Lopez Island Vacation Rental vacation home for rent on Lopez Island in the San Juans

With gorgeous sites like the refurbished Water Tower and Pump House, Lopez Island travel is a surprising experience that will make you feel as welcome as any local. Often called the "Friendly Isle," Lopez Island is known for its hospitality and its great location. Don't be startled on your first visit to Lopez Island when people wave to you from their cars. This is “the Friendly Isle”—15 miles long with 63 miles of shoreline and 2,500 year-round residents. The Lopez landscape blends forests with rolling farmlands, and quiet bays and driftwood-strewn beaches with distant views of mountain ranges and snow-tipped Mount Baker.

Lopez’s natural beauty and quality of life have attracted a variety of residents—artists, craftspeople, entrepreneurs, musicians, farmers, fishermen and nature lovers. Scandinavian farmers arrived here in the 1850s, drawn by the island’s gentle topography, and Lopez Island farms today raise an eclectic range of products, from sheep to llamas, wine grapes to apples, pears to kiwis.

Lopez offers the easiest cycling of the three main San Juan Islands. Consider bringing your bike for a day or weekend of scenic cycling, or rent one from Lopez Bicycle Works or Village Cycles. (The interisland ferry from Orcas Island or San Juan Island is free for walk-on passengers and cyclists.) You may want to schedule your Lopez visit to coincide with one of the island’s special annual events—the Tour de Lopez bicycle tour each spring. Always scheduled for the last Saturday in April, Tour de Lopez is a non-competitive, rural road tour that offers short and long routes through the island’s varied landscape. You can also explore Lopez Island through a cycling or driving tour.

If you're a nature lover, expect to see bald eagles and a great variety of water birds on Lopez Island, along with black-tailed deer and lots of rabbits. You may spot these on one of the island’s web of hiking trails, many near or along the shore (the same terrain that makes for somewhat easy cycling makes for plenty of opportunities for not-too-strenuous hiking). Whether you visit with family and friends or you’re in search of solitude, Lopez’s many parks (some of them well-kept secrets) fill the bill, from Agate Beach County Park with its soothing sound of waves over pebbles to the trails and bluffs of Shark Reef Sanctuary, where you’re likely to spot seals and often times sea lions. Or launch your kayak to explore the island’s inlets and paddle around the unspoiled paradise of one of the nearby National Wildlife Refuge islands (no two-footed creatures allowed) for glimpses of pigeon guillemots, double-crested and pelagic cormorants, and harbor seals.

Lopez Village is the commercial core nestled at the north end of beautiful Fisherman Bay. In the Village you will find a choice of restaurants, delicatessens and coffee shops as well as a bakery, large grocery store, organic grocery, galleries, bookstore and library. On Saturdays during the summer don't miss the popular Lopez Farmers' Market for fresh produce, and local arts and crafts. The island treasures its history and shares it with visitors at the Lopez Island Historical Society & Museum (in the Village) and the restored 1917 Port Stanley Schoolhouse a mile or so east. Wander a little farther south along Fisherman Bay and enjoy a few more restaurant choices with beautiful bayside views, marinas, bike and kayak rentals, and accommodations. Continue about three miles south on Fisherman Bay Road and experience the 1887-built Center Church and the pioneer Union Cemetery with vistas across rolling farmland.