Sweet wine comes top of mind when planning a visit to the city of Woodinville in King County, Washington.
After all, approximately 130 wineries and their tasting rooms are within or nearby Woodinville’s area of nearly 15 square kilometers.
But there’s more to Woodinville besides its wines showcasing the potency of the grapes grown in Eastern Washington.
Characteristic of its Pacific Northwest Region, this city boasts dense woodlands with ribbons of meandering nature trails.
The Sammamish River, in addition, cuts through the southwestern side of Woodinville, providing a superb setting for waterfront parks and refreshing outdoor activities.
Other points of interest in this city are intertwined with its beginning as a logging and farming community during the early decades of the 20th century.
Woodinville had been steadfast in carving its own identity as a suburb of Seattle.
Its residents voted for Woodinville’s incorporation as a city in 1993, defeating a move to annex it to nearby Bothell City.
The following list of best things to do in Woodinville will reveal more of the charming character of this city.
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A visit to Woodinville Wine Country can go as smooth as silk if your first stop is the Woodinville Visitor Center on NE Village Square Drive.
It has a knowledgeable and friendly staff who can suggest which wineries to visit based on your likes.
The wineries and breweries in Woodinville, along with its lodging facilities, restaurants, and shops, are spread across four distinct districts.
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If you want a behind-the-scenes glimpse of wine production, for instance, the city’s Warehouse District is the place to go.
For vibrant restaurants and tasting rooms, the ideal choice is the Hollywood District.
If you want a relaxed pace of activities, the West Valley District is the preferred choice.
The Downtown District, on the other hand, flaunts new venues for food, drinks, and shopping.
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Located in the Woodinville Tourist District on NE 14th Street, Willows Lodge is a modern 84-room luxury resort yet with a rustic vibe to it.
This countryside Pacific Northwest ambiance is largely brought about by its beautiful garden inviting guests to a pleasant stroll within a 5-acre natural setting.
In this quiet, wooded retreat, each guest room features a soaking tub across a stone fireplace, a fully-stocked minibar, flat-screen TV, and a coffee machine.
Private balconies or patios are standard in these rooms, enabling guests to enjoy glimpses of the majestic Mount Rainier on a clear day.
Wedged on the west bank of the Sammamish River, Willows Lodge offers its guests farm-to-table dining at its in-house restaurant, Barking Frog.
Here, they can have pan-roasted sea scallops paired with a glass of local vintage wine.
Willow Lodge also invites its guests to live entertainment at the resort’s Fireside Lounge.
At this resort, guests can have spa wellness treatments highlighting locally harvested ingredients, as well as enjoy live entertainment at the Fireside Lounge.
Located on NE Woodinville Road, this 22-acre park on the north shore of the 63-acre Cottage Lake feed by two creeks, Daniels and Freeman.
This park was a former resort that was brilliantly repurposed out of a logging operation.
Open to boating, Cottage Lake Park draws aficionados of recreational fishing in the early mornings.
Native Coastal Cutthroat Trout and stocked Rainbow Trout are the primary fish at Cottage Lake Park.
Other fish species here include Brown Bullhead, Yellow Perch, Black Crappie, and Largemouth Bass.
During warm summer weekends, park-goers go swimming at Cottage Lake, which also features an outdoor pool, picnic areas and facilities, walking trails, and a playground.
The park’s pool is operated by the Northshore YMCA, which also holds summer camps and a high ropes course at this park.
The Cottage Lake Park is likewise host to the annual summer concert “Music in the Park.”
This is a vast preserve that spreads over 793 acres and is accessible via Paradise Lake Road south of SR-522.
A large portion of the Paradise Valley Conservation Area is woodlands, offering several trail sections within a 13-mile system of pathways featuring natural surfaces.
Toddlers can negotiate the preserve’s quarter-mile Whispering Fir Trail well, while the older kids can negotiate the longer Cascara and Mainline trails.
Many of the preserve’s trails are for pedestrian use exclusively, while about 10 miles are open to biking and approximately seven miles accessible to equestrian use.
The headwaters of the Bear Creek watershed is a part of this conservation area.
Thus, hikers, bikers, and horse riders of its trails will traverse not only through lush vegetation.
They will also pass through a wetlands environment creating mud puddles amid trees and ferns ideal for wildlife viewing.
Leashed dogs are permitted at the Paradise Valley Conservation Area, which also features places for picnics.
Visit the farm-stand of Farmer Frog, a nonprofit advocating sustainable farming that has a site on Paradise Valley Road.
The crops sold here are produced through farm practices supporting and integrating with natural ecosystems.
