Things to Do in Edmonds, WA

Edmonds Underwater Park

Immediately north of the ferry landing at the foot of Main Street, the Edmonds Underwater Park is a genuinely major regional dive destination: more than 27 acres of protected tide and bottomland, roughly half developed with dive trails and features, reaching a maximum depth of about 45 feet, and described by PADI and Scuba Diving magazine as the most popular of Washington's ten official underwater parks -- drawing an estimated 25,000 divers a year. Non-divers can still enjoy the shoreline area and the marine bird sanctuary designation that comes with the park's protected status.

The Edmonds Fishing Pier and Olympic Beach

The 944-foot L-shaped Edmonds Fishing Pier, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, draws an estimated 100,000 visitors annually -- anglers, birdwatchers, and families out for a walk -- and sits next to the Visitor Station at Olympic Beach, per the City of Edmonds' own materials. It's a real, free, publicly accessible waterfront destination regardless of whether a visitor plans to fish.

Edmonds Center for the Arts

Edmonds Center for the Arts (ECA) has an established regional reputation, per its own materials, for jewel-box theater presentations of live performances, alongside hosting events for diverse community and regional partners and running education and outreach programming. It's a genuine, currently operating professional performing arts venue, not just a community hall -- a real cultural draw for the broader Puget Sound area, not only Edmonds residents.

Downtown Shopping: Main Street and 5th Avenue

Edmonds' downtown retail and dining district, centered on 5th Avenue and Main Street, is known per the Edmonds Downtown Alliance's own materials for unique, locally-owned businesses -- upscale boutiques, bookstores (including the Edmonds Bookshop), art and gift shops, and specialty stores like Glazed and Amazed (a paint-your-own pottery studio) and ARTspot (an art materials supply store). This is a genuinely walkable, browse-able shopping district distinct from a mall or chain-retail strip.

Brackett's Landing: Four Beach Parks, Not Just One

Edmonds actually has four distinct named beach parks along its waterfront, not a single generic 'beach': Brackett's Landing North, Brackett's Landing South, Marina Beach Park, and Olympic Beach, per the City of Edmonds' own parks materials. Brackett's Landing North -- named for town founder George Brackett -- combines a sandy beach with a rock jetty and views of the Edmonds-Kingston ferry and the Olympic Mountains, and is the preferred entry point for Edmonds Underwater Park divers, with restrooms, a dry changing area, showers, and a foot-wash station on site. Brackett's Landing South, added in 1997 on the former Anderson Marine site just south of the ferry dock, offers a quieter beach experience with picnic areas. Knowing these are four separate, differently-flavored spots -- rather than one interchangeable 'Edmonds beach' -- is useful for picking the right one for a given visit.

Whale Watching, From Shore or By Boat

Edmonds has a real, documented reputation for orca and gray whale sightings, and it's an actual departure point, not just a viewing spot -- Puget Sound Express runs dedicated whale-watching tours out of Edmonds April through December. The Orca Network specifically encourages shore-based whale watching from locations like the Edmonds waterfront and even from the Washington State Ferries themselves, and local reporting has documented sightings directly off Marina Beach Park, including an orca calf spotted roughly 100 feet from shore in May 2026.

The Edmonds Marsh: A Live Environmental Story to Watch

For visitors interested in the town's current environmental efforts, the Edmonds Marsh -- a tidal wetland restoration project on former Unocal land, backed by federal grants and led by the city alongside the Edmonds Marsh Estuary Advocates -- is a real, active local story worth following, even though it remains in a planning and design phase rather than a finished public destination as of this page's research.

What This Page Does Not Know

This page does not have a comprehensive, current list of every attraction, park, or activity in Edmonds -- it names what's most consistently documented across independent sources. It also does not have confirmed current hours, admission fees (where applicable), or seasonal closures for any specific attraction named here.

Confirm current hours, fees, and availability directly with each specific attraction, or check the City of Edmonds' own site and the Edmonds Downtown Alliance before planning a visit.