if you just have one day. If you have more time, we love visiting the farmers market on Saturdays, visiting local farms and nurseries, Ebey’s landing or just spending more time in each location. #whidbeyisland #coupeville #travel #washington #seattle ♬ original sound - 𝙇𝙭𝙪𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙯 🫶🏻

Anacortes/San Juan Islands (over an hour)
The San Juan Islands are absolutely gorgeous and one of my favorite Pacific Northwest trips. The drive from Seattle to Anacortes is long, along with the waits for the ferry and the ferry ride itself – I would recommend at least a weekend devoted to the San Juan islands. You can easily spend a whole week on the San Juan islands and not run out of things to do. There is so much to do for kids as well.
Rather than just a back and forth ferry route, this ferry travels around to all or most of the islands in a loop. Make sure you double check the ferry schedule to know if the ferry is going to the island you want. There are dozens of islands in the San Juan Island but the ferry only travels to Friday Harbor (San Juan Island), Orcas Island, Lopez Island, and Shaw Island. There are inter island trips as well that don’t stop at Anacortes. The way they load the ferries in the San Juan island is unique as there are cars on the ferry going to multiple different destinations.
If you are visiting the San Juan Islands, you can make your home base on one island and then just take the inter island ferry to visit one or multiple of the other islands.

Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth (~20 minutes to 45 minutes)
Vashon Island is another cute island in the puget sound with farms, small towns and beautiful beaches. While Vashon island is a good day trip, I would suggest visitors to Seattle to visit Bainbridge or Whidbey island instead.
Pt Defiance/Tahlequah (~15 minutes)
Another ferry option to visit Vashon island if you are staying in Tacoma rather than Seattle.
Seattle/Bremerton (~60 minutes)
There isn’t as much to see and do in Bremerton. This ferry is useful for commuters and locals, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to visitors. The ferry ride is also longer and the ferries themselves come less frequently.
Port Townsend/Coupeville (~30 minutes)
This ferry might be useful to you if you are exploring the Olympic peninsula and you want to explore Whidbey island afterwards. Or vice versa. However, I don’t think that will be the case for most itineraries.