Browse vintage andantique shops, independent bookstores,local coffee roasters, public art, and live music venues. Acclaimed restaurants take up prime real estate along the waterfront, while an incredible assortment of dining opportunities abound downtown.

Region & Climate

Olympia, WA has a mild climate with temperatures ranging from an average high of 73F in July to an average low of 38F in January. Rainfall is moderate throughout the year with an annual rainfall of 37 inches per year and snowfall averaging 8 inches per year. The summers are very mild with humid air masses off the Pacific coast bringing in occasional showers. Winters are mild compared to other areas of the United States as Olympia is situated in a rain shadow area which receives little or no snow due to its location on the Puget Sound.

Olympia, Washington gets 53 inches of rain, on average, per year. The US average is 38 inches of rain per year.

Olympia averages 6 inches of snow per year. The US average is 28 inches of snow per year.

On average, there are 136 sunny days per year in Olympia. The US average is 205 sunny days.

Olympia gets some kind of precipitation, on average, 167 days per year. Precipitation is rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground. In order for precipitation to be counted you have to get at least .01 inches on the ground to measure.

History

Located on the southernmost point of Puget Sound, the peninsula known as Olympia was Steh-Chass to the Coastal Salish who occupied the site for many generations before the American settlement was established.

The end of what we now know as Budd Inlet was a favorite shellfish gathering site for many Coastal Salish tribes, including the Nisqually, Duwamish and Squaxin. Potlatches, the Northwest tribal custom in which tribal leaders shared their wealth with neighboring tribal groups, were held both east and west of the Inlet near Olympia.

The falls of the Deschutes River at Tumwater called Stehtsasamish by the Nisqually Indians may have been occupied as a permanent village site for shellfish and salmon harvesting for 500 years or more before the coming of white settlers.

The first American settlers were Levi Lathrop Smith and Edmund Sylvester who claimed the town site in 1846, naming it Smither or Smithster (and later Smithfield), after themselves. The town was officially platted in 1850 by Sylvester, at which point it was given the name Olympia, as suggested by Isaac N. Ebey, a local resident in recognition of the view of the majestic Olympic mountains seen to the north on a clear day. Sylvester, a Maine native, laid out a town in a New England style with a town square, tree lined streets, land for schools, a Masonic Hall, and capitol grounds.

Location

Olympia’s strategic geographic location along Interstate 5 at the gateway to the Olympic Peninsula, puts one within two hours or less of regional recreational attractions from hiking and skiing in the mountains to beachcombing along ocean shores.

52 miles: Seattle, WA (SEA / KSEA)Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

63 miles: Seattle, WA (LKE / W55)Kenmore Air Harbor Seaplane Base

114 miles: Portland, OR (PDX / KPDX)Portland International Airport

144 miles: Victoria, Canada (YWH / CYWH)Victoria Inner Harbour Airport

160 miles: Victoria, Canada (YYJ / CYYJ)Victoria International Airport

165 miles: San Juan Island, WA (FBS / W33)Friday Harbor Seaplane Base

175 miles: Roche Harbor, WA (RCE / W39)Roche Harbor Seaplane Base

200 miles: Vancouver, Canada (YVR / CYVR)Vancouver International Airport