Museums · Seattle · United States
5 best museums in Seattle
The collections worth your time, how long each takes and how to fit them together.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answer
Start with Chihuly Garden and Glass, Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) and Seattle Art Museum. Together the 5 picks below take roughly 9–12 hours across 4 areas; 1 is free.
Key facts
- Places in this guide
- 5
- Free entry
- 1
- Time to see them all
- 9–12 hours
- Areas
- Seattle Center, Downtown and Pike Place and Tukwila
Museums in Seattle
Gallery · Seattle Center
1.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.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Art
- Couples
- Photo spot
- Rainy day
Museum · Seattle Center
2.Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)
Frank Gehry's crumpled metal building houses exhibitions on music, film and gaming, including permanent galleries on Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix, both of whom came from the Seattle area.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Rainy day
- Kids
- Architecture
- History
Museum · Downtown and Pike Place
3.Seattle Art Museum
SAM's downtown building, marked by Jonathan Borofsky's giant Hammering Man outside, has strong collections of Northwest Coast Native art, African art, European paintings and contemporary work.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- Rainy day
Museum · Tukwila
4.Museum of Flight
Beside Boeing Field south of downtown, this large air and space museum displays more than 150 aircraft, including a Concorde, an early Air Force One, a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and a full-size Space Shuttle trainer, plus Boeing's original 'Red Barn' factory building.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
- History
Gallery · First Hill
5.Frye Art Museum
Seattle's free art museum, founded on the private collection of Charles and Emma Frye, shows 19th-century German and American paintings alongside contemporary exhibitions in a calm building on First Hill.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Art
- Rainy day
- Off the beaten path
Grouped by area
| Area | Places | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle Center | Chihuly Garden and Glass and Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) | 1–1.5 hours + 2–3 hours |
| Downtown and Pike Place | Seattle Art Museum | 2 hours |
| Tukwila | Museum of Flight | Half a day |
| First Hill | Frye Art Museum | 1 hour |
Booking and timing
Of these 5, 1 free, 2 mid-priced, 2 expensive. None needs booking far in advance. The longest visit is Museum of Flight; group the rest by area to save travel time.
How to fit them into 3 half-days
Grouped by area and kept to about four hours each, so you walk more than you ride.
- Half-day 1 (Seattle Center): Chihuly Garden and Glass → Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), at least 3 hours.
- Half-day 2 (Downtown and Pike Place): Seattle Art Museum, at least 2 hours.
- Half-day 3 (Tukwila and First Hill): Museum of Flight → Frye Art Museum, at least 4 hours.
The quietest months for queues
- February: highs of 10°C (50°F), about 16 rainy days, very quiet crowds. Still cool and wet; quiet for sightseeing, and ski areas in the Cascades are in full season.
- January: highs of 8°C (46°F), about 19 rainy days, very quiet crowds. Grey and damp with short days; good for museums, coffee shops and low hotel rates.
- April: highs of 15°C (59°F), about 15 rainy days, quiet crowds. Showers and sun mix; tulip fields bloom in the Skagit Valley an hour north.
The neighbourhoods they are in
- Downtown and Pike Place — Hotels, shopping and the market above the waterfront
- Queen Anne and Seattle Center — Space Needle, theatres and the city's classic skyline viewpoint at Kerry Park
More of Seattle
Questions travellers ask
+Where should I start in Seattle?
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.
+Which of these are free in Seattle?
Frye Art Museum.