You probably want to know about the things to do in Seabrook, WA if you’re not familiar with this Washington coast town. When I discover a new vacation spot, I want to know all the details before I book so I can ensure it’s a place I’d actually enjoy.
Well, consider this your ultimate guide to determining if visiting Seabrook should be on your travel list. I go every year with my family and have learned the pros and cons of using this beach town as a home base for exploring the Washington coast.
Read on to learn everything there is to know, including things to do in Seabrook, WA, where to stay, pros and cons, and the history of this quaint community.
Seabrook is about a 2.5 to 3 hour drive from Seattle. It’s located in the North Beach area along the central Washington coast, situated on land that was owned by the Quinault tribe for thousands of years before being signed over to settlers in mid 1800s. Olympic National Park and the area currently owned by the Quinaults are within an hour drive north.
About Seabrook
Seabrook itself is a small Washington coast town with about 500 homes and 12 businesses perched 70 feet above Pacific Beach. It was created by Casey Roloff around 2005, who wanted to create an urbanist community similar to what you find when staying on the Oregon coast.
Urbanist development are designed to be walkable to promote sustainability and community, which you’ll definitely find in this quiet and safe neighborhood (seriously, it’s a treat to be able to leave your bike in the front yard without worrying about theft!). So even though you need to drive to Seabrook, what makes it special is the walkability. Most people keep their cars parked for the duration of their trip and get around on bike, scooter, or foot.
The homes are new builds, but they’re all unique and styled like a farmhouse or colonial home you may have seen decades ago. There are about 50% full-time Seabrook residents, with the other half of homes being used for vacation rentals.
Seabrook weather
In terms of weather, Seabrook doesn’t typically get as warm as Seattle. The average highs in the summer are in the 70s, with it often getting into the 50s at night. So this means while you may definitely have days where you’re comfortable running around in your bathing suit, definitely bring a sweatshirt and pants to the beach. I often where a heavy sweatshirt and leggings on the beach to stay warm.
As far as amenities go, you’ll find a small main street with shops, restaurants, and an arcade. There are also two pools (one indoors), a gym, outdoor recreational games and playgrounds, a Town Hall, fire pits, horseshoe pits, mountain bike trails, and sport courts like basketball, tennis, and pickle ball.
The town just opened a larger grocery store with reasonable-ish prices, but my family typically does our big shopping trip at the Safeway in Aberdeen that you pass through to get to Seabrook.
In terms of gas, there isn’t any in Seabrook. You & I Market is the closest about 5 minutes north of Seabrook. And if you ever need a mailbox, which I found I needed one year, we didn’t see any in Seabrook. Instead we drove to the post office in Copalis Beach about 15 minutes south. We didn’t realize there was one 3 minutes north of Seabrook, whoops!
Seabrook accommodations
There aren’t any hotels directly in Seabrook. Instead, you can rent out cottages through Seabrook’s official website. You can find dog-friendly homes of all sizes and most have hot tubs. My annual family vacation here consists of 5 adults, 2 kids, and one dog. We’re always able to find homes where everyone has a bed.
The town is split into about nine neighborhoods. The Farm District is near a small enclosure with a few horses and is farthest from the beach (about a 15-minute walk). The others are closer to the town and beach, so if location is important to you make sure you find a vacation rental in those areas.
If you don’t want to stay right in Seabrook, you can stay in Ocean Shores about 30 minutes south. However, this area is grungier and doesn’t have the quaint beach town vibe that Seabrook does.
Must-do activities in Seabrook, WA
Now that you have your bearings, let’s talk about what to do in Seabrook. Or, if your eyes are glazing over from researching, let me build you a custom vacation itinerary!
Lounge at the beach and pool
Since Seabrook is a quaint Washington beach town, obviously the best thing to do is lounge on the beach! It’s right on Pacific Beach, which is large and offers sweeping coastline views in both directions.
Seabrook is built on top of a small cliff, so you need to walk down stairs to get to the beach. Or if you’re staying near Gnome Trail in the town, you can take a relatively flat trail to the beach (minus a sorta steep beginning of the trail for a hundred or so feet).
