Washington State Ferries winter schedule starts Dec. 27

The Washington State Ferries winter sailing season runs from Sunday, December 27, 2026, to Saturday, March 20, 2027, as of October 2026, according to the sailing-seasons table on the Washington State Department of Transportation's schedule page. The fall season that comes first runs from September 20 to December 26, 2026. From Enumclaw, the nearest terminals are Fauntleroy in Seattle and Point Defiance in Tacoma, each roughly 35 to 37 driving miles away, as of October 2026.

Look at the table long enough and a pattern shows up: all eight seasons it lists, from winter 2026 through fall 2027, start on a Sunday and end on a Saturday, by the calendar. The spring season shows it: it begins March 22 in 2026 and March 21 in 2027, exactly 52 weeks later. The far end of the table has a longer season, and WSDOT's page does not say why. Fall 2026 is 98 days long, but fall 2027 runs from September 19, 2027, to January 8, 2028, which is 112.

What are the Washington State Ferries sailing season dates?

WSDOT's table lists four seasons a year. For 2026 it gives winter as December 28, 2025, to March 21, spring as March 22 to June 13, summer as June 14 to September 19, and fall as September 20 to December 26. For 2027 it gives winter as December 27, 2026, to March 20, spring as March 21 to June 12, summer as June 13 to September 18, and fall as September 19 to January 8, 2028.

WSDOT sets the dates and posts them on its schedule page; the dates here are as of October 2026. The route pages still show the fall 2026 schedules, so a winter timetable for a given route may not be posted until nearer December 27. WSDOT's page lists dates only. It does not say how sailings will differ by route, and this guide does not guess.

Does the fall schedule end December 26 or January 2?

December 26, 2026. That is the date on every WSDOT page opened for this guide: the season table above, the agency's best-times-to-travel page, which heads its fall list "Fall 2026 (Sept. 20 to Dec. 26)," and the route pages for Seattle to Bainbridge Island, Edmonds to Kingston, Mukilteo to Clinton, Point Defiance to Tahlequah and Anacortes to the San Juan Islands, which print September 20 to December 26, 2026. The Fauntleroy to Southworth page splits its fall into blocks, the last running November 9 to December 26.

A different end date, January 2, 2027, was flagged in a search result for WSDOT's alerts page. It is not on that page as opened on October 26, 2026, which instead gives the winter season as "Dec. 27 through March 20, 2027." If another page shows a January date, treat WSDOT's schedule page as the one that controls, and check the route you plan to ride.

Do Washington State Ferries run on Thanksgiving and Christmas?

WSDOT's fall 2026 route pages post holiday timetables for these days. WSDOT lists six holidays on its schedule page: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. It says alerts will tell riders about additional service on those days, and that "There may also be extra service for special events on any route."

On the routes nearest Enumclaw, the fall 2026 pages are specific. The Fauntleroy page prints a holiday-only schedule that "only operates on Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving) and Friday, December 25 (Christmas)." The Seattle to Bainbridge page says the route runs a holiday, or weekend, schedule on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, and the Mukilteo to Clinton page says the same. New Year's Day 2027 falls in the winter season, so its timetable is one to check when the winter pages go up.

Do you need a ferry reservation in winter?

Not on the routes closest to Enumclaw. WSDOT says vehicle reservations can be made only on the Anacortes to San Juan Islands and Port Townsend to Coupeville routes. On every other route, as WSDOT's ticket page puts it, "Ferries are loaded on a first-come, first-served basis," and a ticket does not guarantee a space.

For the San Juans, WSDOT's alert updated October 26, 2026, said the two-month vehicle reservations release for the winter season was postponed to 10 a.m. on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, with a virtual waiting room, and that the two-week and two-day releases stay at 7 a.m. It also warned that some February and March 2027 days will not be bookable for Orcas and Lopez because of construction on the vehicle transfer span, the part of a dock that rises and falls to meet the ferry. The route between Anacortes, Friday Harbor and Sidney, British Columbia, is listed on WSDOT's rider-information page as out of service until at least spring 2030.

Without a reservation, WSDOT's first-time rider guide says to be in the vehicle line at the tollbooth at least 20 minutes before a sailing on most routes, and aboard at least five minutes ahead as a walk-on passenger.

How far is the nearest ferry from Enumclaw?

