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Going around a big museum or gallery can be a little bit like dining at an all-you-can-eat buffet. You end up stuffing yourself so full of the delicious things offered that you can’t fully appreciate the way they taste. Or in the case of works of art, you can’t fully appreciate their beauty and significance.

Sometimes it’s best to just take a break, get some fresh air and reboot your attention span. Enter an art trail.

Art trails are great because they prevent us from falling into that art-appreciation-induced soporific state. They’re all about bite-sized chunks of art punctuated with refreshing walks.

A lovely example is the Whidbey Art Trail in Washington State, based on an island of the same name located about 30 miles north of Seattle.

The idea is simple. Select some artists from the Art Trail’s roster, then plan a route between their studios using the map provided. Naturally, it’s up to you to choose how many you see and how long you take to see them.

As of now, 27 artists are listed on the Whidbey Trail, each with specializations varying from ceramics and textiles to sculpture, hand-blown glass and, of course, painting.

Whidbey Island’s tranquility and the reinvigorating quality of the Puget Sound breezes that wash over it mark this art trail out from many others. The island’s got plenty of charming and varied lodgings if you fancy making your stay longer than a day trip (one glimpse of that crystal clear water on Puget Sound and we think you probably will).

Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…

(Image: studio-d)

About the author

Brett AckroydBrett hopes to one day reach the shores of far-flung Tristan da Cunha, the most remote of all the inhabited archipelagos on Earth…as to what he’ll do when he gets there, he hasn’t a clue. Over the last 10 years, London, New York, Cape Town and Pondicherry have all proudly been referred to as home. Now it’s Copenhagen’s turn, where he lends his travel expertise to momondo.com.

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