The things to do in Seattle that we could check are Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass, the Museum of Pop Culture, Kerry Park and the ferry to Bainbridge Island. You do not need a car for downtown. Link light rail runs from the airport to downtown in 38 minutes for an adult fare of $3.00. We read each official page on 15 October 2026.
The sights, with address, hours and price
Pike Place Market
Address: 85 Pike Street, Seattle. The market covers a nine-acre historic district between 1st Avenue and Western Avenue (Pike Place Market website, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Open every day. The market says most of it is active from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with some restaurants open until midnight or later. It is closed only on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day (same site)
Price: The page lists no entry fee. Individual shops and stalls set their own prices
The market says Pike Place is limited for vehicles from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily under a pilot program, and open to traffic before 10 a.m. and after 5 p.m.
Space Needle
Address: 400 Broad Street, Seattle, WA (Space Needle website, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Monday to Thursday 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The site says it is open year-round but hours vary by season (same site)
Price: General admission $35 to $55. The page says prices vary by season and time of day and does not split them by age. The page gives (206) 905-2100 for age pricing (same site)
Chihuly Garden and Glass
Address: 305 Harrison Street, Seattle, WA, next to the Space Needle at Seattle Center (Chihuly Garden and Glass website, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Monday to Wednesday 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Hours can change for private events (same site)
Price: General admission $40 to $45. Seniors $35 to $40. Youth (ages 5 to 12) $35 to $40. The site lists children under 4 as free. It gives no price for a child who is exactly 4, so ask when you book (same site, read again 21 Oct 2026)
Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)
Address: 325 5th Avenue N, Seattle, WA 98109 (MoPOP website, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day (same site)
Price: Not shown until you pick a date on the ticket page. MoPOP says prices change with capacity, season and demand. Washington residents get 15% off with an ID. We read no free days on the page
Seattle Center
Address: 305 Harrison Street, Seattle, WA 98109 (Seattle Center website, read 15 Oct 2026)
Note: The home page lists the Armory, Climate Pledge Arena, McCaw Hall and Waterfront Park among the campus buildings. It does not say whether the grounds are free or give grounds hours, so both are not confirmed
The Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass and MoPOP are all at or beside Seattle Center, by the addresses above.
Kerry Park
Address: 211 W Highland Drive, Seattle, WA 98119 (Seattle Parks and Recreation, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. (same page)
Price: The page lists no fee
The city page describes a view of Elliott Bay and the central city, with Mount Rainier "occasional" in the background. It says photographers gather at sunset.
Discovery Park
Address: 3801 Discovery Park Boulevard, Seattle, WA 98199. Phone 206-684-4075 (Seattle Parks and Recreation, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Park hours 4:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. (same page)
Price: The page lists no fee
Note: The Visitor Center is closed until summer 2027, and the city cannot issue beach parking permits while it is closed. Parking at the beach level without a permit or an ADA placard is not allowed and may bring a citation or towing. A free shuttle runs between the parking lots and the beach, Thursday to Sunday, until 1 November 2026 (same page)
The city calls it Seattle's largest park, at 560 acres, with two miles of protected tidal beaches, meadows, sea cliffs and forest. The page lists a play area, trails and views.
Seattle Aquarium
Address: 1483 Alaskan Way, Pier 59, Seattle, WA 98101. Phone 206-386-4300 (Seattle Aquarium website, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Last entry 5:00 p.m. (same site)
Price: Not confirmed. The ticket page did not show prices to our reader. A ticket covers Pier 59, Pier 60 and the Ocean Pavilion
The aquarium says its Puget Sound Fish habitat closes for renovation from Monday 19 October. The other habitats stay open.
Seattle Underground Tour
Address: Ticket counter at 614 1st Avenue, in Pioneer Place Park, Pioneer Square (Underground Tour website, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Tours start on the hour every day, all year, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day (same site)
Price: Not confirmed. The pages we could read do not list prices. Call 206-682-4646
The tour is 75 minutes and starts under Doc Maynard's Public House, says the site. It covers the storefronts and sidewalks buried when the city was rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1889.
Ballard Locks
The official Army Corps of Engineers page blocked our reader, so we give no hours, price or tour times for the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. Check the Corps page before you go.
