Seattle Travel Guide

Seattle, Washington — Where to Go

Seattle Sightseeing Overview

Seattle was founded in 1869 and did not really blossom until the Alaska Gold Rush of the late 19th century, when the city glittered with racy Wild West ‘underground’ prostitution and illegal drinking dens.

As a result, its historic attractions, outside those of Native American culture, are little more than a century old, focused around Pioneer Square and Yesler Way, near the city’s Waterfront. The International District is filled with medicinal herb shops and wonderful Asian restaurants and shops. The Waterfront area is full of unique maritime attractions and is a good place for visitors to enjoy the views and fresh air of Puget Sound from Waterfront Park or to board a Washington State Ferry to local islands.

Pike Place Market, First Avenue and Pike Street, is a now-renowned fish and vegetable market, which also contains open crafts bazaars, as well many trendy bars and restaurants. Continuing north from First Avenue is Belltown, the city’s most rapidly gentrifying neighborhood and entertainment quarter, full of restaurants, art galleries and nightclubs.

At various points, visitors can board the famous monorail to the Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle, the Pacific Science Center, the Seattle Repertory Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Opera House and Key Arena - a major sporting venue.

Other neighborhoods of interest include Ballard, in north Seattle, once a Norwegian shipping village and now home to artists’ studios, galleries and a number of live music venues, restaurants and the Hiram M Chittenden Locks.

Fremont, Capitol Hill and the University District are equally youthful neighborhoods, with cinemas, vintage clothing shops, home furnishing stores and coffee bars.

Seattle Tourist Information

Seattle’s Convention&VisitorsBureau
Citywide Concierge Center
Washington State Convention and Trade Center
7th Avenue and Pike Street
Tel: (206) 461 5888.
Website: www.visitseattle.org
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700, closed for lunch 1300-1400; also open Sat-Sun in summer.

Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau administrative offices are located at One Convention Place, 701 Pike Street (tel: (206) 461 5840) and accept postal, e-mail and telephone enquiries only.

There are other visitor centers at the airport, at Pike Place Market and, from June to August only, at Pioneer Square (open in summer through September), Occidental Street and South Main Street.

Seattle Sightseeing

The CityPass (website: www.citypass.com) offers free admission to five Seattle attractions - Pacific Science Center, Seattle Aquarium, Museum of Flight and Woodland Park Zoo and a Seattle Harbor Tour with Argosy Cruises. It is valid for nine days and can be purchased from the attractions on the day or online in advance. Another pass, the Go Seattle Card (tel: (206) 285 3010 or 1 800 887 9103; website: www.goseattlecard.com) offers a one- to multi-day card for free admission to over 30 attractions.

Seattle Sightseeing

Key Attractions in Seattle, Washington

SeattleCenter
Built for the ‘Century 21’ exhibition at the 1962 World’s Fair, the 30-hectare (74-acre) Seattle Center is home to the city’s most recognizable landmark - the 185m (605ft) Space Needle. The Seattle Center is also home to the Experience Music Project, the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, Pacific Science Center and the Children’s Museum, designed for the energy and imagination of younger visitors. Numerous civic festivals, such as Bumbershoot, Folk Life and Bite of Seattle, take place here. The Intiman Theater, 201 Mercer Street (tel: (206) 269 1901; website: www.intiman.org), produces classic dramatic works, while the Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer Street (tel: (206) 684 7200), is a state-of-the-art performance venue which houses the Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Seattle Repertory Theater.

305 Harrison Street
Tel: (206) 684 7200.
Website: www.seattlecenter.com

Experience Music Project
The 13,006-sq-m (140,000-sq-ft), Frank Gehry-designed Experience Music Project (EMP), with its unmistakable purple and red metallic exterior, has been described as ‘the Jacket of the Space Needle dropped on the ground’. It celebrates American popular music - jazz, rock ’n’ roll, gospel, blues, funk, punk, country and hip hop. Items from the 1970s, including the world’s largest collection of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia, right up to the 1990s grunge scene are on display. Other exhibits include technologically advanced interactive and interpretative exhibits, as well as more than 80,000 music artifacts, an extensive recorded sound archive, film, photographs and stage costumes. The Guitar Gallery’s Quest for Volume exhibit explores the origins of amplified instruments, while the Sound Lab contains the latest in musical gear and audio technology.

