European Charm Is All Over This PNW Playground For Outdoor Lovers, Per Rick Steves

One of the most scenic West Coast fall getaways, Bellingham, Washington, is the perfect destination for outdoorsy folk who like a cozy little city to come home to after a hard day of adventuring. "We are legitimately one of the best places in the U.S. to live for mountain biking, backcountry skiing/snowboarding, mountaineering, and trail running. All while having the conveniences of a city," one proud local Redditor writes in the r/Bellingham forum. This is the kind of place that's so magical even the permanent residents feel like excited tourists. You don't even need to venture out of the city: With 90 miles of hiking and biking trails within city limits and a bay and lakes for sailing and paddling, it's as outdoorsy as a city can get.

And when you peel your wet windbreaker off and settle in for a warming draught of European-style lager at a locally-owned craft brewery, you might just find yourself rubbing elbows with Rick Steves, who is practically a local, having grown up in nearby Edmonds, where he still lives. Steves is no stranger to Bellingham's Whatcom County, and recorded a series of videos for the local tourism board expressing heartfelt praise for this unique region — especially those beer halls. "This is the Northwest equivalent of a pub," Steves says while visiting Aslan Brewing in downtown Bellingham, one of Whatcom County's many breweries. "I like it. In the pub they say, 'Strangers are just friends who've yet to meet.'" That's high praise from a connoisseur who has a lot to say about the virtues of traditional pubs in Ireland.

Compact Bellingham is like a ship-in-a-bottle version of sprawling Seattle, with ranks of picturesque Victorian and Craftsman homes ranging up and down steep hillsides, a bustling waterfront, walkable historic neighborhoods, and views of Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands. "The vibrant, creative spirit of the Pacific Northwest really shines brightly here," Rick Steves says touring the historic Fairhaven neighborhood (pictured), where locals proudly point out that there are no chains stores, and everything on offer, from the coffee to the pottery, is lovingly handcrafted by artisans.

If you're driving up from Seattle, you can get there in a couple of hours, but instead, take Rick Steves' advice and go the slow route, getting off Interstate 5 and taking the Chuckanut Scenic Byway along the coast. (Stop at Taylor Shellfish to slurp some oysters from a picnic table while watching maricultural workers harvest even more mollusks from the shallow beds just offshore.) And stop again (What's your hurry?) at Chuckanut Brewery, which Rick Steves praises for its authentically European-style brews.

On the way, you'll have time to listen to three or four episodes of the "Bellinghistory" podcast by The Good Time Girls, a pair of sassy local historians whose "Gin & Sin" and "Gore & Lore" tours Steves recommends to take you back to Bellingham's bawdy roots as a rough and tumble port town. That gorgeous vintage architecture you see is all thanks to ye olde lumber barons and miners. But the vibe today is more granola than Gold Rush.

Bellingham is a great base from which to explore Whatcom County, where you'll find not just breweries, orchards, and oyster farms, but the remotest sections of North Cascades National Park's 500,000 acres of rugged wilderness, which has been called the American Alps. One of the least-visited of our National Parks, you can escape the crowds of hikers that throng Mount Rainier National Park without really driving much further from Seattle. (If you're flying in, take a hot tip from us and fly into Bellingham's neat little airport to skip the crowds at SeaTac.)

You can venture up to 10,000-foot Mount Baker (pictured), an active volcano that dominates the skyline the way Rainier dominates Seattle's. Just 56 miles from Bellingham, the hikes here can take you to some of the most remote and ravishing scenery in the country. The 6-mile Chain Lakes Loop hike is like walking into a postcard. The Mount Baker Highway dead-ends at Artist Point, where Baker and Mount Shuksan tower over you, and many trailheads start. This is no mere postcard, but a major masterpiece. Later in the season, the hikers give way to ski bums and snowshoers, but the views never quit. It's no wonder Rick Steves calls it "a playground for those who love the outdoors."