How to get there: Amtrak Cascades and Skagit Transit route 615 or 40X.

Travel time: About two hours.

Fare: Starts at $17 each way for the train, then $1 for the bus.

Add onto your Skagit Valley trip with a stop in the coast town of Anacortes, just a 30-minute bus ride from Mount Vernon. There are plenty of opportunities for boating, sightseeing (including whale-watching), and experiencing local arts. It’s also the launch point of most ferries to the San Juan Islands.

How to get there: Amtrak Cascades or a Greyhound bus.

Travel time: About an hour and a half.

Fare: Starts at $17 each way for the train or $13 each way for the bus.

Mount Vernon’s busiest season—along with the rest of Skagit County—is probably around the Tulip Festival in late spring, but there’s plenty to do here, especially for those into local agriculture and wildlife. Farms are abundant, and a cute downtown features a children’s museum, breweries, a farmers market, multiple parks, and a historic theater.

How to get there: Amtrak Cascades and Skagit Transit route 615.

Travel time: About two hours.

Fare: Starts at $17 each way for the train, then $1 for the bus.

Also a 30-minute bus ride from Mount Vernon is La Conner—a cartoonishly cute small-town getaway. Located along the Swinomish Channel, La Conner’s adorable historic buildings contain specialty shops, locally made crafts and goods, and restaurants. It’s also the home of author Tom Robbins.

How to get there: Bainbridge Island Ferry to Clallam Transit Strait Shot.

Travel time: Just over 2 hours.

Fare: $28.50 round trip.

The “Lavender Capital of North America” takes about as long to get to without a car as it does with one, taking the same ferry and then hopping on a Clallam Transit bus designed for these kinds of trips (complete with room for up to three bikes). If you’re not a fan of lavender—or you just get sick of it—hit the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge for the titular crabs and even some elk.

How to get there: Bus to Mukilteo—Community Transit 417, the Sound Transit Sounder, or a combination of Sound Transit 512 and Community Transit 113—then a ferry to Clinton.

Travel time: Between 2 and 3 hours.

Fare: $5.10 for the round-trip ferry ride, plus $3.75 each way for the bus.

Langley and Coupeville get a lot of the attention for Whidbey Island day trips—and there are certainly options to get there car-free if you’re willing to hop on another bus. But the easiest car-free trip is Clinton, where the ferry drops off. It’s full of parks and beach strolls, plus a distillery and a brewery.

How to get there: Seattle/Bainbridge ferry from Colman Dock, then take Kitsap Transit route 33 or 90.

Travel time: Between 2 and 3 hours.

Fare: $8.50 for the round-trip ferry ride, plus $2 each way for the bus. (The Clallam Transit Strait Shot is also an option from Bainbridge, but it’s $10 each way.)

Poulsbo was founded by Scandinavian immigrants, and has become somewhat of a tourist attraction thanks to a Scandinavian theme that includes buildings and shop offerings. The Poulsbo Bread at Sluys is a cult favorite. It is also—like many small-town destinations in Washington—along a waterfront.

How to get there: Amtrak Empire Builder.

Travel time: Between 3 and 4 hours.

Fare: Starts at about $20 each way.

Leavenworth started out as a logging town—with a collection of historic brick buildings to match—but was overhauled as the Bavarian village its known as today in the 1960s. Use it as a jumping-off point for hiking, skiing, or river floating, explore the weird ubiquity of Bavarian architecture (even gas stations and fast food joints are required to conform), or get a good sausage with sauerkraut.

How to get there: King County 208/Sound Transit 554.

Travel time: About an hour and a half.

Fare: $2.75 each way.

Car-free Twin Peaks fans can rejoice, because its real-life counterpart North Bend is accessible by transit. We’ve mapped some of the key locations, mostly in North Bend or nearby Snoqualmie—but you can also do non-Twin Peaks things here, like climb Mount Si or visit the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum.

How to get there: King County Water Taxi, Washington State Ferries (plus the C Line from downtown if you’re not already in West Seattle), or Metro route 118 or 119, which travel on the ferry.

Travel time: Between 20 minutes (Water Taxi) and an hour and a half.

Fare: $5.55 for the round-trip ferry ride, plus $2.75 each way for the bus. Water Taxi fare is $5.75 with an ORCA card or $6.75 with cash.

Vashon offers a sweet downtown to walk through full of stores, shops, and restaurants in a pretty island setting, all as little as 20 minutes from Seattle, depending on when and how you go. If it’s a weekday, buses serve the rest of the island, too—or maybe bring a bike to see the sights.

How to get there: Amtrak Cascades or Coast Starlight.

Travel time: Between 3 and 4 hours.

Fare: Starts at about $20 each way.

Those who have never strayed far from I-5 in this town might know it more for an outlet mall and a wide, sprawling highway—but those arriving by train are ushered right into the best of the city via the brick railroad depot, built in 1912. The downtown historic district is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is full of cute little shops. It also includes one of McMenamin’s adaptive reuse hotel projects, the Olympic Club, offering little Gold Rush-styled accomodations in addition to a pub and a theater.