Washington's Most Walkable Town Is A Beach Beauty Created To Be A Family-Friendly Paradise

Driving up to your weekend rental in Seabrook, Washington, you might think you've arrived on the set of an old-timey TV show like "Mayberry, RFD." That's because this coastal town of 500 homes was designed to emulate those sentimental, small town tropes, from the beach-view layout of the streets right on down to the style of the doghouses and dormer windows. Except that Mayberry didn't have a spa or concierge service. Seabrook does.

This vacation destination on the Pacific Coast, located 2.5 hours from Seattle, sprang up seemingly overnight in 2004. It was conceived of and designed so that family-oriented Washingtonians might recreate their own beachy childhood idylls in a place so picture-perfect it could be a movie set. There's a bookstore, toy store, wine bar, and gift shop in a cute downtown — and no matter where you stay, it can all be reached in minutes, on foot. The individual homes are imbued with quirky character and given whimsical names: You can rent The Ritz Coralton, a gracious two-story family home clad in seafoam clapboard, or A Stone's Throw, a cedar-shingled cottage located "downtown" around the corner from Growler's Alley, the local beer garden.

All this small-town charm comes with a luxury price tag, of course. There are plenty of affordable beach towns on the West Coast, but Seabrook isn't one of them. A three-bedroom weekly rental here costs about as much as a similarly sized villa in the Caribbean. But Seabrook takes everything you love about small town America and turns the dial up to eleven.

What makes Seabrook stand out in comparison to any other masterplanned suburb is that it was thoughtfully designed to put people first instead of their automobiles. Everything is within walking distance, from the bocce ball court to the fitness center. And there are sustainability-driven elements like the absence of lawns and native plant landscaping. Town founder and CEO Casey Roloff eagerly explains the concept of "new urbanism" during the weekly Saturday walking tours in case you're interested in learning more about the town's design. That's right: Seabrook has a CEO, not a mayor, because under the hood it's really more of a town-themed resort than a real town. Just 15% of the homes are occupied by full-time residents.

For some, the pristine, theme-park quality of this place is over-the-top. "I feel like Seabrook is what someone who was designing a casino in Vegas to look like a small New England coastal town would make," one Redditor writes. The atmosphere has often been compared to "The Truman Show," the Jim Carrey movie about a man whose perfect life was being staged, without his knowledge, as a reality show unfolding under a literal bubble. If that sounds vaguely claustrophobic, you might be happier vacationing a couple of hours further south in the folksy, authentic, hidden gem of Long Beach. But if you're an unabashed escapist with a sentimental streak — and a brood of beach-loving kiddos — you may find yourself never wanting to leave Seabrook's magic behind.

If your favorite movie is "It's A Wonderful Life," then Seabrook is going to ring your bell the way Universal Studios does for "Jurassic Park" fans. Imagine a perfect seaside town, like Mystic, Connecticut, but with resort-style features like an airport shuttle, gourmet restaurants, and a concierge to help you set up a surf lesson or hire a private chef for the week. And forget about calling an Uber if you do need a ride, because the town has its own version of a taxi app — and the cost is built into your rental fee, so you won't pay anything extra to use it.

You might spend a day at the beach getting sandy and digging for razor clams, then swim in the town pools, get in a game or two of pickleball, or just watch the kids play at one of the town's 30 parks. There are plentiful hiking and biking trails nearby, too, and a town hall you can rent for a wedding or family reunion.

All the homes in Seabrook are privately owned, but the Seabrook company manages renting them out on behalf of owners. Intended for vacation-length stays, there's a three night minimum that can stretch to seven nights in peak season. Owners can and do list their homes on Airbnb and VRBO, but experienced renters claim that renting through the Seabrook company gets you perks like pool access that aren't available when you rent on private platforms, so it pays to go with the flow.