325 Fifth Avenue North
Tel: (206) 770 2700 or 1 877 367 7361.
Website: www.empsfm.org
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1900 (Jun-Aug); daily 1000-1700 (Sep-May).
Admission charge.

Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
Housed in the same building as EMP, this fun place is dedicated to the value of science fiction and pays homage to its creators. Its timeline runs from Mary Shelly (author of Frankenstein) and Jules Verne to Star Wars and things way ‘out there’. Exhibits include Fantastic Voyages - activities devoted to strange worlds; Brave New Worlds, which highlights societies of the future - Matrix, the Jetsons and Blade Runner; and Them!, which is filled with displays of robots and aliens.

325 Fifth Avenue North
Tel: (206) 770 2700 or 1 877 367 7361.
Website: www.empsfm.org
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1900 (Jun-Aug); daily 1000-1700 (Sep-May).
Admission charge.

Pacific Science Center
Both indoor and outdoor displays are totally hands-on including lasers and holograms. Though there are many changing exhibits, some of the permanent ones include Insect Village with huge robotic insects, Puget Sound Model and Saltwater Tide Pool, a first alert weather center, and Body Works with lots of exhibits where you can test your reaction time. Kids learn how an electric motor works at the Scientific Playground.

200 Second Avenue North
Tel: (206) 443 2001.
Website: www.pacsci.org
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1800. Hours may vary slightly according to season; check website.
Admission charge.

Space Needle
The Needle was designed by architect Edward E Carlson as a tribute to the vision of spaceship culture during the Cold War era. The underground foundation was so huge, at 91m (30ft) deep and 366m (120ft) wide, that it required 467 cement trucks and an entire day to fill the hole, in what became the largest continuous concrete ‘pour’ in the West. Once completed, the foundation weighed as much as the Needle itself. The steel construction followed, using massive spiky legs to hold the spaceship observation deck and revolving restaurant on top. It takes 45 seconds in a glass elevator to reach the pinnacle.

400 Broad Street
Tel: (206) 905 2100 or 1 800 964 7695.
Website: www.spaceneedle.com
Opening hours: Sun-Thurs 0900-2300, Fri-Sat 0900-2400.
Admission charge.

The Children’s Museum
Kids aged one to 10 and adults that act like them love this museum. There are lots of big wooden cars and buses. Your Neighborhood has a play grocery store, a Mexican restaurant and a theater where kids can dress up, control lights and put on shows. The Mountain Forest is a tiny trek up and around a mountain that focuses on the area’s environment.

305 Harrison Street
Tel: (206) 441 1768.
Website: www.thechildrensmuseum.org
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1000-1700, Sat-Sun 1000-1800.
Admission charge.

Frye Art Museum
Easy to spot, this museum has a tiled silo-like structure attached to it. Founded by meatpacking moguls Charles and Emma Frye, this lovely venue focuses on 19th- and 20th-century French, German and American sculptures and paintings. There is one room solely devoted to portraits of celebrated figures by 19th-century German artist Franz von Lenbach, plus a constant array of changing exhibits.

704 Terry Avenue (Capitol Hill)
Tel: (206) 622 9250.
Website: www.fryeart.org
Opening hours: Tues, Wed, Fri and Sat 1000-1700, Thurs 1000-2000, Sun 1200-1700.
Free admission.

