The Puget Sound region is home to the majority of Washington State citizens who live in the bustling cities and suburbs which extend north to south from Stanwood to Olympia.  Most Puget Sound communities lie either side of the north-south Interstate Highway 5 corridor that serves as the major traffic thoroughfare of the state.

Puget Sound itself is a body of water lying east of Admiralty Inlet, through which ocean waters reach inland some 50 miles from the Pacific Coast to provide all-weather ports for ocean-going ships at Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia.  The waterway is a complex and intricate system of channels, inlets, estuaries, embayments and islands.

Common usage has broadened the Sound's description to include the surrounding lowlands extending east to the Cascade Mountains and the various cities and towns lying therein.  Such usage also includes Whidbey, Camano, and Fidalgo islands as well as the Kitsap Peninsula.

Outside Admiralty Inlet and beyond Whidbey Island to the north, lie the popular San Juan Islands between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia.  This small group of islands are a favorite playground and weekend get-away destination for residents of the region and their northern neighbors in British Columbia, Canada.

Seattle, the state's largest city, lies in the center of the Puget Sound region and sits between Elliot Bay and Lake Washington.  Across the Sound is Bainbridge Island, the Kitsap Peninsula and Olympic Peninsula.  To the east, and across Lake Washington, is Seattle's near neighbor Bellevue.

Other major cities situated on the Sound include Everett, Olympia and Tacoma.  On the west side of the Sound are the cities of Bremerton, Port Orchard and Shelton.

The Puget Sound area offers a rich variety of vacation, recreational and holiday pursuits including big-city life, island retreats, cozy bed and breakfasts, romantic country inns and first class resorts.