The beach is not wheelchair accessible and my dad has trouble with it. My sister even needed to get a backpack for her aging English bulldog because it can no longer make the journey. So be ready for a bit of exercise to get to the beach, especially if you are in the Farm District.
Despite the effort, I love how big and not crowded the Seabrook beach is. My family and I bring the dog, beach chairs, kites, softballs, pales, cooler, and a football to spend the day. Most of the cottage rentals will have chairs, toys, umbrellas, and towels so you don’t have to worry about packing them.
Your other option for lounging is the pool. There’s an indoor one for when there’s crappy weather, but my favorite is the heated outdoor pool and hot tub that’s connected to the gym. It gets crowded so you may have to lurk for a lounge chair to open up, but once you snag one it’s a relaxing way to spend a few hours.
Explore the shops and Saturday market
There’s a small market in downtown Seabrook every Saturday from late June through August. There are about 20 vendors selling local crafts, Pacific Northwest food gifts, and some produce.
Since the market is small, I find this is the best time to also pop into the few shops that line the street. My favorite shop is Seaworthy Home. It curates beautiful decor oozing with Washington beach town vibes. Even though my home is mid century, I always leave home with a little something something from this store.
There are also a few other stores within 2 small blocks. You’ll find another home decor store, women’s clothing store, men’s fashion store, outdoor surfer-style clothing store, Seabrook souvenir store, kids toy store, book store, pet store, and candy store.
Grab a bite from a Seabrook restaurant
The dining out options are limited in Seabrook. As a result it’s more expensive than it should be. You’ll find a pizza restaurant, elevated pub, wine bar, Mexican restaurant, bakery, and smoothie/salad spot.
Here are the places my family frequents every year.
Koko’s Restaurant & Tequila Bar
website | 5 W Myrtle Ln | best for: burritos
My favorite restaurant in Seabrook is Koko’s. It took over the old Mill 109 pub and is serving some seriously yummy Latin food. My favorites are the burrito gordo and poblano cashew enchiladas, but I’ve yet to find something bad here. Make a reservation here because it gets crowded.
Pro tip: They also have a spot worth stopping in when exploring Olympia, Washington.
Sweet Life
website | 215 S Meriweather St | best for: ice cream and candy
Ask my nieces what the best things to do in Seabrook, WA are and The Sweet Life will likely be their first answer, for obvious reasons. But if I’m being honest, I love it too. I’m a sucker for sour belts because I ate them growing up, so I was giddy as hell when I saw the colorful candy in jars lining the back wall behind the cash register. They don’t make their own ice cream, but it’s still good and a great treat on a hot day.
Blue Juice & Salad Bar
website | 217 Front Street | best for: avocado toast
Blue is a much welcome new addition to Seabrook. It’s a small breakfast and lunch spot serving smoothies, juices, salads, and toasts. I wish their smoothies were more substantial to replace a meal, but the flavors are pretty good.
The standout menu item is the avocado toast. It’s served with hardboiled eggs, sesame seeds, and agave. I’d never think to put a sweetener on this classic Millennial breakfast, but it’s pretty mindblowing.
Pro tip: I’ve also had an excellent lentil soup here. Get it if it’s available!
Vista Bakeshop
website | 202 S Meriweather St | best for: sugared cruffin
The bakery was opened by alums from Canlis, one of the best fine dining restaurants in Seattle. As a result I had pretty high hopes for this place.
Unfortunately I find their baked goods just ok. However, the sugared cruffin is excellent. It’s fluffy and has great flavor, so make sure this is part of your order!
They also make pretty good sandwiches. All of them are unnecessarily greasy, but the flavors are good. The BLT and mortadella sandwiches are the best in my opinion.
Rising Tide Tavern
website | 202 S Meriweather St | best for: loaded french fries
Rising Tide is a fancy gastropub owned by the same people behind Vista Bakeshop. The menu is hit or miss, but they have some yummy dishes if you know how to order.
