Gig Harbor, Washington sits 14 miles from Tacoma and feels like a different century

It’s 14 miles from Tacoma but worlds apart

Gig Harbor sits on a narrow bay off Puget Sound, about 14 miles from Tacoma and an hour from Seattle. Around 12,000 people live here, but the walkable waterfront makes it feel half that size.

Mount Rainier rises behind the marina from almost every angle in town.

Croatian and Scandinavian families built this place around fishing and boat building, and that history still runs through everything you see and do along the water. The best of it takes some walking to find.

Explorers in a small boat gave the bay its name

Long before the town had a name, the Twa-Wal-Kut band of the Puyallup Tribe kept a longhouse and permanent camp near the head of the harbor.

In 1841, explorers from the Wilkes Expedition rowed into the bay in a captain’s gig, a small ship’s boat, and marked it on their map.

Croatian and Scandinavian immigrants arrived by the late 1800s and built fishing yards and lumber mills along the shore. The town stayed cut off from Tacoma until the Narrows Bridge went up in 1950.

A Croatian family’s brick home is now the visitors’ center

Skansie Brothers Park covers 2.59 acres right in the center of downtown, and you can’t miss it. Four Croatian brothers who fished and built boats near the turn of the 20th century gave the park its name.

Andrew Skansie’s brick home, built in 1908, now serves as the visitors’ center. Next door, the 1910 netshed still holds the tools and nets the family used.

In summer, a farmers market, free Tuesday concerts and family movie nights fill the lawn.

Walk 1.5 miles past 17 historic fishing netsheds

Harborview Drive runs along the water, and a 1.5-mile history walk follows it with 48 interpretive markers that tell the town’s story as you go. Six parks, several piers, and picnic spots line the route.

Along the western shoreline, 17 historic netsheds still stand, the largest collection anywhere on Puget Sound.

Jerisich Dock, named after one of three founding fishermen who arrived in 1867, puts you right over the harbor. Art galleries, boutiques and shops fill the storefronts between stops.

Climb 100 wooden steps for a Mount Rainier view

The Finholm View Climb is a wooden staircase cut into the hillside at the north end of the harbor. One hundred steps take you from the Finholm District up to the residential neighborhood above.

Platforms along the way give you a reason to stop and look back.

On a clear day, Mount Rainier fills the horizon behind the marina, and the whole harbor spreads out below you. The climb honors Ed and Johnny Finholm, who ran the longtime Finholm’s Market nearby.

Rent a kayak or book the only gondola in the Northwest

The harbor stays calm because the bay is protected, so even first-timers can handle a kayak or paddleboard here. Waterfront rental shops have single and double kayaks and boards by the hour.

If you want something different, a one-person operation runs Venetian-style gondola rides, the only service of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.

Guided boat tours take you around the harbor and under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge while local guides share the town’s history. Keep your eyes on the water for harbor seals, porpoises and bald eagles.

Step aboard a 1925 fishing boat for free

The Harbor History Museum sits where Donkey Creek flows into Puget Sound at the head of the harbor, and admission costs nothing. Inside, you’ll find artifacts, video kiosks, hands-on displays and a small theater.

Outside, a restored 1893 one-room schoolhouse still has its original desks, maps and wood stove. The real draw is the 65-foot purse seiner Shenandoah.

The Skansie Shipbuilding Company built her in 1925, and you can walk right on board while the restoration continues.

A 16-foot-wide trail cuts through parks and wetlands

The Cushman Trail runs 6.2 paved miles through Gig Harbor, and at 16 feet wide, walkers, runners, cyclists and families with strollers all fit without crowding each other. You’ll pass through several city parks along the way.

At Wilkinson Farm Park, a bridge crosses above wetlands where birds and wildlife gather. Some sections run through woods, others through neighborhoods and past local shops.

Benches, restrooms and posted trail maps pop up the whole way, so you won’t get lost.

Dig for clams on a rocky beach that turns to sand

Kopachuck State Park sits about six miles west of downtown and covers 109 acres with over a mile of saltwater shoreline on Henderson Bay.

The beach drops steeply over rocks most of the time, but at low tide, it flattens out into a level sandbar that families love.

You can harvest shellfish, clams and mussels along the shore in spring if you carry a Discover Pass.

From the beach, the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound spread out in front of you, and sunsets hit this stretch straight on.

Paddle half a mile to an island called Deadmans

Cutts Island sits about half a mile off the shore at Kopachuck State Park, and locals call it Deadman’s Island. You can only reach it by kayak, paddleboard or boat.

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission manages it as a marine state park, so there’s no dock and no development. Seals haul out on the rocky shores, and seabirds nest along the edges.

Launch from Kopachuck’s beach, paddle across Henderson Bay, and you’ll have the island mostly to yourself.

Find carved fairy houses hiding in a nine-acre forest

Sunrise Beach Park gives you six waterfront acres on Colvos Passage with trails through dense woods and wetlands, plus views of Mount Rainier and Vashon Island.

A short drive away, Grandview Forest Park covers nine acres where local artists have carved animals, fairy houses and faces into old tree snags. The trail turns a simple walk into an outdoor art gallery.

Gig Harbor has 21 city parks in total, so green space shows up around almost every corner.

The fishing fleet still gathers in the bay every June

Smithsonian magazine once named Gig Harbor the fifth-best small town in America, but it still draws fewer crowds than most Pacific Northwest destinations.

The town’s Croatian and Scandinavian roots show up in place names, preserved netsheds and the annual Maritime Gig Festival, held the first weekend of June.

During the Blessing of the Fleet ceremony, fishing boats gather in the bay, and the whole waterfront comes alive.

Even the drive sets the tone, with the Tacoma Narrows Bridge giving you wide views of water and mountains on both sides.

Explore the waterfront in Gig Harbor, Washington

You’ll find Gig Harbor on a bay along Puget Sound, about 14 miles from Tacoma across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Seattle is roughly an hour away, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is about 45 minutes out.

Downtown is walkable with free street parking, though spots go fast on summer weekends, so arrive early.

The Gig Harbor Trolley runs between the waterfront, Harbor Hill and Uptown for 50 cents a ride, which makes getting around easy without moving your car.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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