30 Apr WANDERINGS: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Seattle’s artistry is inspired by the outdoors. Nearly every view is a panorama of water and mountains, often with flighty cloud cover obscuring peaks. Sometimes the rising hump of Mount Rainier can be seen, sometimes not. Islands and peninsulas, many with snow-capped mountains of their own, seem to rise from fog banks or the Salish Sea itself. Towering evergreen trees line parks and pop up between buildings.
The mountains are often hidden from view when clouds rise over the Space Needle, Downtown, and the Salish Sea, but sometimes Mount Rainier is still visible. Photo: Rachael Jones
Since time immemorial, Coast Salish-speaking people have lived on islands and inlets of western Washington. As visitors arrive by sea or air, those first glimpses of art often celebrate the land and First Peoples who lived among the rainclouds and cedar trees. Air passengers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are greeted by John Grade’s 7,000-pound Boundary, a sculptural nod to the extending root structure of a red cedar. For those arriving via ferry, a trio of galleries featuring works by Native artists is near the docks: Tidelands, Steinbrueck, and Stonington galleries are all perfect places to check out paintings, masks, totems, and contemporary Native photography before heading to the bustle of the nearby fish market.
Pike Place Market and Downtown Seattle
While Pike Place Market is nearly 120 years old, Overlook Walk is brand new. In October 2024, the pedestrian connection between the waterfront, Pike Place, and Downtown opened, offering 360-degree views of Seattle, T-Mobile Park, the Olympic Mountains, and Mount Rainier. New restaurants and small businesses spill out of the confines of Pike Place Market onto the walkway, which winds through pocketed parks and public art. A meandering trip through the stores and stalls leads visitors to the east side of the market, where the iconic Public Market sign, the flagship Starbucks, and fish-throwing merchants are located.
The newly opened Overlook Walk connects Pike Place Market to the waterfront, adding 60,000 square feet of park space to Downtown. Photo: David Newman
Rising above Pike Place are the skyscrapers and the bustle of Downtown. Architecture enthusiasts should note the 27-story Seattle Tower among the skyscrapers. Many are familiar with the Space Needle, the city’s iconic observation tower built for the 1962 World’s Fair, but the Seattle Tower is a classic Art Deco building with a Pacific Northwest twist. The hotel was built in 1928 and the exterior features 33 shades of brick, ascending from darkest to lightest, arranged to look like a rising mountain. The interior is decadent and cavernous, as if you were inside the mountain.
Pike Place Market is open seven days a week and features more than 200 shops and restaurants. More than 70 farmers sell produce, everything from fresh asparagus to bright zinnias. Photo: Alabastro Photography
Three blocks away is the Central Library, one of Seattle’s most debated architectural wonders. Unlike traditionally dark and quiet book nooks, the library is a glass-and-steel stack of polygons rising 11 stories high. There is a neon-lit escalator, a fourth floor painted in 15 shades of red, and a nonfiction Book Spiral, which slopes downward from the ninth to the sixth floor.
“I love Central Library,” says Gwen Lennox, the program manager of the Seattle Architecture Foundation. “The interior is such a fun architectural experience.” The library is the last stop on the Seattle Skyline walking tour hosted by the non-profit foundation, which offers 19 tours, each highlighting the history and architecture of a Seattle neighborhood. “Our tours are led by volunteers,” says Lennox. “They are passionate about encouraging other people to be excited about Seattle and urbanism.” Most folks who attend are locals who will often add their own stories, giving the experience a community feel.
The monorail opened in 1962 for the World’s Fair. The 3-minute ride between Westlake Center and Seattle Center passes through the Museum of Pop Culture. Photos courtesy of Visit Seattle
The Seattle Art Museum is also Downtown, with two additional locations. For the first time, all three locations will be showcasing work by the same artist, Ai Weiwei. In his largest-ever U.S. exhibition, Ai’s works appear at the main museum Downtown; at the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, which will exhibit his reinterpretation in LEGOs of one of Claude Monet’s water lilies paintings through March 2026; and at the Olympic Sculpture Garden on the Central Seattle Waterfront, which will display 12 bronze sculptures.
Amid the gardens and the plaza inside Chihuly Garden and Glass is the Glasshouse, built to shelter Dale Chihuly’s 100-foot-long sculpture. ©Dale Chihuly
From Downtown’s Westlake Center, a four-story shopping center and the southern terminus for the Seattle Center Monorail, consider taking a quick ride to the Olympic Sculpture Garden and Space Needle, which passes through the Museum of Pop Culture’s metallic sheet-metal building. Designed by Frank Gehry to resemble a smashed electric guitar, the shimmering exterior gives the building a new hue each time the sun peeks out. The museum showcases exhibitions honoring music history and Pop culture and includes a hands-on sound lab.
The Seattle Center
In the shadow of the Space Needle, the Seattle Center has long been the cultural hub of the city. In the 1880s, land and money were set aside for a civic hall just a mile north of Downtown. One hundred and forty years later, the 74-acre Seattle Center has grown to include dozens of attractions, with the Space Needle at its center. Designed for the “Age of Space”-themed World’s Fair in 1962, the saucer-shaped top has a rotating glass floor to better scrutinize every detail of the city below and the mountains beyond.
