2 days in Seattle

Day by day

1. Day 1: Pike Place Market and Waterfront and Pier 62

   Pike Place Market, Waterfront and Pier 62, Seattle Aquarium and Seattle Art Museum, then Space Needle in the evening.

   1. Morning

      Pike Place Market

      The lower levels hold old-fashioned shops, and Post Alley's Gum Wall is just below the main arcade.

   2. Late morning

      Waterfront and Pier 62

      Piers hold the Seattle Aquarium, the Great Wheel, harbour-cruise docks and the ferry terminal at Colman Dock.

   3. Lunch

      Lunch: Wild Pacific salmon

      Fish stalls and restaurants at Pike Place Market, seafood restaurants on the waterfront and in Ballard.

   4. Afternoon

      Seattle Aquarium

      The Ocean Pavilion, across the street, adds a large tropical reef habitat.

   5. Late afternoon

      Seattle Art Museum

      Its sister Seattle Asian Art Museum is in Volunteer Park.

   6. Evening

      Space Needle

      Save it for a clear day; if Rainier is hidden by cloud, the view loses much of its point.

2. Day 2: Chihuly Garden and Glass and Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)

   Chihuly Garden and Glass, Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), Olympic Sculpture Park and Pioneer Square and the Underground Tour, then Kerry Park in the evening.

   1. Morning

      Chihuly Garden and Glass

      A museum devoted to the work of Tacoma-born glass artist Dale Chihuly, with eight galleries, a glasshouse with a 30-metre suspended sculpture and a garden where glass forms mingle with plants beneath the Space Needle.

   2. Late morning

      Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)

      The Sound Lab lets visitors play instruments in small studios.

   3. Lunch

      Lunch: Dungeness crab

      Seafood restaurants on the waterfront and in Ballard; Pike Place fish stalls sell cooked crab to take away.

   4. Afternoon

      Olympic Sculpture Park

      The Seattle Art Museum's free outdoor park zigzags down from Belltown to the shoreline, with large works by Alexander Calder, Richard Serra and Louise Bourgeois framed by views across Elliott Bay to the Olympics.

   5. Late afternoon

      Pioneer Square and the Underground Tour

      Guided Underground Tours walk through these passages with a humorous history of early Seattle, while above ground the brick blocks and the free Klondike Gold Rush museum tell of the city's gold-rush boom.

   6. Evening

      Kerry Park

      Come at dusk on a clear evening when the city lights come on and Rainier glows pink.

Before you go

• Space Needle: Timed tickets are sold online; sunset slots sell out on clear summer evenings.

If it rains

• Swap in Museum of Flight (Tukwila): Allow at least half a day; the Aviation Pavilion across the footbridge holds the large airliners.
• Swap in Volunteer Park and Conservatory (Capitol Hill): Climb the stairs of the water tower for a free view over the city and the Cascades.
• Swap in Frye Art Museum (First Hill): A short walk uphill from downtown; pair it with lunch on Capitol Hill.

Where to stay for this itinerary

Pace and daylight

The sights in this plan add up to roughly 15–19 hours of visiting over 2 days, before meals and getting between them. Daylight runs from about 8.4 hours in December to 16 hours in June, so in winter start early and keep museums for the afternoon.

Getting between stops: Metro. Sound Transit's Link light rail 1 Line runs from the airport through downtown, Capitol Hill and the University District to the northern suburbs, every few minutes for most of the day.

More or fewer days

• One day in Seattle
• 3 days in Seattle
• 5 days in Seattle

Questions travellers ask