Kenmore, WA

Kenmore is a small suburban city of roughly 22,000 residents located in King County, Washington, on the north end of Lake Washington about twelve miles northeast of downtown Seattle. Reached by driving around the north end of the lake through Bothell and Kirkland, the city has the feel of a quiet, well-kept residential community wrapped around a stretch of lakefront, with a historic airpark, a popular state park, and a stretch of the regional trail system all within a short distance of one another. It serves as a relaxed base for visitors who want to explore the north shore of Lake Washington, the Woodinville wine country just to the east, and the broader Seattle metro area without staying in the city itself.

A major draw within the city is Saint Edward State Park, a 316-acre park set on a wooded promontory that juts out into Lake Washington. The park surrounds the old Saint Edward Seminary, a striking 1931 Romanesque-style building that has been restored as a lodge, and offers miles of forested hiking trails, a swim area, and picnic lawns. It sits just minutes from the heart of Kenmore and is one of the most distinctive outdoor destinations on the north end of the lake.

Just down the shoreline, Kenmore Air Harbor is the longtime home of Kenmore Air, one of the largest seaplane operators in North America. From its docks, regularly scheduled flights shuttle passengers to the San Juan Islands, Victoria, and other destinations in the Salish Sea, and the company offers scenic flightseeing tours that depart directly from the lake. For visitors, a trip to the harbor to watch the floatplanes take off and land is itself a small attraction, even without booking a flight.

The Burke-Gilman Trail passes directly through Kenmore on its roughly 27-mile route from Seattle's Fremont neighborhood to the Sammamish River valley. The Kenmore segment runs along the lakeshore and through the Log Boom Park area, making it a favorite stretch for cyclists and runners, and it connects west into Seattle and east into Bothell and the Marymoor Park area in Redmond without ever leaving a separated, car-free path.

A short drive east brings visitors to Woodinville, the well-known tasting-room hub for the wines of the Yakima and Walla Walla valleys. Dozens of wineries are clustered within a few miles of Kenmore, along with distilleries and tasting rooms, making the city an inexpensive overnight base for a weekend of wine touring.

Taken together, Kenmore offers a calm, lake-oriented setting within easy reach of Seattle, the Eastside tech corridor, and one of Washington's best-known wine destinations, giving short-term rental guests a quieter alternative to staying in the city while keeping major attractions within a twenty- to thirty-minute drive.