Oak Harbor

Oak Harbor is a city on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound region of Washington State.

aerial view of Oak Harbor

Understand

Oak Harbor's history goes back to the early 1850s, when two settlers staked claims where the city now stands—Zakarias Martin Taftezon, a shoemaker from Norway; C.W. Sumner from New England Houses and businesses sprouted up along the shores of Oak Harbor as the pioneers relied entirely on water transportation until the 1900s. For the next thirty years, steamers and freighters carried passengers and freight from the Island to the mainland and back as well as Fidalgo Island to the north.

The Irish came in the late 1850s, making Oak Harbor grow and prosper as they fished and farmed the area, and the city's Dutch heritage arrived in the 1890s. Churches, schools, and more businesses followed the arrival of the Dutch. A high school was built in 1906. Oak Harbor flourished as a small country town until Deception Pass Bridge and the U.S. Navy Base connected the city to the rest of the region and the world.

Get in

By boat

• 1 Oak Harbor City Marina, 1401 SE Catalina Dr, ☏ +1 360 279-4575. The marina has 420 slips and ample guest moorage with limited side-tie moorage. They offer showers, restrooms, laundry room, ice machine, picnic tables in park and on guest dock, a playground and waste oil bins. The facility is located about one mile from most retail services, including motels and restaurants in Oak Harbor. (updated Jun 2023)

By shuttle

• Whidbey SeaTac Shuttle, ☏ +1 360-679-4003. Provides transportation service between communities on Whidbey and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. 

Get around

By public transit

• Island Transit, ☏ +1 360-678-7771. Scheduled bus services on Whidbey Island and Camano Island. Service on Whidbey Island includes to Clinton, Coupeville, Freeland, Greenbank, Langley, Oak Harbor with off island connections to Anacortes. Service on Camano Island includes off island connections to Everett and Mount Vernon. Free. (updated Jun 2023)

By taxi

• The Rock Taxi Cab, ☏ +1 360-914-3250. (updated Jun 2023)

See

Deception Pass Bridge

• 1 Deception Pass Bridge,. A National Historic Monument since 1982, is actually two spans that link Whidbey Island near Oak Harbor to Fidalgo Island over Canoe Pass and Deception Pass. The bridge, one of the scenic wonders and destinations of the Pacific Northwest, was a Public Works Administration project built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. (updated Jun 2023)

• 2 Pacific Northwest Naval Air Museum, 270 SE Pioneer Way, ☏ +1 360-240-9500, info@pnwnam.org. (updated May 2021)

Do

• 1 Joseph Whidbey State Park, ☏ +1 360-678-4519. (updated May 2021)

Buy

• 1 Safeway, 1450 SW Erie St, ☏ +1 360-279-8828. Grocery store. (updated Jul 2022)

Eat

There are many restaurants in Oak Harbor. Below are the most popular ones.

• 1 Frasers Gourmet Hideaway, 101 - 1191 SE Dock St, ☏ +1 360-279-1231. (updated May 2021)

Sleep

• 1 Best Western Harbor Plaza, 33175 State Route 20, ☏ +1 360 679-4567, toll-free: +1-800-927-5478, fax: +1 360 675-2543. 
• 2 The Coachman Inn, 32959 State Route 20, ☏ +1 360-675-0727, reservations@coachmaninn.com. Check-in: 3PM, check-out: 11AM. (updated May 2021)

Go next

Routes through Oak Harbor

Port Townsend ← Coupeville ←

S  N

→ Anacortes → Burlington