The Space Needle often gets a new coat of paint for big birthdays. It was last painted from Galaxy Gold to its original Astronaut White in 2023. A Christmas tree tops the structure in December.
Tourists and locals flock to Seattle Center to cheer on the WNBA Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena, marvel at Chihuly Garden and Glass, or entertain kids at the Pacific Science Center. Parks stuffed with public art fill every sliver of space between the Space Needle, the five museums, and the 10 performance venues that make up Seattle Center. In the summer, a constant stream of festivals, pop-up markets, and music fills the paths and nearby areas.
Seattle architect Minoru Yamasaki designed the Pacific Science Center with its iconic arches and fountains. Photo: Rachael Jones, photos courtesy of Visit Seattle
The Music Scene
Whether your ideal Seattle soundtrack is rainy-night jazz, grunge from the early ’90s, or new voices, this is a city filled with guitar riffs, cymbal crashes, and mic checks. To hear what the cool kids are listening to, plan a trip around Labor Day to catch Bumbershoot, one of the biggest music festivals in the nation. There are art installations and poetry slams, but music takes center stage. Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt, and Kendrick Lamar have all graced Bumbershoot’s stages.
Jonathan Borofsky’s Hammering Man, outside the Seattle Art Museum, was built to honor working-class men and women.
For those less fond of frolicking with fans in the August heat, there are Broadway musicals at The Paramount Theatre, opera or ballet performances at McCaw Hall, and dinner-and-a-show seats at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley. Seattle’s oldest operating venue, Moore Theatre, is another fun place to catch live music and stand-up comedy. The Showbox, a 1939 Art Deco gem, and The Crocodile are both iconic concert venues. You’ll likely be standing all night, but you’ll feel like an in-the-know local. If quiet nights and attentive service are not hotel prerequisites, consider booking a funky hotel room atop the concert venue at Hotel Crocodile.
The Central Library, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, has a diamond-shaped exterior made of glass and steel that leads to a dramatic reading experience inside the library. Photo: David Newman
If attentive service and luxury are hotel must-haves, check in to the Lotte Hotel Seattle. Built from the bones of a First United Methodist Church and the adjoining 44-story tower, the hotel offers sweeping views, Korean hospitality, and Northwest touches of elegance, including a front desk carved from a Sequoia tree. The Edgewater hotel, built over the water, is another great option for oceanside views. Be sure to check out the photograph of The Beatles fishing from their hotel room window.
Hunt for Sculptures
To add a touch of artistic whimsy to your Seattle adventure, try hunting for trolls. Danish environmental artist Thomas Dambo partnered with local volunteers, tribes, and foundations to install adorable, giant troll sculptures across the city. North of Lake Union, a concrete troll is camped under the Highway 99 bridge in Fremont. (While there, grab gyros from Sinbad Express or sit down at The Whale Wins, with cuisine by James Beard Award-winning chef Renee Erickson.) Find a troll in West Seattle’s Lincoln Park and another outside the National Nordic Museum in Ballard. If a ferry trip is on your Seattle itinerary, Sakai Park on Bainbridge Island and Point Robinson Park on Vashon Island also feature Dambo’s trolls.
A Tlingit totem pole from Alaska and a Victorian-style iron pergola preside over Pioneer Square, Seattle’s first neighborhood. Photo: Alabaster Photography
A perfect trip to Seattle ends at Kerry Park. This elevated park is the best place to take a picture-perfect postcard view of Seattle. From here, you can see the entire city laid out below you, like a map of your Seattle adventures and memories.
A tornado of mostly guitars rises two stories tall inside the Museum of Pop Culture. Photos courtesy of Visit Seattle
Jenna Vandenberg is an award-winning education reporter. She teaches, travels, runs, and writes from her home base near Seattle, Washington.
If you go…
Museums & Attractions
Central Library
Chihuly Garden and Glass
206.753.4940; chihulygardenandglass.com
Climate Pledge Arena
206.752.7600; climatepledgearena.com
The Crocodile
206.420.6351; thecrocodile.com
Kerry Park
206.684.4075; seattle.gov/parks/allparks/kerry-park
McCaw Hall
Moore Theatre
206.682.1414; stgpresents.org/stg-venues/moore-theatre
MoPop
The Paramount Theatre
206.682.1414; stgpresents.org/stg-venues/paramount-theatre
Seattle Architecture Foundation
206.667.9184; seattlearchitecture.org
Seattle Art Museum
206.654.3100; seattleartmuseum.org
Seattle Center
206.684.7200; seattlecenter.com
Seattle Tower
1218 3rd Avenue
The Showbox
206.628.3151; showboxpresents.com
Space Needle
Galleries & Shopping
Tidelands
206.453.1011; thisistidelands.com
Steinbrueck Native Gallery
206.441.3821; steinbruecknativegallery.com
Stonington Gallery
206.405.4040; stoningtongallery.com
Pike Place Market
206.682.7453; pikeplacemarket.org
Lodging
The Lotte Hotel
206.800.8110; lottehotelseattle.com
The Edgewater
206.792.5959; edgewaterhotel.com
Restaurants & Bars
Sinbad Express
206.632.7426; sinbadexpresswa.com
The Whale Wins
206.632.9425; thewhalewins.com
The Pink Door
Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley
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