Roughly 35 to 60 driving miles, depending on the terminal. These are approximate figures from the OSRM routing service, which uses OpenStreetMap data, measured from downtown Enumclaw with no traffic and no wait in the ferry line. Point Defiance in Tacoma, where the boat to Tahlequah on Vashon Island leaves, came out at about 35 miles and an hour. Fauntleroy in Seattle, with boats to Vashon and Southworth, was about 37 miles and an hour or a little more. Edmonds, for Kingston, was about 57 miles and an hour and a half, and Mukilteo, for Clinton on Whidbey Island, about 61 miles and a bit longer. The Seattle terminal at the waterfront, for Bainbridge Island and Bremerton, was about 41 miles.

The Fauntleroy route has a quirk in fall 2026. Through Sunday, November 8, 2026, WSDOT's alert says, the Fauntleroy, Vashon and Southworth route is on the two-boat schedule "with a third, unscheduled vessel" while another boat, the Kittitas, is out for scheduled maintenance, inspections and repairs. Its fall page then shows a November 9 to December 26 schedule. For those who would rather leave the car, our guide to Enumclaw to Seattle by bus and train covers the two rides it takes to reach the city.

Whidbey Island can also be reached without a boat. Our Deception Pass State Park guide covers the bridge, which State Parks says replaced the ferry run by Berte Olson.

When is the best time to take a car on a ferry?

WSDOT publishes a Best Times to Travel tool for that, with a one-page PDF per route for each season. Its fall 2026 list covers the Vashon, Southworth, Seattle, Edmonds and Mukilteo routes among others. The agency's note is plain about the limits: "These guides are for vehicle traffic only." Walk-on passengers and bicyclists, it says, almost always find room, and the forecast rests on vehicle ticket sales from a past year.

Tides matter too. WSDOT's page on tidal restrictions says trucks with less than 14 inches of ground clearance should not travel at certain low tides on the Fauntleroy to Vashon, Southworth to Vashon and Point Defiance to Tahlequah routes. A few times a year the limit is 10 inches on the Edmonds and Mukilteo routes. The agency lists the dates, and offers free travel alerts by email or text.

What does a ferry ticket cost?

It depends on the route, the sailing time, the rider's age and the size of the vehicle, according to WSDOT's fare page, and the fare calculator works only for dates inside a posted sailing season. No fare is printed here; WSDOT's lookup is the source. The rules around the fare are steadier. Children and youth under 19 travel free if they are not driving. Tickets are valid for 90 days. A peak-season surcharge applies to full-fare vehicles from May 1 through September 30, so not in a winter season. Since March 1, 2026, card payments carry a 3 percent fee that the Legislature directed in RCW 47.60.860; WSDOT says paying cash, or using an ORCA card that was not loaded at one of its own facilities, avoids it. On the Vashon routes, vehicle tickets are round trip.

Who ran the Vashon boats before the state?

The Vashon routes have an unusual local backstory. HistoryLink's essay on the subject says that after Captain Alexander Peabody shut down the privately owned Puget Sound Navigation Company, the Black Ball Line, on February 29, 1948, Vashon Islanders went to the Legislature and got King County Ferry District No. 1. It started service on March 1, 1948, with a passenger boat between Tahlequah and Tacoma, and put a county-owned car ferry on the Vashon Heights to Fauntleroy run two days later. HistoryLink calls it "the first and only (as of 2002) ferry district in the state of Washington." It ran for three years, until Washington State Ferries took over on June 1, 1951.

Before you go

Check three things, in this order: WSDOT's schedule page for the season dates, the route page for the sailing times, and the alerts page for the day. Winter 2026 to 2027 begins December 27, 2026, and fall 2027 ends January 8, 2028, but a date that changes from year to year is WSDOT's to announce, and its table is where it appears first. Clocks in Washington fall back on November 1, 2026, per our daylight saving time guide, so a September screenshot of a schedule is worth rechecking.

Weather is a separate question from the sailing seasons. Our guide to atmospheric rivers in Washington notes that in the December 2025 storm the highest precipitation total in the state, by the Washington State Climate Office's count, came from a station about 10 miles east of Enumclaw. WSDOT customer service takes calls at 206-464-6400 or 888-808-7977, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Pacific time daily.