If you’re planning a trip to Seattle, you likely already have two things on your list: Pike Place Market and the Space Needle. In my opinion, the Pike Place is worth seeing, whereas the Space Needle is best appreciated from further away. Enter the belly of Pike Place, don’t just stay on the surface. You can weave through and around the market all the way to the wharf.
I highly recommend walking through the Olympic Sculpture Park, just a little north of Pike Place. It’s free, plus you can catch great views of the Puget Sound. If you’re walking to Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is located) from Pike Place, it’s just a short detour.
If you have several hours in Seattle, take the Bainbridge Island Ferry ($9.25 roundtrip as of 2022) to get a better perspective of the city. You can visit the town on the island (5 minute walk from the ferry landing), or just do the roundtrip ferry ride for the views of Seattle and the Cascade Mountains. Alternatively, stop by Alki Point for a beach walk without having to depend on the ferry schedule.
For Starbucks fans, the original – but tiny and overwhelmed – store is across from Pike Place. I would recommend seeing that one only from the outside, as it’s very busy; however, there is a new flagship store in Capitol Hill, called Starbucks Reserve. The Capitol Hill neighborhood is also great for finding a meal.
Interstate 5 (I5) South from Seattle
If it’s time to move along, and you’re going south from Seattle, here are a few things to see along the drive:
Just north of Tacoma, you’ll hopefully be able to see Mount Rainier to your left. At 14,411 ft. above sea level, it’s the largest in the Cascade Mountain Range (which includes Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood).
You’ll probably get into traffic through Tacoma, the freeway construction there has been ongoing for over a decade. The giant round building to your right is the Tacoma Dome, an event venue.
If you need to stretch your legs, it’s still light out, and you’re fans of birdwatching, the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is about an hour south of Seattle and right off of I5. Bring $3.00 in cash to pay for the parking permit at a box near the parking lot. Interesting at low and high tide, the Nisqually Delta, a meeting of a river and a sea, has lengthy walking paths and an ever changing cast of local wildlife. Just be careful on the wooden planks when slippery.
Next you’ll drive through Olympia, Washington State’s capitol. As you round a curve, you may be able to see the dome of the Capitol building on your right above some trees.
Olympia, Tacoma, Mt. Rainer and Mt. St. Helens are of course also worthy of their own day trips – but more on that later.
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