Fun activities also fill its selling booth, which is manned by volunteers, some of which are schoolchildren.
These volunteers can inform customers about the various produce of Farmer Frog and its conservation agriculture and wild farming methods.
They can also identify various vegetable varieties and suggest the best ways to prepare them.
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This park is located on 131st Ave NE and offers plenty of outdoor activities such as jogging, hiking, rollerblading, and biking.
You can easily pursue these outdoor activities via the Sammamish River Trail, which runs on the entire western side of the Wilmot Gateway Park.
This trail, a part of the Locks-to-Lakes Corridor, stretches for over 10 miles along the banks of the Sammamish River from Bothell to Marymoor Park in Redmond.
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From Woodinville’s Wilmot Gateway Park, you can launch a kayak and paddle on the river onward south to Sammamish Lake, which is likewise accessible via the Sammamish River Trail.
In addition, Wilmot Gateway Park provides a spacious playground that can accommodate more than 30 kids.
This park, which charges no entrance fee, also features some public art and a stage on a large riverfront lawn.
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This sports complex is located on the corner of 131st Avenue NE and 175th Street across Wilmot Gateway Park.
It provides two lighted ball fields with synthetic turf enabling play in most kinds of weather.
The tournaments that the Woodinville Sports Fields complex hosts include baseball, lacrosse, soccer, and softball.
A small, wooded park nearby, Woodin Creek Park on NE 171st Avenue has a tennis court and nice basketball half-court for a pick-up game.
The Woodinville tasting room of Maryhill Winery is the most unique location among its four tasting rooms in Washington.
The historic, circa 1912 Hollywood Schoolhouse located on NE 45th Street, is home to this tasting room, which also boasts a bistro.
Several bars occupy the spacious first floor of this tasting room, while its second floor is exclusive to Maryhill’s Wine Club members.
With the many accolades and awards that its wines have received, Maryhill Winery offers plenty of picks for connoisseurs.
Some of the favorites in its Woodinville tasting room are the Albariño and the Cab Sauv Classic.
At the Maryhill Winery’s Woodinville bistro, you can pair these with steamed clams and sizzling prawns and purchase a bottle as well.
This gourmet restaurant, located on NE 14th Street next to Willows Lodge, offers nine-course menus on its upscale “theme” dining.
Expect new delights in this dining experience, as the restaurant’s menu each day becomes final only hours before the meal.
These thematic meals depend on the seasonal rhythm of the best ingredients available from farms, forests, and waters.
This restaurant notably grows kitchen gardens for its recipes and augments the produce from local farms.
Herbfarm’s cookery, thus, flaunts heritage fruits, wild mushrooms, handmade cheeses, and rare kitchen inputs like artisanal caviars and water-grown wasabi root.
Dining at Herbfarm goes with picks on five or six matched wines, with non-alcoholic options also available.
Also, diners in this restaurant have a pre-dinner option for a wine cellar open house or a hosted outdoor garden tour.
Located on 140th Place NE, this is a private sports facility that spreads over more than 60 acres and offers a golf driving range and courts for pickleball and tennis.
The Woodinville Sports Club hosts a Tennis and Beer event each Tuesday and Wednesday for men and ladies, respectively.
This event is open to tennis players with a 3.0+ rating and presents an opportunity for new players to meet in a double-match play format.
The Woodinville Sports Club also notably hosts the annual Big Woodinville Car Show, typically held each September.
This event features a cruise of over 150 vehicles and attendance of more than 2,500 car aficionados between the Columbia Winery and downtown Woodinville.
This country club is accessible from 202ndAvenue NE and offers an 18-hole, par 72 championship golf course.
A round of play at this fabulous layout of the Bear Creek Country Club will take you to a lush, rolling terrain on the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.
After a round of attempting to break the par 72 challenge of the 6,964-yard golf course, you can enjoy the luxurious offerings at a beautifully-appointed clubhouse.
This facility offers several world-class amenities, including a sports lounge plus a bar and a grill.
The clubhouse also features a Pilates studio and a well-equipped fitness center with professional personal trainers.
A kinship with Mother Nature can be celebrated best at the Ring Hill Forest, which sprawls over 320 acres of rural forestland.
This nature sanctuary is located west of West Snoqualmie Valley Road near NE Woodinville-Duvall Road and to the east of 232nd Avenue NE near NE 147 Street.
The domain of the Ring Hill Forest on the western valley wall above the Snoqualmie River can be explored via hiking, mountain biking, and horse riding.
For these activities, the forest offers its kid-friendly Tom Ring Trail, quiet and with tree canopies throughout.
