42 Best Sights in Seattle, Washington

Focusing on telling the history and stories of African Americans in the Northwest, this museum housed in an old school building tells stories through a diverse collection of well-curated and insightful photos, artifacts, and compelling narratives. Past exhibits have included Xenobia Bailey: The Aesthetics of Funk, and The Test: The Tuskegee Project about the first African American aviation units in the U.S. military to serve in combat. One gallery is dedicated to the work of local artists.

Part of Pike Place Market’s recent expansion, Old Stove—which is brewed on-site—might be the kid-friendliest taproom in town. Choose from 24 drafts at the award-winning brewery, which can be paired with pub fare like burgers, sandwiches, and pretzel bites, or oysters and salmon dip, if you're feeling fancy. Try to nab a seat on the patio or by the window (especially at sunset) so you can watch ferries glide across Puget Sound from the 80-foot west-facing window that frames Elliott Bay and the mountains.

This aptly-named beach is a perfect spot to find some quiet among the energy of the city. Dip your feet in the refreshing water, skip some rocks across Elliot Bay, and take a seat on the fallen driftwood, where you can enjoy a snack and the sights of ferries and sailboats passing by.

This 22,00-square-foot "museum" is a big play area divided into themed sections—there's a mountain to climb, a toy train track, a puppet theater, a craft workshop full of art supplies. The basic idea is to give kids an engaging setting and let their imaginations have free reign. The museum's stated target age group is 10 and under, but it's aimed primarily at the younger end of that range.

Hop aboard the Seattle Great Wheel at the end of Pier 57 for one of the city’s most scenic rides. Rising 175 feet above Elliott Bay, this gleaming Ferris wheel—just steps from Pike Place Market and the Seattle Aquarium—offers a slow, 15- to 20-minute spin with panoramic views of the skyline, the Olympics, and Mount Rainier (on clear days, of course). Each climate-controlled gondola fits six comfortably (up to eight if some are kids), and most groups get a cabin to themselves. After dark, more than 500,000 LED lights transform the wheel into a glowing waterfront landmark with weekend light shows in summer. Advance tickets are worth it—you’ll still wait in line, but not for long.

More arcade than museum, this space puts a collector's life's work in play: more than 50 pinball games line up on the two floors, all included in the price of admission. The games rotate out frequently, and the collection includes machines from as far back as 1934 right up to recent releases. Entrance includes unlimited games, so take a break to chat with the staff, who can point out interesting features like the cigarette holders on the older machines. Children under 7 are not permitted to play.

This 47,000-seat, open-air baseball stadium with a state-of-the-art retractable roof is the home of the Seattle Mariners. If you want to see the stadium in all its glory, take the 60-minute pre-game tour or 75-minute behind-the-scenes tour, which brings you onto the field, into the dugouts, back to the press and locker rooms, and up to the posh box seats. Tours depart from the Team Store on 1st Avenue, and you purchase your tickets there, too (at least 15 minutes prior to the scheduled tour).

If it weren't for a small sign on the sidewalk and the faint whiff of cocoa in the air, you'd never know that Fremont has its own artisanal chocolate factory with daily tours. Since it opened in 2005, Theo has become one of the Northwest's most familiar chocolate brands, and is sold in shops across the city. Theo uses only organic, fair-trade cocoa beans, usually in high percentages—yielding darker, less sweet, and more complex flavors than some of their competitors. Stop by the factory to buy exquisite "confection" truffles—made daily in small batches—with unusual flavors like basil-ganache, lemon, fig-fennel, and burnt sugar. The friendly staff is generous with samples. You can go behind the scenes as well, with informative, hour-long tours; reservations are highly recommended, especially on weekends and during peak tourist season.

This 45-acre expanse, sitting at highest point of Capitol Hill, is Seattle's most elegant park. Famed landscape architects the Olmsted Brothers contributed to the 1904 design, and you can feel their influence in everything from the flowerbeds to the lily ponds to the old-school streetlights—and, more than anything, in the sweeping, carefully framed view to the west, which takes in the cityscape, Elliott Bay, and the Olympic Mountains. 

The park is a great place to stroll or jog, have a picnic, let the kids loose on the playground, or take in a summer concert at the amphitheater. For the fullest experience, plan on going into the park's three distinctive structures. The most prominent is the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Nearby, you can climb inside a 75-foot-tall brick water tower, dating from 1906. Views from its observation deck are even better than those from the ground. The third building, the Victorian-style Volunteer Park Conservatory, also merits an extended visit. Its magnificent collection of tropical plants is divided into five adjoining greenhouses: the Bromeliad House, the Palm House, the Fern House, the Seasonal Display House, and the Cactus House. If you're in Seattle on a dreary winter day, this is the place to go to beat the doldrums.

This 350-acre park three miles northeast of the University District is mainly used by locals, who come here to jog on the trails, launch boats onto Lake Washington, and let their dogs run free in Seattle’s largest off-leash area. Several unique characteristics can make it worth a visit. From the 1920s through the ‘70s, the park was a naval air base; if you’re interested in aeronautics history or architecture, check out the historic district, where the base’s art deco and Colonial Revival buildings from the ‘30s and ‘40s remain (now repurposed in various ways, including a roller derby arena). If you’re a dog lover, you can find joy watching happy pups swim at the off-leash dog beach. And grunge rock fans like to make a pilgrimage to the park’s northern corner, where, when the breeze is blowing in the right direction, you can hear the Sound Garden that inspired the iconic Seattle band’s name. (The instillation is part of a neighboring NOAA facility that’s not open to the public.)

The newly opened Waterfront Park—a 20-acre space stretching from Belltown to Pioneer Square—was completed in the summer of 2025, bringing a sense of unity and community to Downtown Seattle's formerly fragmented waterfront. Bike lanes, playgrounds, and native plants are all part of the new Waterfront Park, which provides a community space along the piers for events, social gatherings, walking along the water, and simply catching the sunset over the Olympic Mountains and Elliott Bay.

Ninety-two acres are divided into bioclimatic zones, allowing many animals to roam freely in habitat areas. A jaguar exhibit is the center of the Tropical Rain Forest area, where rare cats, frogs, and birds evoke South American jungles. The Humboldt penguin exhibit is environmentally sound—it uses geothermal heating and cooling to mimic the climes of the penguins' native home, the coastal areas of Peru. With authentic thatch-roof buildings, the African Village has a replica schoolroom overlooking animals roaming the savanna; the Trail of Vines takes you through tropical Asia; and the Northern Trail winds past rocky habitats where wolves, mountain goats, a grizzly bear, and otters scramble and play. The Zoomazium is a nature-themed indoor play space for toddlers and kids under eight, and the Woodland Park Rose Garden is also worth a stroll. Check out Woodland Park's ZooTunes lineup of summertime outdoor concerts at www.zoo.org/zootunes (tickets sell out in advance, so plan ahead).