Market
Pike Place Market at opening
Arrive by eight, before the crush. Watch the flower stalls being built, the fishmongers icing salmon, and the low-numbered arcades still half-empty and workable.
A city built on seven hills between a saltwater sound and a freshwater lake, where fishing boats still lock through to the sea, glass artists blow colour into grey light, and the ferry deck is the best seat in town.
A timing note — Seattle's best window is May–Sep: the blue-sky season locals keep secret
Where you'll base yourself
DowntownBelltownCapitol HillBallard
Things to do
Mornings
Nature
Ballard Locks & the fish ladder
Free, open daily 7am to 9pm, and quietly astonishing: boats step between salt and fresh water while, in summer, salmon climb a twenty-one-step ladder past underwater glass.
Hike
Discovery Park loop to the lighthouse
Seattle's largest park: a 2.8-mile loop through bluff meadow and forest, then a steep spur down to West Point Lighthouse and driftwood beach.
Museum
Museum of Flight
At Boeing Field, the largest private air and space museum anywhere. Step aboard the first jet Air Force One and a retired Concorde on the outdoor pavilion.
Park
Volunteer Park & the Asian Art Museum
Capitol Hill's Olmsted park: a Victorian glasshouse of orchids, a brick water tower you can climb for free, and Isamu Noguchi's black doughnut framing the Needle.
Market
Fremont Sunday Market & the Troll
A Sundays-only flea market of vinyl, tools and vintage under the Aurora Bridge — the same bridge whose concrete troll clutches a real Volkswagen Beetle.
Coffee
Coffee crawl beyond the first Starbucks
Skip the queue at Pike Place's original store and drink where Seattle actually drinks: Victrola on Capitol Hill, Espresso Vivace, Fonté, or Ballard Coffee Works.
Afternoons
Views
Space Needle & its glass floor
The 1962 World's Fair icon, renovated with floor-to-ceiling glass, open-air tilted benches and a rotating glass floor one level below. Book a timed slot.
Art
Chihuly Garden and Glass
Dale Chihuly's home-town showcase at the Needle's foot: eight galleries, a hundred-foot glasshouse sculpture, and a garden where glass grows among real planting.
Museum
MoPOP: music, sci-fi and horror
Frank Gehry's crumpled metal shell holds Nirvana and Hendrix archives, a sci-fi hall of fame, and sound labs where you can actually pick up the instruments.
Museum
Seattle Art Museum downtown
Behind Borofsky's hammering silhouette, a strong Northwest Coast Native collection, Australian Aboriginal painting and Porcelain Room. Free on the first Thursday each month.
History
Pioneer Square and the Underground
Seattle burned in 1889 and rebuilt one storey higher, sealing the old sidewalks below. A guided tour drops you into that buried block of storefronts.
Views
Overlook Walk to the Great Wheel
The rebuilt waterfront's new stair-and-park bridge spills from Pike Place down to the piers; walk it, then ride the 175-foot wheel out over Elliott Bay.
Water
Paddle Lake Union past the houseboats
Rent a kayak or paddleboard off the north shore and cross open water between float-plane landings, floating homes and the wooden hulls of the maritime museum.
Evenings
Views
Kerry Park at golden hour
A pocket park on Queen Anne's south slope and the postcard everyone knows: Needle, downtown towers, Elliott Bay, and Rainier floating behind on clear evenings.
Beach
Alki Beach sunset in West Seattle
Two miles of sand facing the skyline across the bay. Reserve a public fire pit in summer, or just eat fish and chips on the seawall and watch tankers pass.
Bar
Smith Tower Observatory bar
The 1914 tower was once the tallest west of the Mississippi. Its 35th-floor bar has an open-air deck and the original Chinese carved-wood Wishing Chair; tickets drop after 4pm.
Nightlife
Ballard Avenue evening
A landmarked brick street of oyster bars, taprooms and Conor Byrne, Ballard's oldest bar, where Irish sessions and local songwriters play most nights.
Music
Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall
Downtown's acoustically excellent concert hall, a block from the market. The season runs September to June; check for the cheaper unreserved-seat programmes.
Sport
Mariners game at T-Mobile Park
Retractable roof, garlic fries and a skyline over the outfield. Home games run April to late September; the ballpark is a ten-minute walk from Pioneer Square.
Nightlife
Pike-Pine bar crawl on Capitol Hill
The city's densest nightlife corridor: Canon's encyclopaedic spirits list, dive-bar holdouts, queer institutions on Pine, and late kitchens that outlast downtown's.
