wallawalla — Travel Guides

Background of Walla Walla:

The name so nice, you say it twice! Walla Walla is a unique city that has undergone many evolutions. Rapid growth began in the late 1850s as an outpost for local mining and gold operations, making it a key stop on the Mullan Road. At one point, it was the largest settlement in the Washington Territory and was home to the first newspaper and the first bank—Baker & Boyer, which is still in operation today! After losing a key railroad stop, the town shifted toward agriculture, attracting Italian settlers who planted the area’s first grapes.

Nearly 100 years later, Walla Walla recognized the potential of these early plantings and began transitioning its agricultural efforts from predominantly grain production to a wine-producing region capable of challenging Napa Valley. This unique environment offers 17 hours of sunlight, plentiful snowmelt for water, and a diurnal temperature shift ideal for grape production. Now, 40 years into this wine evolution, tourists have caught on, and the city is beginning to explore a new identity in hop production as well.

Walla Walla is ever-changing, which makes it a one-of-a-kind destination ripe for repeat visits—and we cannot wait to return and see what else it has to offer!

Stay: Finch Walla Walla. Seriously, look no further. The FINCH started as the Howard Johnson Hotel in 1969 and was one of Walla Walla’s first hotels. After it was acquired in 2017, it was rebranded and renovated with contemporary amenities like a courtyard, covered patio, and communal workspaces. As midcentury modern lovers, we absolutely loved the new but retro vibes, and thought all of the personal touches were impeccable. Also as a true testament to their top notch hospitality, I had mentioned we were celebrating a birthday ahead of our arrival to the FINCH, and upon our arrival, we found local candies and treats as well as a balloon bouquet/banner waiting for us in our room. A very kind, and unexpected surprise for my partner for his birthday - and the treats were steadily enjoyed the entire trip, especially after wine tastings!

As a bonus, the FINCH also has an AK’s Mercado food truck right out front for easy post-adventure or post-wine tasting meals. We had fries, gyros, and other tasty treats and all of them were just what we needed.

Eat: AK’s Mercado, Kerry’s Trinidian Cuisine, Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen, Maple Counter Cafe, Bacon and Eggs.

Picnic in the park with takeaway breakfast

Drink: It’s all about natural wines in Walla Walla for us. Our favorites are Devium Wine (hi Keith and Shelley!), Foundry Vineyards (more specifically, Pet Project), Grosgrain, and be sure to pop by the world class bottle shop The Thief.

Devium requires a reservation for a tasting which we highly recommend. For the curious it is not only an exploration of their amazing wines, but a lesson in the art of winemaking. The tasting felt like a world class seminar on wine production and sustainable practices. They not only care about thoughtful and intentional production of their wine, but they work with only the best producers and terroir in the area.

As many wine lovers have likely observed, wine is currently moving away from conventional reds that have dominated the scene for so many years. White grape varieties are gaining massive popularity as the consumer realizes wine can offer so much more than a bold headache the morning. Balanced, aesthetically beautiful and refreshing, the next age of wine belongs to these grapes often forgot about or misunderstood. Similar with sustainable methods of production, they are bringing life back to this industry that has been snuffed out by a bad mixture of chemicals and ego curated by “consistency”. As Shelley said, “Let the fruit speak”.

As an aside, we recently read the book Amber Revolution: How the World Learned to Love Orange Wine and highly recommend for gaining a better understanding of the forces which have shaped the new revolution of minimal intervention, biodynamic, skin contact wines.

The tasting room at the lovely Devium WInes

Explore: The absolute highlight of our trip was Palouse Falls, about an easy hour drive outside of Walla Walla. We had seen this place on a few blogs ahead of our trip, and knew it was a spectacular waterfall, but what we hadn’t anticipated is how incredible the entire area is. It feels like you are stepping momentarily into Iceland once you cross the bridge headed towards the state park.

We also had a great afternoon checking out the south trails in Harris Park in Umatilla county, about 40 minutes south into Oregon from Walla Walla. You get to cruise through Milton-Freewater on the way, and if you’re into good chocolate, we highly recommend a stop into Petit Noirs as well for a post-hike treat. The salted caramel truffle and potato chip toffee were to die for.

We would also be remiss if we didn’t talk about some of the places we hit to/fro Seattle on the drive out to Walla Walla. Yakima, Ellensberg and the Richmond area have some really awesome little stops - cafes, hiking, and waterfront dining. A personal favorite hike was the Twin Sisters Rock/Wallula hike where we followed dozens of trails through sandy deserty sage and wildflower-filled scenes, all whilst looking out at the Columbia River. We stopped for oysters at Budd’s Broiler in Richland before carrying on our way west. Highly recommend.

Budd’s Broiler for oysters in Richland, WA

Highway to Twin Sisters, looking at Columbia River

We also found the Cle Elum/Roslyn/Ronald area to be a phenomenal halfway stopover point between Eastern WA and our home back in the city, complete with fantastic bakeries AND our new favorite AirBnB to ever exist (no, really), Timber Stilts in Ronald, WA. We have a lot more exploring of hikes to do in the area when the weather is more appropriate, so will continue to update this section… but for now:

CLE ELUM/ROSLYN/RONALD:

Stay: Timber Stilts is without a doubt the most well-located, stunning property you could stay at in the area and has virtually everything you could possibly need. I tried to think up something else that they were missing and I couldn’t come up with anything. The house is stocked with a full kitchen, all cooking accessories, a full grill, a hot tub, heck… even a smores kit to make use of the original fireplace in the great room. This AirBnB is also within shooting distance of all 3 towns, so is a great midpoint with accessibility to everything, whilst still allowing you to feel cozied up in a cabin just off the beaten path.

Eat: We honestly enjoyed the full kitchen at Timber Stilts so much that we did a lot of eating in/cooking “at home” and enjoying the space itself. But there’s also a few great spots in the surrounding towns which are worthy of visiting… not to mention Roslyn itself just a 5 minute drive down the road has a lovely little downtown with some cute shops for perusing when you can pull yourself away from your gorgeous abode that is Timber Stilts.

Other great options include: Stella’s, Roslyn Cafe, Basecamp Books & Bites, Cle Elum Bakery, Little Pangea Kitchen, Pioneer Coffee Roasting Co, Wild Flora Bakery, Liberty Cafe, 509 Bake House, Owen’s Meats and be sure to stop by the Gemini Fish Market which has an incredible selection of very fresh fish and takeaways for a picnic.

Drink: Mule & Elk Brewing, Coal Chute Cafe and Pub, Dru Bru, Taneum Creek Brewing, Upsidedown Wine