The Caesar salad is a pretty good version of the classic. I also think they make pretty good clam chowder, so I always get a cup. But the real standout is the loaded tavern fries.
They’re served with sidewider fries, which are thick cut spirals kinda like a curly fry but with the flavor of a regular french fry. The addition of addictive queso, bacon, sour cream, and chives make these irresistibly comforting. Consider getting more than one order if your crew is large!
Frontager’s Pizza
website | 21 Seabrook Ave | best for: stromboli
We make most of our meals at the rental cottage, but Frontager’s used to be the one restaurant my nieces always request we eat at during our trip. Luckily they’ve moved on and we didn’t go last year.
I’ll be honest, I don’t love this place. The restaurant is slow and the pizza is pretty mediocre. However, it’s wildly popular because kids love pizza.
If you want dinner, order takeout about 1.5 hours before you want it. They usually stop taking orders for pick up by 7 pm, so I suggest ordering by 5:30 pm. You can sit inside or in their outdoor patio for lunch or dinner, but expect to wait for a seat and also your food. It’s just so, so slow.
Lastly, if you do dine in, get the stromboli. I find this better then their pizzas.
Build a home in the gnome forest
While you’re at the beach, don’t forget to collect shells and other curiosities if you have kids. They can use these to build gnomes homes in Gnome Forest. It’s a woody spot along Gnome Trail where children started building elaborate homes. This is one of my nieces’ favorite things to do in Seabrook, WA, so if you have kids make sure to save time for this!
Get pampered at the spa
One of my favorite things to do in Seabrook, WA is unwind at the end of the trip with a massage. There’s a small spa in downtown Seabrook called Spa Elizabeth that has the cutest seating area for guests to relax.
I really enjoy the massages here. They aren’t the cheapest, starting at $215, but I was massaged in placed I’d never been massaged before. The therapist went between the bones on the top of my foot and between each rib along my back, both of which provided such relaxation. I even got some hot stone action, despite not paying extra for it!
They also have a spa boutique on the ground floor, but treatments happen upstairs. They’re accessed by a separate door around the corner from the boutique so the space is private and free of shoppers for spa guests.
Enjoy wine sans the kids
My ultimate day would include getting a massage at Spa Elizabeth, then heading to The Stowaway Wine Bar. It’s a 21+ wine bar where you can get snacks and wine bottles, glasses, or flights. As someone always on the hunt for the best Washington wines, so I love how this place curates exclusively from the best Pacific Northwest wineries.
Bike around the neighborhood
The quaint neighborhood of Seabrook is perfect for biking. You’ll often see kids biking around, gleefully enjoying the freedom of being able to bike without adults. The neighborhood is that safe, which I love because I’m not the strongest of bikers.
A lot of the rental cottages come with 2-4 bikes. You can also rent bikes or scooters in downtown Seabrook at Buck’s NW if you don’t want to bring your own from home.
Partake in recreational sports and games
Seabrook has just about every recreational activity you can think of. There is an indoor and outdoor pool, multiple playgrounds, mountain biking trails, basketball court, tennis courts, shuffleboard…they even have a horseshoe toss and pickle ball!
I’m partial to the pickle ball because it’s like ping pong and the basketball courts because I like living out my glory days of when I used to play, but there’s something fun to do for the whole family.
They also often have organized group activities in Seabrook. For example, they usually have outdoor group yoga and pickle ball lessons on Saturdays. So if you are new to these things to do in Seabrook, WA, check them out!
Roast marshmallows for s’mores
Obviously roasting marshmallows would be on my list of things to do in Seabrook, WA. This town has a vibe that just demands it. And if you’re a pro like my family, you’ll get creative and bring cinnamon and Reese’s to make a chef-y spin on the classic.
A lot of the vacation rentals have fire pits in the backyard, but just in case yours don’t, there are fire pits strewn throughout the town. They also have wood storage scattered around the homes in case your need kindling and logs to start your own fire. Basically they’ve made it really easy to make s’mores, so make sure this is one of the things you do in Seabrook, WA!