Pike Place Market
The Pike Place Market is the oldest continually operating Farmers’ Market in the USA, and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007. Situated just above the Waterfront, it features abundant fresh seafood and produce, as well as local handcrafted items. This is the city’s prime people-watching venue, where vendors and visitors are often more colorful than the merchandise. There are also marvelous views of ferries and freighters passing on the bay below, street performances and a variety of unique pubs and restaurants. The original Starbucks, which brought the words espresso and latte into the American lexicon, is located here, as well as several small Mexican and other specialty groceries. The market runs heritage tours Wednesday to Friday at 1100 and Saturday at 0930 (for a charge).

First Avenue and Pike Street
Tel: (206) 682 7453.
Website: www.pikeplacemarket.org
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 1000-1800, Sun 1100-1700. During summer farming season, produce and fish markets often open at 0800.
Free admission.

Seattle Art Museum
‘Hammering Man’, a massive, 14.6m (48ft) sculpture of a manual worker, stands at the entrance to the Seattle Art Museum (or SAM), a striking post-modern building designed by Robert Venturi. Expanded in 1007, the museum has doubled its space. On the fourth floor are noteworthy permanent exhibits of art from Africa and Native American Northwest, as well as touring international exhibitions. The Porcelain Room, arranged by color and theme, includes a large collection of Asian and European porcelain. Modern works of art including those by Jackson Pollack, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and even a Georgia O’Keefe, along with an interesting collection of Aboriginal art grace the third floor. The other two floors are a free zone with changing exhibits. Branches of the museum include the Seattle Asian Art Museum, 1400 East Prospect Street, which features changing Asian exhibits and, on the downtown Waterfront, the new Olympic Sculpture Park, 2901 Western Avenue. A fountain with a sculpture of a man standing with his hands out touching the water at Alaskan and Broad Streets marks its beginning. Located alongside the water, it is a pleasant place where you see the locals riding their bikes, walking their babies, their dogs or themselves.

1300 First Avenue
Tel: (206) 654 3100.
Website: www.seattleartmuseum.org
Opening hours: Tues, Wed, Sat and Sun 1000-1700, Thurs-Fri 1000-2100.
Admission charge.

Waterfront
Centerd on Waterfront Park, above Pike Place Market, the promenade and piers that line Elliot Bay are in constant action, with maritime industries, shops and restaurants jostled together, ferries and freighters docking and the occasional seaplane flying overhead. An investment of US$300 million aimed at waterfront development includes the Bell Harbor International Trade Center and the World Trade Center complex. Many new condominiums and piers are also being planned to attract passenger cruise liners and private pleasure boats. Harbour tours, island cruises and fishing excursions are easily available from here. On Pier 59, the recently remodeled Seattle Aquarium has touch pools, sea otters, a Pacific coral reef and other marine life on display, as well as an exhibit dedicated to the tide-pool life of the Washington coast. Pier 66 is home to the Bell Street Pier Cruise Terminal (see Getting There By Water), where world-class cruise liners dock, amid other attractions, such as a state-of-the-art international conference center, restaurants and a marina. Also at Pier 66 is Odyssey, The Maritime Discovery Center, with hands-on exhibits. Visitors can pilot a virtual container ship through Puget Sound or haul in plastic fish on a fake factory trawler. Nearby, the bare wood deck of Pier 62/63 becomes a concert venue every summer, where artists perform amid an expansive setting of skyscrapers, boats and sunsets.

Waterfront Park

Seattle Aquarium
Pier 59, 1483 Alaskan Way
Tel: (206) 386 4300.
Website: www.seattleaquarium.org
Opening hours: Daily 0930-1700.
Admission charge.

Bell Street Cruise Terminal
Pier 66, 2225 Alaskan Way
Tel: (206) 615 3900 or 728 3337 (cruise hotline).
Website: www.portseattle.org

Odyssey, The Maritime Discovery Center
Pier 66, 2225 Alaskan Way
Tel: (206) 374 4000.
Website: www.ody.org
Opening hours: Tues-Thurs 1000-1500, Fri 1000-1600, Sat-Sun 1100-1700.
Admission charge.