Horse riders can source their steed from the Kathryn Taylor Equestrian Park on 232nd Avenue NE.
This unpaved trail was developed alongside the Tolt River Pipeline, supplying water to the city of Seattle.
The access points of its trailheads in Woodinville are along Bear Creek Road NE, 148th Avenue NE, 124th Avenue NE, and Avondale Road NE.
The Tolt River Pipeline Trail stretches for 12 miles and is open to dog walkers, horse riders, joggers, mountain bikers, and hikers.
The pipeline, which has a 100-foot-wide right-of-way, passes through the northern Eastside suburbs of Seattle.
It runs between the Tolt Reservoir in the Cascades in Duvall and the Lake Forest Park Reservoir in Bothell.
From the middle of the coastline, the luxury suite at Cottage Lake Bed & Breakfast offers a panoramic view of the lake and its surroundings.
It faces east, providing a great dawn view, and eagles regularly soar over the pond, populated by birds, otters, beavers, and trout.
Start the day with a complimentary continental breakfast that comprises fresh croissants with jam, fruit, milk, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, juice, tea, and coffee.
A smaller fire pit is located on the lower deck beneath the gazebo, while a bigger one is near the lake.
They offer upper and lower decks in addition to a dock for swimming, fishing, boating, eating, or just lounging by the water.
Relish their waterfront outdoor Jacuzzi set just outside the private entrance.
The 1993-founded Woodinville Farmers Market evolved into much more over time.
It’s a festival where locals from Woodinville and out-of-towners gather to participate in fun activities, listen to music, and learn something new.
The Woodinville Farmers Market is an outdoor marketplace that sells various items, including fresh produce, flowers, baked products, sauces, and cider made by local craftsmen.
They are a nonprofit committed to promoting small-scale family farms, micro-enterprises, and local rural economies in their neighborhood.
The Woodinville Farmers Market aspires to foster a thriving community meeting center that includes fresh produce, specialty items, music, and educational events to promote the advantages of a healthy and balanced lifestyle for both residents and tourists.
EFEST was established on the principles of family tradition, the fusion of friendship, and a love of excellent wine and cuisine.
EFEST cultivated three estate vineyards in 2007 in two different Washington State wine regions.
Each of the three locations used specific planting methods and types to bring out the best in each vineyard area.
In the Woodinville Wine Country, visit their expansive tasting area and production site to savor wines.
EFEST provides everything you need to create an unforgettable moment, including large venues, prize-winning wines, knowledgeable personnel, and a dedication to fantastic locally-produced food.
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Woodinville’s history doesn’t start with a century-old recipe or a line of family distillers.
It all started with a dream and two close buddies.
By incorporating the revered bourbon manufacturing traditions into a craft setting, the goal is to create the best craft whiskey in the whole world.
They use the finest locally grown grains, the greatest coopers and barrels in the nation, and the most cutting-edge distillation machinery.
The Omlin Family Farm near Quincy, Washington, only grows the grains used in Woodinville Whiskey Company’s products.
They transport the grains straight to their distillery in Woodinville, where they are handled by hand throughout milling, mashing, fermentation, and distillation.
John J. Walker, the founding father and a visionary of Washington Wine Country, believed that Yakima Valley would supply the grapes needed to create wines of the highest standard.
It started as a winery with 3,000 cases and is currently at about 35,000 cases.
The finest fruit from the Yakima Valley is used to make Kestrel Wines.
They create wines that highlight a sense of location and the distinctive terroir of Yakima.
Their 15,000-square-foot premier wineries and production building entail a cellar, tank, warehouse, and barrel area of 13,500 square feet, together with a tasting room, gift store, and office.
Only excellent fruit can produce great wine; therefore, when combined with a cutting-edge production plant, they have the ideal ingredients for producing outstanding wines.
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This 316-acre park is located in Kenmore and Kirkland on the shore of Lake Washington, some 6 miles west of Woodinville.
Loggers cut timber in this area as late as the 1920s before serving as host to the Saint Edward Seminary and, in contemporary years, as a park.
The vintage 1930 seminary building with Romanesque architecture in the park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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The park’s recreational facilities include a children’s playground, with equipment and grass fields where kids can enjoy unstructured games.
Kayakers and standup boarders can enjoy paddling the waters of Lake Washington.
The park provides many trails for mountain biking and also has several trails exclusively for hikers.
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A lot of wine tasting looms for an enjoyable visit to Woodinville, given that wineries and breweries are its prime attractions.
Nevertheless, visitors of this city need not go too tipsy in exploring Woodinville.
This city also offers plenty of other points of interest, like nature parks and sports centers with a slew of recreational facilities.
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