Seattle

Ferries glide across Puget Sound, and on clear days the snow-capped Mount Rainier glows in the background – Seattle sits between water, forest and volcanoes. A trip to Seattle combines coffee culture, music history and fresh fish from the market with nature that begins right outside your door. The Emerald City is ideal for a city break in the Pacific Northwest, easily combined with Portland or Vancouver.

Timber, Gold and Software

The city takes its name from Chief Si'ahl of the Duwamish and Suquamish, on whose land the first settlers landed in 1851. The timber industry and the port helped Seattle grow, and in 1897 it became the jumping-off point for the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada – outfitters who supplied the prospectors made their fortunes here. In the 20th century Boeing shaped the region, and the 1962 World's Fair gave the city the Space Needle. Later came Microsoft, Starbucks and Amazon, and in the early 1990s Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, whose grunge sound defined an entire generation. Today Seattle is a wealthy tech metropolis with high rents and strong environmental awareness.

Sights in Seattle

Pike Place Market, founded in 1907, is the heart of the city: fishmongers toss salmon through the air, and there are flowers, crafts and pastries, with a maze of small shops hidden on the lower levels. Right next door is the original Starbucks, with its long line, and across the street the colorful Gum Wall. The Space Needle, with its glass revolving floor, offers a panorama of the city, the Sound and the mountains. At its feet in the Seattle Center you'll find the Museum of Pop Culture by Frank Gehry and Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures at Chihuly Garden and Glass. The new Waterfront, with its promenade and Ferris wheel, connects the market with the harbor. Beneath Pioneer Square, the Underground Tour leads through buried streets from the time before the Great Fire of 1889.

Neighborhoods and Culture

Ballard in the north was once a Scandinavian fishing neighborhood; today it has breweries, a Nordic museum and the Ballard Locks, where in summer you can watch salmon climb the fish ladder. South Lake Union is the Amazon campus with the glass domes of the “Spheres”; seaplanes and kayaks set off from neighboring Lake Union. Eastlake and Westlake line the lake with houseboats, including the one from “Sleepless in Seattle.” Capitol Hill is the nightlife district with bars and music clubs, and Fremont is known for its quirky sculptures such as the Troll under the bridge. The Chinatown-International District is home to Little Saigon and the Wing Luke Museum on Asian American history. The Seattle Art Museum downtown and the Olympic Sculpture Park on the waterfront round out the cultural offerings.

Eating in Seattle

Seattle's restaurants thrive on the Pacific: wild salmon, Dungeness crab, oysters from Puget Sound and geoduck, a giant clam served mainly in Asian restaurants. Clam chowder at Pike Place Market is a classic, as is the Seattle Dog with cream cheese and grilled onions, sold outside clubs at night. Coffee is serious business – besides Starbucks there are countless independent roasters. In Little Saigon you'll find excellent pho and banh mi, Ballard and Fremont are known for craft beer, and the wine region in eastern Washington supplies the perfect bottles to go with it.

Getting Around, Best Time to Visit and Day Trips

From Seattle-Tacoma Airport, the Link Light Rail takes about 40 minutes to downtown, and the network is steadily expanding, including toward the Eastside and Bellevue. The monorail, built in 1962, connects downtown with the Seattle Center, and the ferries to Bainbridge Island make for an inexpensive sightseeing tour. The best time to visit is summer, from June to September, when it is dry and pleasantly warm; from October to April it rains often, but rarely heavily. Worthwhile day trips lead to Mount Rainier National Park, the rainforests of Olympic National Park, the San Juan Islands for whale watching, or Snoqualmie Falls, known from “Twin Peaks.”