Located 30 kilometres south of Seattle, on the west coast of USA, Kent is the sixth largest city in Washington state and home to more than 126,000 inhabitants. In addition to being close to beautiful mountainous scenery, Kent is full of activities and city entertainment. Its centre is a popular base for international companies, as Kent is the heart of the metroplex of Seattle-Tacoma, an attractive and wealthy area of the country.
One core destination of Kent is the Square Plaza, which is particularly interesting in the summer when a farmers market opens to sell fresh food, flowers, local art and homemade crafts, surrounded by picnic areas in which to enjoy the sun. There is plenty of nature to enjoy in the nearby mountains of Washington, yet the golf course offers beautiful trails, where visitors can bike or hike without leaving the city centre. Kent is full of local breweries, local bakeries, wineries and international cuisine to enjoy, in addition to a buzzing nightlife, with pubs, bars and clubs welcoming in locals and visitors alike. For creative visitors, there is an abundance of art to see in Kent, with a collection of galleries exhibiting different styles including modern, abstract, photography and graffiti throughout the city.
Kent lies less than half an hour drive from Seattle, and trains and buses take visitors between the two cities, including the King Country Metro or Sounder Rail to Kent Station, which is popular with commuters. Visitors can access Kent from other destinations throughout the country via various highways, for example, Interstate 5 and State Route 167.
People first settled in the area of Kent in the 1850s along the river, then called the White River, and was primarily a source of hops production until it became a centre of dairy farming in the 20th Century. In the 1950s, Kent expanded significantly as many large technology and aerospace companies moved to the city, and it gained its own sports team in 2009, with the movement of Seattle Thunderbirds to the area.