Pioneer Square
Pioneer Square is situated south of the main downtown area. It is a National Historic District showcasing Seattle’s early history with the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park and the unique Underground Tour of the sunken storefronts. This was the home of the original ‘Skid Road’, a term born when timber was slid down Yesler Way to a steam-powered mill on the Waterfront. Pioneer Square is Seattle’s oldest neighborhood, full of restored redbrick buildings containing numerous shops, with everything from antiques to handmade toys, as well as bookstores and art galleries. At 42 storys (159m/522ft), Smith Tower, 506 Second Avenue, at Yesler Way, which overlooks the square, was the tallest building in the world outside NYC when it was completed in 1914. By night, especially on the weekend or after a baseball game at Safeco Field, crowds jam the many restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

Pioneer Square
202 Yesler Way
Tel: (206) 667 0687.
Website: www.pioneersquare.org
Free admission.

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Northwest corner of Jackson Street and Second Avenue South
Tel: (206) 220 4240.
Website: www.nps.gov/klse
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1700.
Free admission.

Underground Tour
One of the most interesting and entertaining ways to learn the history of Seattle is to take the walk that weaves above and below Pioneer Square. The entertaining, 90-minute tour is filled with tales of corruption, get-rich quick-schemes, plus the 1889 Great Seattle Fire and how the area, which was once the street level, became the underground. It begins at the 1880s restored saloon, Doc Maynard’s, and ends at Rogues Gallery, which displays pictures of historic Seattle colorful characters.

608 First Avenue
Tel: (206) 682 4646.
Website: www.undergroundtour.com
Opening hours: Vary with season; call or check website.
Admission charge.

Chinatown/International District
Chinese immigrants began settling here in the mid 1800s. Today, a broader Asian community includes Japanese and Filipino residents and such cultural offerings as a thriving restaurant district, a Buddhist temple, herbalist shops, antiques stores and Karaoke bars. Hing Hay, the ‘park for pleasurable gatherings’, has a bright pagoda donated by the City of Taipei and Kobe Terrace (named for Seattle’s sister city in Japan) displays a 3,600kg (8,000lb) stone lantern. The popular Uwajimaya Market is the Northwest’s largest Asian store, with services including a grocery, bookshop, sushi bar and cookery events. The small Wing Luke Museum is the USA’s only museum devoted to Asian-American history, with displays on immigration, the arts and traditional medicine. Built in 1909, the Nippon Kan Theater, 628 South Washington Street, was the cultural heart of Seattle’s Japanese community until the internment of Japanese-American citizens during WWII. The building was ‘rediscovered’ in 1978 and is now a designated historic landmark, hosting myriad events.

Between Fifth and Eight Avenues (across Fourth Avenue, uphill from Pioneer Square)
Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Association
409 Maynard Street, Suite P-l
Tel: (206) 382 1197.
Website: www.cidbia.org

Uwajimaya Market
600 Fifth Avenue South
Tel: (206) 624 6248 or 1 800 889 1928.
Website: www.uwajimaya.com
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0900-2200, Sun 0900-2100.
Free admission.

Wing Luke Asian Museum
407 Seventh Avenue South
Tel: (206) 623 5124.
Website: www.wingluke.org
Opening hours: Tues-Fri 1100-1630, Sat-Sun 1200-1600.
Admission charge.

Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour
One of the most unique tours you will ever take is a visit to Boeing. This is where jumbo jets (747, 767, 777 and the new Dreamliner, the 787) are built. Just to see the factory, the world’s largest building, is worth the trip. It has an area of nearly 40 hectares (99 acres) and is 27.4m (90ft) high or the size of 911 basketball courts. It is so large that it creates its own atmosphere. Clouds sometimes form at its ceiling. The tour begins with a short film about Boeing’s history and proceeds to the balcony of the factory for an overview of 777 and 787 construction. The visitor center has a museum and, for an extra charge, guests can ride an XJ5 flight simulator, fly at supersonic speeds and do 360-degree rolls. If you don’t have your own transportation, several companies offer tours.

