Taking the Twilight Saga Self Tour in Forks, Washington

After not thinking about the Twilight Saga for years, I’ve had a Twilight-heavy year in 2020. This week, Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edward’s point of view) will be published. Back in March, before COVID-19 shut down the world, my husband and I traveled to Forks, Washington. so he could give a lecture at Peninsula Community College. So, of course, I had to see the Twilight sights. In this post, I’m sharing my experience with the Twilight Saga Self Tour.

Getting Your Guide

During our free day in Forks, Daniel sweetly indulged my inner fangirl. We hopped in our rental SUV and drove to the Forks Visitor Information Center. Parked outside are Bella Swan’s two trucks—the one from the books and the one used in the movies. After posing with them (for the Gram, y’all), I popped inside the Visitor Information Center to pick up a FREE Twilight Saga Self Tour map. You can also buy Twilight-related souvenirs and take photos with cardboard cut-outs of the characters.

Before I share more about the tour itself, I want to applaud the map. It gives you a visual layout of the town, as well as step by step instructions for driving to each site. The directions were easy to follow and took all the stress out of figuring things out. And yes, I definitely recommend that you drive. Forks is a small town, but the sites are a bit spread out, and there are only sidewalks on the main streets.

The Main Sites in Forks

Map in hand, Daniel and I drove to the first stop on the Twilight Saga Self Tour, the Swan household. Located in a residential area off Fork’s main street, it’s a cute white house with light blue trim. It is privately owned, though, so there are signs asking you to be respectful of the residents and not park outside. I snapped a photo from the driver’s seat and moved on.

Next, we stopped by Forks Community Hospital, where Dr. Carlisle Cullen works. He has a private parking spot at the administration building, as befits his status. Luckily, Carlisle wasn’t there, so we stole his spot and grabbed a photo with the sign. At this point, I’d gone from feeling kind of silly about the whole tour to absolutely loving the experience. It felt so cool to be “in the world” of a paranormal romance series I’d loved as a teenager. As an author, I can only dream that my readers will have a similar experience one day.

After the hospital, we drove through Fork’s downtown. If you haven’t yet seen the Forever Twilight Museum, the tour will lead you there. (You can read about my visit to the Forever Twilight Museum here.) This section of the tour also takes you past Forks High School, the police station and city hall, and other sites. You can check out a few tourist attractions there, but Daniel and I kept going to the next stop.

Our last stop in Forks itself was the Cullen household. In reality, the Cullen house is the Miller Tree Inn Bed and Breakfast, but the owners play along with the Twihards. It was raining when Daniel and I arrived, but I still went up to the front porch to pet a friendly cat and read the note from Esme. Unfortunately, the Cullens were on vacation when I was there, so I couldn’t visit them. Honestly, it was the for the best, as I didn’t need Edward pining over me now that I’m a married woman.

The Treaty Line

After seeing all the in-town Twilight Saga Self Tour sites, Daniel and I drove out toward La Push and werewolf territory. It’s about a 16-mile drive from the Cullen residence out to the beach. The roads are twisty, but the forest scenery is gorgeous.

After about 10 or 15 minutes of driving, we reached the Treaty Line, the boundary of the Quileute territory that the Cullens have agreed to respect. We parked at a nearby convenience store and took a photo with the Treaty Line banner. At this point, the rain had turned into sleet. As much as I wanted to say hi to Jacob and the pack, I wasn’t too keen about driving on icy roads. So, we skipped the beach and opted to get a nice warm lunch instead.

The Truth Behind the Tour

Given the weather conditions—ideal for sparkly vampires, not so ideal for us mortals—our Twilight Saga Self Tour only lasted a couple hours. However, if you drive all the way to La Push and take more time at the stops, you could spend half a day or more on the tour. Luckily, it’s entirely up to you!

Now, you may be wondering, as I was, how the Swan and Cullen households got on the tour. Did Stephanie Meyer have specific houses in mind while writing the books? Yes and no. I learned from a member of the city council that Stephanie did call them to research Forks. Although she didn’t pick an exact house for the Swan residence while writing the books, she did select a Cullen house based on one she found on a real estate website. However, that house is a bit outside of Forks and privately owned.

Therefore, when putting together the Twilight Saga Self Tour, the city council made their best guess of which house should be the Swan house. And instead of using the Cullen residence that Stephanie had in mind, they agreed that the Miller Tree Inn would house the Cullens. Honestly, I think the city council nailed it. The Swan house looks so much like what I pictured while reading the books. And it was way more convenient to have the Cullen house be in town and public, so that I could go up to the door without trespassing.

If you’re a current or former Twihard, I highly recommend checking out the Twilight Saga Self Tour. It and the museum are fantastic fan experiences, and the people of Forks are so welcoming. Plus, you cannot beat the beautiful nature of the Pacific Northwest.

Have you ever traveled somewhere because of a book? If you’ve been to Forks, what was your experience like? Share in the comments.

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