Ferry to Bainbridge Island
Getting there: Washington State Ferries, Seattle to Bainbridge Island: crossing time about 35 minutes. The page shows the Fall 2026 schedule, 20 September to 26 December 2026 (WSDOT route schedule page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Price: Our Seattle to Olympic National Park guide lists an adult passenger fare of $11.35, and $5.65 for seniors, from the WSDOT fare pages read on 14 Oct 2026. We could not reload the route fare table today. WSDOT's ticket page says children and youth under 19 travel free, riders 65 and older pay a reduced fare when buying in person with proof, and a 3% fee applies to card payments since 1 March 2026 (WSDOT ticket information page, read 15 Oct 2026)
Note: WSDOT's fare pages, read for our Olympic guide on 14 Oct 2026, say walk-on passengers pay at Seattle. At Bainbridge Island only the vehicle fare is paid, so a foot passenger pays once for the round trip
With kids
Chihuly Garden and Glass lists ages 5 to 12 at $35 to $40 and children under 4 as free. It gives no price for age 4, so ask when you book. The Space Needle page gives no child price. The Seattle Aquarium is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. but we have no prices. Discovery Park lists a play area. MoPOP does not show a child price until you pick a date.
Free things to do
Kerry Park, Discovery Park and Pike Place Market list no entry fee on the pages we read. The Discovery Park shuttle between the parking lots and the beach is free and runs Thursday to Sunday until 1 November 2026, says the city. We did not confirm that Seattle Center's grounds are free.
Where to stay in Seattle
We did not check any hotel's rate or room list, so we give no prices. We group the sights by the street addresses above.
| Area | What it is near |
|---|---|
| Downtown and the waterfront | Pike Place Market (85 Pike St), Seattle Aquarium (1483 Alaskan Way) |
| Pioneer Square | Underground Tour (614 1st Ave) |
| Seattle Center area | Space Needle (400 Broad St), Chihuly Garden and Glass (305 Harrison St), MoPOP (325 5th Ave N) |
| Near the airport | Link 1 Line from SeaTac/Airport Station, 38 minutes to downtown |
Getting around Seattle
Sound Transit's adult one-way fare on the 1 Line is $3.00 for ages 19 to 64 (Sound Transit fares page, read 15 Oct 2026). Day passes on Link are twice the one-way fare and are good only on the date bought. Tap an ORCA card before you enter the platform. The airport page says you can also tap a credit or debit card at the reader, or buy tickets on the Transit GO Ticket app.
From the airport, Sound Transit says it takes 38 minutes between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and the heart of downtown Seattle. Get on and off at SeaTac/Airport Station. Trains leave every 8 to 10 minutes for most of the day (Sound Transit, airport page, read 15 Oct 2026). Early in the morning, Sound Transit's Night Bus runs between the airport and downtown about every 30 minutes, starting about 15 minutes after the last train. We did not read the first and last train times.
For the ferry to Bainbridge Island, see the entry above. Our Olympic National Park guide covers what is on the other side.
Do I need a car in Seattle?
Not for downtown. The airport train reaches downtown in 38 minutes. Pike Place Market, the Aquarium and the Underground Tour are downtown. Seattle Center is north of downtown. We did not measure walking times between them. The Bainbridge ferry can be ridden as a walk-on passenger. A car matters more for Discovery Park, which is in the north-west of the city at 3801 Discovery Park Boulevard. There, beach parking needs a permit and the visitor center that issues permits is closed until summer 2027, so read the city page before you drive there. We did not check bus routes to Discovery Park or Kerry Park, so plan those with a trip planner.
Best time to visit
NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (NCEI, normals-monthly-1991-2020, read 15 Oct 2026):
| Month | Average high | Average low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48.0 F | 37.7 F | 5.78 in |
| April | 59.3 F | 43.3 F | 3.18 in |
| July | 77.4 F | 56.8 F | 0.60 in |
| October | 60.5 F | 47.0 F | 3.91 in |
July is the warmest and driest of the four. October is cooler and wetter. November is not in the table, but its normal rain is 6.31 inches, more than any month shown. This is our reading of the table, not an official forecast.
What we checked and what can change
Read on 15 October 2026: the websites of Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass, MoPOP, Seattle Center, the Seattle Aquarium and the Underground Tour; Seattle Parks and Recreation's Kerry Park and Discovery Park pages; Sound Transit's fares page and airport page; WSDOT's Seattle to Bainbridge Island schedule page and ticket information page; and NOAA's NCEI 1991 to 2020 monthly normals for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Not confirmed: MoPOP, Aquarium and Underground Tour ticket prices, Seattle Center grounds hours and fees, all Ballard Locks details, the WSDOT fare table for the Bainbridge route on 15 October (we carry the $11.35 figure over from our Olympic guide, read 14 October), first and last Link train times, bus routes to the parks, and any hotel rate. Prices and hours change, so check each site for your date. We did not visit Seattle for this page.