8415 Paine Field Boulevard, Mukiteo
Tel: (425) 438 8100 or 1 800 464 1476.
Website: www.futureofflight.org
Opening hours: Daily 0830-1730; last tour begins at 1500.
Admission charge.

The Museum of Flight
At Boeing Field, south of Downtown, towards Sea-Tac airport, the Museum of Flight has a collection of more than 130 aircraft, largely vintage - some hanging from the glass ceiling of Boeing’s original factory, the Red Barn. This permanent exhibit is unquestionably a tribute to the airline giant but nonetheless covers the entire history of flight, from Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings and the Wright Brothers to the NASA space program.

9404 East Marginal Way South (at Boeing Field)
Tel: (206) 764 5700 or 5720 (recorded information).
Website: www.museumofflight.org
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700.
Admission charge.

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
This museum on the University of Washington campus has a special focus on paleontological history, with dinosaur skeleton displays and fossils and cultural exhibits of the Pacific Northwest, covering more than 30 Native American tribes and including the controversial 9,000-year-old skeleton of Kennewick Man. Online exhibits feature memorabilia from Sir Ernest Shackleton’s doomed exploratory voyage to Antarctica in 1914, including diary entries, rare film footage, and 150 extraordinary images by ship photographer Frank Hurley.

17th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 45th Street, University District
Tel: (206) 543 5590.
Website: www.washington.edu/burkemuseum
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700 (first Thurs each month 1000-2000).
Admission charge.

Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art
This 6,968-sq-m (75,000-sq-ft) international museum of glass art, designed by Arthur Erickson, is notable for its 27m- (90ft-) tall and 30m- (100ft-) wide amphitheater, which tilts at a 17-degree angle and contains a hot glass studio where artistic teams blow and cast glass. The museum is surrounded by reflecting pools and installations. Works include a 703kg (1,883lb) glass angel and a 152m (500ft) ‘bridge of glass’ (designed by the Northwest’s most celebrated glass artist, Dale Chihuly) linking the museum to newly fashionable downtown Tacoma. The inaugural exhibition included work by John Cage, Mark Tobey and Morris Graves, all of whom were contemporaries at one time in the Pacific Northwest.

1801 East Dock Street, Tacoma
Tel: (253) 396 1768 or 1 866 468 7386 .
Website: www.museumofglass.org
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1200-1700 (Jun-Aug); Wed-Fri 1000-1700, Sun 1200-1700 (Sep-May); third Thursday each month 1000-2000 (all year).
Admission charge.

Woodland Park Zoo
The 37-hectare (92-acre) Woodland Park Zoo, considered among the top 10 zoos in America, is a world leader in freeing animals from cages and letting them roam free in a natural setting. Exhibits include Bug World, a butterfly exhibit, the Trail of Vines, Northern Trail, a tropical rainforest, the African savannah and an elephant habitat reminiscent of Thailand. The zoo’s Willawong Station is a walkthrough facility with 200 flying birds (for a small charge you can buy a seed stick for feeding birds). The new Zoomazium has interactive exhibits and videos for kids.

5500 Phinney Avenue North
Tel: (206) 684 4800.
Website: www.zoo.org
Opening hours: Daily 0930-1600 (Oct-Apr), 0930-1800 (May-Sep).
Admission charge.

Further Distractions

Capitol Hill
Once the residence of Seattle’s wealthiest citizens, today Capitol Hill is populated by the city’s most diverse and youth-oriented population. The Broadway district, just south of St Mark’s Cathedral, is where to find the city’s gay community, grunge rockers, hip hoppers and people of many cultures, who share the area with long-time residents of the historic mansions, elegant old homes and classic apartment houses. In contrast are the tree-lined streets that border stately 19th-century mansions. It is also home to the Volunteer Park Conservatory, 1400 Galer Street, Lakeview Cemetery, 1554 15th Avenue East, and the Frye Art Museum.