Please abide by fire bans if they’re in effect and skip this activity!
Play mini golf and video games
Seabrook just got a new arcade that’s popular with kids, especially when they need to wait for a table at one of the nearby restaurants. As a kid who grew up during the prime arcade era, I’ll admit I find the games pretty disappointing because it has none of the classics like Mortal Kombat, Time Crisis, etc. But when you realize this is a family-friendly destination and most of the retro video games of the 80s and 90s are violent, it makes sense. They do have a driving Mario Kart game that’s clutch.
The arcade is actually owned by the same people who run Pacific Paradise Park in Ocean Shores. You can use your game card at both places, so it’s worth making the ~20 minute drive from Seabrook here since there are more games.
You’ll also find bumper boats and the largest mini golf course on the Washington coast. It has 36 holes and is well kept, so it’s a fun way to pass some time in the late afternoon.
Go clamming
I’ve never done this because I go to Seabrook in the summer, but if you visit during the fall or winter months you can go razor clam digging! You can get a license right in downtown Seabrook and rent equipment for a day of foraging your dinner.
Go kayaking to a ghost forest
You know the concept of ghost towns? Well that concept exists with forests too. Ghost forests are created when sea level rises and takes over the vegetation, killing everything in its path and leaving a haunting cemetery of trees. The one near Seabrook was created a long time ago when a tsunami came through the area, and visiting it is one one of the best things to do in Seabrook, WA.
The ghost forest accessible via kayak or SUP about 15 minutes south of Seabrook in Copalis Beach. You can rent equipment at Buck’s NW and even do a guided ghost forest tour if you like history. We only rented from them and were thankful that they have a shuttle where they will bring your equipment along with their tour group and let you go your separate way once you arrive. Don’t worry, they’ll take the equipment back with them too!
If you plan to get to the forest yourself, park in the lot behind the Copalis Beach Southbound bus stop. If you turn on satellite view for that Google maps link, you’ll see there’s a small boat launch area a few feet away. Head to the right once you get in the water and the ghost forest will be a little ways down.
Pro tip: Ocean Shores also has a canal network great for kayaking.
Visit the Olympic National Park and Forest
You can access the southern edge of the Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park is about an hour north of Seabrook. The closest stop will be Lake Quinalt, about 45 minutes from Seabrook. This is a family-friendly spot in the Quinalt Rainforest that offers a bunch of easy hikes in densely wooded areas.
About 40 minutes north of Lake Quinalt is Kalaloch Beach and Ruby Beach, two areas with gorgeous Pacific Ocean views and opportunities to see sea creatures in tide pools at low tide. These are definitely more adventure beaches versus lounging beaches like Seabrook, but they’re a fun day trip activity near Seabrook.
Read more about these and other Washington coast attractions nearby for more day trip ideas.
Pros & Cons of Seabrook
As promised, I’ll leave you with a summary of the pros and cons of Seabrook.
Pros
- The beach is huge and not crowded
- The town is super quaint, safe, walkable, and bikeable
- There are a ton of fun recreational activities
- It has a friendly community vibe that just makes you happier
- It’s a great jumping off point for exploring the Washington coast
Cons
- It gets cold on the coast so you may need sweatshirts for the beach
- It has a very affluent vibe with mostly white people
- The food is expensive and there isn’t a ton of options, so you’ll likely cook on longer trips
Obviously my family absolutely loves Seabrook, considering we go every year. So despite some cons, it’s definitely a place I recommend, especially for families. If you grew up going down the shore or to a lake cottage like me, Seabrook will definitely bring back all those nostalgic feels.
More family-friend vacation spots
Hopefully this list of things to do in Seabrook, WA inspired you to visit this quaint Washington beach town. Looking for more vacation ideas around Washington state and Oregon? Here are more ideas.
- Go Glamping at One of These Cool Spots
- Visit Cannon Beach About 2 Hours South
- Visit One of the 10 Islands Near Seattle
- Hike Mount Rainier National Park
- Explore the Columbia River Gorge