Throughout the area are numerous boutiques, entertainment venues and coffee houses, particularly along Broadway Avenue East, between East Denny Way and East Roy Street and along Pike and Pine between Boren Avenue and Broadway. Young people come in search of cheap, funky clothes whereas the others seek the area out for fashions that are a little ’out there’.

Nearby, the Central District/South Seattle neighborhoods have long been the heart of the city’s African-American community and, in the 1930s, the area began establishing a reputation for jazz and blues musicians. Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Jimi Hendrix and Ernestine Anderson have all lived here at one time.

Ballard
Seattle’s Scandinavian heritage remains evident in this now trendy maritime neighborhood of north Seattle, where the Alaskan fishing fleet winters at Fishermen’s Terminal before embarking on its quest for salmon. The Hiram M Chittenden Locks provide the link to the saltwater beyond. A walk along the locks is a unique experience, with underwater windows from which to watch migrating salmon. Historic downtown Ballard has brick streets, numerous galleries and lively taverns full of local music. From May to September, there is a Sunday market with fresh produce and crafts on sale. The Nordic Heritage Museum is also located here. This is the country’s only museum honoring immigrants from the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) in collections of photographs, costumes and century-old fishing and maritime implements. The Ballard Chamber of Commerce (see below) can offer additional sightseeing tips.

Ballard
Tel: (206) 784 9705.
Website: www.ballardchamber.com

Nordic Heritage Museum
3014 Northwest 67th Street
Tel: (206) 789 5707.
Website: www.nordicmuseum.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1600, Sun 1200-1600.
Admission charge.

Washington Park Arboretum
On the shores of Lake Washington, south of the University District on Union Bay, 6km (4 miles) east of downtown Seattle, is an 93-hectare (230-acre) park, with over 4,800 species of rare trees and other flora, both native and imported. The impressive Japanese Garden has koi pools, a mountain-inspired waterfall and a traditional teahouse.

2300 Arboretum Drive East
Tel: (206) 543 8800.
Website: http://depts.washington.edu/wpa
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1600 (visitor center); 0700-dusk (grounds).
Free admission.

Japanese Garden
1075 Lake Washington Boulevard
Tel: (206) 684 4725.
Website: www.seattle.gov/parks/parkspaces/japanesegarden.htm
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1700 (late Feb-late Mar); Tues-Sun 1000-1900 (late Mar-late Apr); daily 1000-2000 (May-mid Aug); Tues-Sun 1000-1900 (mid Aug-mid Sep); Tues-Sun 1000-1800 (mid Sep-mid Oct); Tues-Sun 1000-1600 (mid Oct-mid Nov); closed Thanksgiving-late Feb.
Admission charge.

Alki Drive
Along the water, out in West Seattle, the 4km (2.5-mile) white sandy beach along Alki Drive is the point where the first white settlers arrived in 1851, before retreating to the less windy site on Elliott Bay. The view over Puget Sound and the city skyline is considered one of the best in the city. In summer, the beach is filled with families and children picnicking, swimming, sunbathing and eating the specialty fish and chips.

Alki Drive, West Seattle

Fremont
A walk through this funky, fun neighborhood (Seattle’s Left Bank) will bring a smile to your face. Its declaration as the ’Center of the Universe’ is commemorated with a ballistic missile atop a roof on 35th Street and Evanston Avenue. Check out the stainless steel curly-cues that adorn the building that houses Stone Mountain Creamery. Also of note is a statue of Lenin, the Fremont troll under the bridge and unique boutiques, ethnic restaurants, consignment shops and quirky coffee shops like the Good Cafe, which offers ’coffee, scones and live girls’.

Fremont area between Dayton and Fremont Avenue North and 34th and 39th Streets